Droid Home Dock for YOUR CAR?

[simplycax]

Hey all! New member here,
I'm trying to figure out if this has been done before. If so, a link to it would be greatly appreciated.
I would like to use the Android Home Dock for my car. I'm thinking that i will (somehow) have to splice the power cord for the home dock and wire it to my car battery so it would keep my phone charged while docked. I also have a perfect spot to place the dock in my car via velcro. The reason why i do not want the car dock is because:

1. it wont keep your phone charged in a clean manner
2. it does not look as clean as the home dock
3. the arm for the car dock is too short for me to reach the phone comfortably on my windshield

If anyone can help please let me know! I'm sure that, if not already, this will be a more talked about subject. Thanks!

 

[pdragon]

Moved to the Lounge so hopefully someone can better help you. Good luck!

 

[takeshi]

I'd just find a different car mount. To each his own -- good luck with it!

Do you really need an alarm clock in your car?

 

[simplycax]

I'd just find a different car mount. To each his own -- good luck with it!

Do you really need an alarm clock in your car?

haha no i dont. I would be using it for Navigation and it would keep it safe.
Also i have only found 2 docks for the droid, Home and Car.

 

[El Blacksheep]

Depending on how much you're willing to butcher the dock, you could try and find a way to flip the magnet around so you'd get the Car Home to launch when docked.

I too am trying to find a way to integrate my car dock with my car's dash. I'm not a big fan of it's bulky design and I can't really find a good spot for a makeshift mount.

 

[barry99705]

Depending on how much you're willing to butcher the dock, you could try and find a way to flip the magnet around so you'd get the Car Home to launch when docked.

I too am trying to find a way to integrate my car dock with my car's dash. I'm not a big fan of it's bulky design and I can't really find a good spot for a makeshift mount.

I know for the car dock the area where the magnet goes can be pulled off fairly easily. It's just held in place with a couple plastic clips. Pulling the magnet is a little harder, I think it's glued in, but breaking it off and just using hot glue won't detract from the looks as it's completely hidden when closed. I've not seen a home dock in real life yet, so I'm not sure how hard/easy it would be to pull apart. I'd be more worried about bumps making the droid jump out of the dock.

 

[simplycax]

Thanks for your input so far guys. I ran into this video. Very interesting.

 

[IOWA]

You could always build a custom dock... I know a few people who have done this for thier phones... it's really not that hard.

 

[simplycax]

You could always build a custom dock... I know a few people who have done this for thier phones... it's really not that hard.

Have these people built a custom dock for their Motorola Droid? Because unlike other docks, the droid dock uses magnets to identify which screen to load upon docking. If so, i would love to get some more information. Thanks.

 

[dlwilson]

Have you seen the ProClip mounts?

ProClip Mounting System

 

[simplycax]

I just thought of the idea of buying an AC to DC car converter like this. Now a droid home dock would work with this converter in my car right?
Also just to clear up, i don't want the "home" dock screen so instead i am planning on switching the magnets around (if possible) on the "home" dock screen to achieve "car" dock screen.

BTW, thanks wilson for that site, thats a great alternative.

 

[El Blacksheep]

Have you seen the ProClip mounts?

ProClip Mounting System*-*Device Holders and Dashboard Vehicle Mounts

Has anyone ordered one of these for the Droid? I'm curious about a few things:

- Is it fat and bulky or slim and sleek? Cant really tell from pics alone.
- Does it have a magnet included / can one be easily modded into the mount?

It looks to me like I'd almost be better off ordering a vehicle mount from ProClip, then attaching the motorola car mount clip to that.

Also, for my particular car the only feasible option would be one covering a vent. I'm not sure I want to give up a source of hot air in the winter, nor do I want hot air blowing on the battery door of my device...

 

[sradner]

New member first post, but maybe helpful.

Just got the moto multimedia dock an hour ago and the pickup on the phone seems to be North/South sensitive.

The little riser pops out and there is a square cut out on the back. I used an exacto to remove the little sticker in the cutout and exposed the magnet. Next used the knife to bore a little hole so I could get a small screwdriver under the magnet and pop it out. Flip it over and dropped it back in, put the sticker back (covered up the mess). Riser back in the dock and now it pops up in car dock mode.

Now I just have to route the cord under the dash to a good spot and velcro the dock in place. Should look very nice.

And for all the lawyers out there, if you hack the dock you probably can't return it, and if you hack your fingers off with the knife you probably can't return them either. At your own risk!!!

Hope someone finds this helpful...

 

[StanGetsIt]

I just thought of the idea of buying an AC to DC car converter like this. Now a droid home dock would work with this converter in my car right?
Also just to clear up, i don't want the "home" dock screen so instead i am planning on switching the magnets around (if possible) on the "home" dock screen to achieve "car" dock screen.

BTW, thanks wilson for that site, thats a great alternative.

NO, IF you are sticking with using the Home Dock in the Car - whether you "fix" the magnet or not - what you mean to say and would need is an Inverter (used to invert DC TO AC, allowing you to use the AC plug adaptor that comes WITH a USB-microUSB cable, together that comes with the Home Dock)

Opposite of a Inverter is the Converter - converting AC to DC (which by the way would be handy if you wanted to use a Car Dock in your home, if to, say, stick it to a kitchen appliance or window near an AC outlet).

But all this Inverter purchase is not necessary at all. Just use the Car charging cable to plug the HomeDock, there is NO rewiring needed nor advised (although the Car charging micro-USB cable you need to buy as a molded assembly, but is cheaper than an Inverter, the cheapest best inverter is probably at Shack for about 40, pumping maybe 100w of AC - there is even, at the Shack, a car charger that has a Standard USB jack on its back, thereby letting you use the HomeDock cable to lug the HomeDock - remember that the HomeDock comes with an Adaptor Block AND a USB-microUSB cable).

And one more thing: There is actually a new MotoDroid HomeDock (and I hear a new CarDock soon) on the Accessory page at the Moto site, that will accommodate charging the phone WHILE IT IS STILL IN A SNAP-ON HARD CASE, like the ones sold at Verizon for Droid, and even the OTTER BOX cases! For the Original Droid, I dont know of a new Dock for any other Android device that can accommodate the device IN a case.

Now, to really get clever, maybe you can find a way to electromagnetically change the polarity of the magnet (still a "hard" mod), using the DC voltage as your power source, thereby switching the HomeDock to CarDockMode.

As only two of the four wires are used for power to the Android device in the USB AC-DC adaptor that comes with EITHER HomeDock OR CarDock Kit as purchased, the other two wires could be used for switching electromagnet power, where you would be "hard" modding the AC adaptor itself putting in a switch - in order to switch the polarity of the MAGNET, but not the power to the dock, of course!