Good morning everyone.

I guess this is a somewhat unconventional post, seems as though I'm posting a solution to a problem I had but no one else has mentioned on the forum as far as I can gather. However, in the hope that someone else might find it useful, I thought it'd be nice to share the knowledge

I recently bought a 9N3 Match with the stock iPod connector. I was really frustrated to find however, that my iPod touch didn't fit in the dock properly and didn't charge, so I was stuck with an unsightly, useless lump of plastic on my dash. So I hit the forums and didn't find anything. I did some reading around and after a few failed attempts, I've just been able to get it sorted very neatly.

I have tried it with an iPhone 4 / older model iPod touch, so the idea for the iPhone 5 is unverified, but as far as I can tell I THINK it should work.

An added bonus of this procedure is that it is completely reversible, should you wish to return the car to stock before selling it.

How to replace the iPod dock in a Polo 9N3 Match so that it works with an iPhone 4 / iPod touch / iPhone 5 / new iPod touch with lightning connector etc.

You will need:

1x iPhone / iPhone in-car holder. This MUST have a screw out of the back

(I removed the suction cup and used this one... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004GT9...=UTF8&psc=1 )

1x 12V-5V iPhone / iPod dock adapter

(I used this one... http://www.amazon.co.uk/iPhone-Charging-Ad...ref=pd_sxp_f_pt )

1x Apple iPod / iPhone extension cable - must be a 17 core version

(I used this one... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proxima®-Extension...extension+cable )

OR

1x Apple 30 pin (female) to 16 pin (male) adapter

(I think one like this should work... http://www.amazon.co.uk/30-Pin-Lightning-C...in+to+lightning )

1x spare screw (I used one from a numberplate fitting kit)

star-shaped screwdriver

soldering iron

electrical tape

phillips screwdriver

about an hour

a little patience

READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT / BUY ANY PARTS

1. Pull out the plastic plug in the middle of the existing iPod dock to reveal a star-headed screw. Unscrew the screw to detach the iPod dock from the dashboard.
2. Remove the 30-pin iPod connector from the dock by unscrewing the 3 phillips screws underneath the dock. Unclip the plastic part covering the circuit board and unplug the white mini-connector which attached the wire. Keep the circuit board for later.
3. Pull the exposed wire gently to loose the plastic fronting panel (the panel that looks like the front of the cupholder on the opposite side). Remove the rubber bung that keeps the wire in the lower hole of the fronting panel and unthread the wire. The plastic fronting panel should now be loose from the car. Keep the plastic fronting panel and rubber bung for later.
4. Reattach the white mini-connector to the circuit board from stage 2, but not through the plastic fronting panel.
5. Attach the 12V-5V iPod adapter to the female 30-pin iPod connector on the circuit board (this will enable newer model iPods and iPhones to charge)
6. Now’s a good time to check the set-up. Attach the extension cable to the 12V-5V adapter and to your iPod. Check if your iPod is playing through the stereo and charging (only charges when ignition is on or headunit is switched on - should stop charging about a minute after ignition off or headunit power off)
7. We’re done in the car for now. Go inside with the plastic fronting panel and extension cable and heat up the soldering iron. (If you’re trying to connect an iPhone 5, skip to the explanation at the end)

   FOR THE iPHONE 4 / iPOD TOUCH WITH 30-PIN CONNECTOR

   This is the part where the explanation gets a little tricky. Obviously the lower hole in the plastic fronting panel is too small for a 30-pin iPod connector to fit through, so the aim of the next few steps is to thread the cable through the plastic fronting panel and shorten the cable simultaneously. Given that the extension cable contains 17 smaller wires surrounded by a bare wire and aluminium foil sheathing, the easiest and most “mistake-proof” way I have found to do this is to strip two sections of the insulation, as seen in the graphic below

   MALE 30-pin =========-----=====================-----====== FEMALE 30-pin

   To do this...

8. Starting from the male end of the 30-pin iPod extension cable, leave about 15cm of the cable, then carefully strip back a 5cm section of the plastic insulation (you should see thin wires and aluminium foil underneath)
9. Now working from the female end of the 30-pin iPod extension cable, leave about 10cm of cable and strip back another 5cm section of the plastic insulation.

   At the end of the process, the section of cable between the two stripped areas will be discarded. As such, it is very important to make sure that whenever there is an instruction to cut a wire, you cut within the stripped back section, but as close to the middle of the cable as you can (marked by a / in the graphic below)

   MALE =========-----/=====================/-----====== FEMALE

10. Working in both stripped sections, carefully cut the metal wires outside the aluminium foil sheathing, remembering to cut as close to the middle of the cable as you can at each end. At each end, twist the wires to keep them neat, then carefully cut and peel back the aluminium sheathing to expose the wires beneath.
11. Select ONE wire colour e.g. blue (TAKE CARE TO MATCH THE WIRES CAREFULLY: two wires may look a similar colour, but one will have a white stripe running up it, the other will not). Cut the blue wire in BOTH stripped sections, remembering to cut as close to the middle of the cable as you can. Strip about 5mm of insulation off the tip of the two wire.
12. Find your plastic fronting panel from earlier.
13. Starting with the MALE end of the cable, push the newly cut blue wire through the lower hole in the FRONT of the plastic fronting panel. Attach the other blue wire to it, soldering the two wires together
14. Use a little electrical tape to cover any exposed wire and solder (I found it easiest to fold the electrical tape in half around the wire so that the two sticky sides stuck together, trimming away any excess for neatness)
15. Repeat steps 10 to 13 with each wire colour until all wires are connected through the lower hole in the plastic fronting panel, including the bare wire that was outside the sheathing. You should now have a stretch of 17-core cable from the middle of your extension cable left over.
16. Put the rubber bung around the extension cable and push it back into the hole in the plastic fronting panel to keep your new wire in place.
17. Go back out to your car.
18. Attach the female end of your extension cable to the 5V-12V adapter.
19. Gently feed the wire-circuit-board-5V-12V-adapter-extension-cable-wire configuration into the gap underneath the black box (iPod interface)
20. Push the plastic fronting plate panel back into place
21. Strip back your iPod/iPhone holder until you can screw through a section of the mount into the hole in the plastic fronting plate (this is the point where you may need a longer screw. I actually had to cut away at a little plastic component so that the head of my screw would fit)
22. Attach the iPod holder, insert your iPod/iPhone and go for a drive!

iPhone 5 / 16-pin lightning connector for newer iPod touch etc.

I assume it is actually easier to fit an iPhone 5 / new iPod touch etc. 16-pin lightning connector to the Polo, as the 16-pin connector should fit directly through hole in the plastic fronting panel where the 30-pin connector is too big. If not, it may be possible to widen the hole in the plastic fronting panel just enough for the 16-pin connector to pass through. If you want to fit one, you don’t even need to leave your car - just follow steps 1-5 and 18-22, reading “30-pin to 16-pin adapter” where it says “extension cable”.

Hello,

I am wanting to try this but have a couple questions. Would it not be sufficient to simply fit the 30-pin to lightning converter to the existing connector? Or do you need to follow all steps?