The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G!

[qusp]

Originally Posted by elliot42

Looks good. I would only use as much solder as needed, I found it was very easy to bridge pads when adding solder. You might also want to stick the wires down with some hot glue when you're done and it works. Don't do it on any pads, but I'd do it close if possible; just so the wires can't pull when putting the iPod back together and rip off the board.

thanks MAYGHT yep I didn't really want to add any more solder if I could avoid it. better for signal transfer and safer in view of how close together those points are. gonna go downstairs and build te LOD now; we'll see how it went in an hour.

cheers

[elliot42]

I have minimal solder on the pads where the wires are on my mini, just enough for a secure connection I reckon is all it needs.
Also, are you positive those wires are all enameled? Don't want them shorting out anything else on the board.

[qusp]

Originally Posted by elliot42

I have minimal solder on the pads where the wires are on my mini, just enough for a secure connection I reckon is all it needs.
Also, are you positive those wires are all enameled? Don't want them shorting out anything else on the board.

well i'm as positive as I can be without using them before but stevekelby; the well known DIYer and cable guru here from adelaide; he sold the wire to me and told me not to worry if the cover melted back because they are not conductive unless they are 'tinned' seeing as the only way to strip this stuff is to hold it in hot solder until the enamel burns away it would be a serious design fault if they werent enamel coated. because every time you do it the cover shrinks back a bit. its inherent in the design anyway i'll be finding out in a min. the ipod started up fine straight after and it plays tunes etc so if theres a short I dont know how. i jaust have to solder the mini on the end of my LOD and i'm off. fingers crossed. I'll be pissed if theres a short because of misinformation. though I cant see that a company like cardas would let such a design flaw exist. can anyone else confirm the enamel coating?

[elliot42]

Originally Posted by qusp

ive been assured By stevekelby that this wire is not conductive unless its tinned

Ah, didn't see that bit. I haven't used enameled wire before, but it looks like bare copper in the pic which would have me fretting

[qusp]

yeah if it hadnt have been him then I would've been really fretting to; as it was I still was that is until about 5 mins ago when wonderous level came up on my monitor in my RME (the interface that i'm monitoring it with) I actually let out an audible YEEAAAHH!!!!! so I plugged the SE530's in and yep both channels are producing wonderful open audio so now i've just got the caps burning in. ATM I dont have a portable amp; until my pico arrives next week (its shipping as we speak) i'm just getting all prepared for the occasion. I've built some great LOD's for my iphone and now this for myself, actually the LOD i'm using ATM is a bit getto looking because I tried to put the caps in the regular slimmer size dock rather than the huge one and plus I was really anxious to get this all together. still great sounding because its jena and cryo silver but not as slick as I would like because the dock casing didn't close perfectly. doesn't matter though the sound is what counts on this one. Ive got some more blackgates anyway and the next project is a VCAP/mundorf dock.

so now thanks to all you guys for providing the info and courage to crack open my ipod and go for it. Now i've got a CF modded, DIYMODDED, rockboxed ipod. anything else I can do to it? other than the elusive digital out. this really is a great project, and the thread is extremely informative. The hardest thing about it was putting the ipod back together again the actual process is really not that hard if you have some previous soldering experience and the right tools, materials at hand.

so thanks everyone who helped and i'll post some more results after burn-in and especially when my pico arrives

cheers guys

[qusp]

Originally Posted by elliot42

Ah, didn't see that bit. I haven't used enameled wire before, but it looks like bare copper in the pic which would have me fretting

And another thing that put my mind at ease a bit, was the fact that it's Cardas SILVER 33AWG tone arm wire; so the fact that it looks a bit like bare copper isnt too much of a worry when you think about it.

cheers back to listening to burn-in......... sweet, sweet music

[Hayduke]

The easy way to put any fears at rest is to test it with your meter. Touch that part that looks like exposed copper with one probe and see if you have a circuit to the other end. Without trying to offend or anything, this seems like a no brainer. Seeing that copper makes me nervous too. I wouldn't trust the logic that because the iPod works, all is well. Now that it is solid state, you might bounce the thing a bit more and cause the wire to move somehow and then you get a short. The easiest way to test this would be with another piece of wire. Tin both ends and then attach your meter to the areas where the insulation has shrunk back.

Grats on your new and improved iPod

[joneeboi]

I echo Hayduke's sentiment. Keep in mind that a little precaution can prevent an unnecessary servicing of some 70 to 90 dollars. I could take a photo of the undiyModdable logic boards on my desk to prove my point, but I don't think that's quite necessary. Maybe I'll just do it for kicks later.

It's nice to see another diyMod, qusp, and the energy you bring to what seems like such an old mod; we're almost one year in the making!

[qusp]

I cant find my meter anywhere since I moved and have just ordered another one from ebay. for the moment i've been getting by by using a battery pack plus led circuit for testing continuity in cables, the cardas wire has also been discussed earlier in the thread for this purpose and the method of stripping ie. in a solder pot means that it is impossible to avoid the coating shrinking back to some degree; its just part of the design sometimes it happens to a minimum and sometimes it goes a bit further.. the ipod works fine and stevekelby assures me that this is cool; I sent him a pic as well. also after the photo was taken I lay another small piece of teflon tape under the wire (the bit that looks scary) just to be safe. but as I said its silver wire and if you put that together with the other info I'm not worried.

edit: I had already tried with a piece of the wire that was not connected I tinned it at both ends and touched the copper looking bits at both ends with my getto continuity tester and no LED action was forthcoming I did this before turning it on for the first time. so all is well; it just looks scary so regardfless of this testing I was still nervous. dont worry about feeling you need to warn me of simple things, its cool There are things that are outside my knowledge and I dont mind asking about them, so dont worry about bringing up stuff that seems obvious to you. I wont take offense unless its obviously intended my brain is also a pretty good device for testing intent, but even with my getto tester I was still a bit worried so I thought i'd post to see if anyone else had worked with this wire. I tried to tin several bits of it using the solder pot, lighter etc. but got the same result to differing degrees. I think its safe to say Ive put it to rest though regardless of how it looks

joneeboi: thanks for the welcome man; it really is a great mod, you can have a really quality player for just over $100USD for a 5.5G if the hardrive was defunked and if you buy a working ipod you can have it for $160 with the dock and caps. I plan on adding some new options to this thread as well regarding the use of caps both inside AND outside by putting another set of lines to the firewire data pins on the dock. this way it can be used with a slim dock and also with a larger capped or VCAP dock. this mod is comparatively easy compared to the ones i'm working up to and I wanted to get some practice before moving onto my iphone

[qusp]

also i've read that its not worth it to mod a 6G classic but thats on the ALO site . do you guys have an opinion on this. I was talking to a friend about what I was doing and he expressed interest in getting me to do it to his classic. I'm happy to do it for him but wasn't keen on the all risk no gain approach. Anyone dome this yet

[Hayduke]

I haven't looked inside the new iPods, but maybe Apple has recognized people are modding them to improve the line out and decided to improve it themselves. Perhaps it has a clean output compared to previous models *shrug*

You're LED continuity tester method seems sound to me. If I used my meter, I would just have it in continuity test mode anyway Sounds like you're fine. And yes, I do understand your point about it being silver wire and seeing copper. I would just be overly cautious and test it anyway. It sounds like you were thinking the exact same thing.

So you were modding an iPod Video? I have one of those too, but I haven't opened it yet. I've only done a Mini. (maybe I should post pics next time I open it hehe). I find I use my 30GB Video a lot less now that I have a 32GB Mini. I just hate the idea of bouncing around a hard drive, so I prefer my solid state device. Lately I've been considering getting one of those adapters to let me put a CF card in there. Is that what you did? And now you think there might be enough room for a couple of the little 47uf Blackgates? If so, then that's my next project. That is after I make a LOD with caps inside to use with the modded Mini.

What's a good place to get Blackgates? I guess I should go do a search and then ask :P

[qusp]

Originally Posted by Hayduke

I haven't looked inside the new iPods, but maybe Apple has recognized people are modding them to improve the line out and decided to improve it themselves. Perhaps it has a clean output compared to previous models *shrug*

yeah maybe they thought it made them look bad that all these amateur people were opening up there ipods and for a $20 investment making the player a much better device.

You're LED continuity tester method seems sound to me. If I used my meter, I would just have it in continuity test mode anyway Sounds like you're fine. And yes, I do understand your point about it being silver wire and seeing copper. I would just be overly cautious and test it anyway. It sounds like you were thinking the exact same thing.

yep with all the info in the world it still made me nervous

So you were modding an iPod Video? I have one of those too, but I haven't opened it yet. I've only done a Mini. (maybe I should post pics next time I open it hehe). I find I use my 30GB Video a lot less now that I have a 32GB Mini. I just hate the idea of bouncing around a hard drive, so I prefer my solid state device. Lately I've been considering getting one of those adapters to let me put a CF card in there. Is that what you did? And now you think there might be enough room for a couple of the little 47uf Blackgates? If so, then that's my next project. That is after I make a LOD with caps inside to use with the modded Mini.

Yep its a 5.5G and I have a CF adapter installed with a 32GB card in it. Gonna sell the CF card shortly and get a 64GB as soon as the price goes down a bit. It adds easily enough room for a couple of NX HiQ 47uf BG's but for the moment ive installed them in a dock another reason why ive only used tape for strain relief. I just wanted to get a result quickly and then have a good think about how I was going to make the mod my own.

What's a good place to get Blackgates? I guess I should go do a search and then ask :P

well I got mine from hifi collective; they arent the cheapest place to get them from (not bad though) but the shipping to OZ isnt too bad from them; plus I also get silk tubing and sometimes mundorf wire from them so I just grabbed a couple of 47uf and some 100uf while I was doing my last order. still didn't have the ipod then but was just planning ahead because I knew it was inevitable. I don't have much time ATM so cant list all the other suppliers that I know of check out hificollective though I think its just .com but have a search. when I get b=ack home later i'll put together some links for you. there is a comprehensive list of suppliers on the first page of this thread but theres a couple of othr ones.

[suicidal_orange]

Originally Posted by joneeboi

You could solder the wire straight to the dock.

Thanks joneeboi - I have just got back to looking at this after building my first amp. A bit of digging under some tape and the dock pins are revealed Guess I this board isn't dead afterall! Maybe I should find some more apropriate wire before trying to get it through the board though...

[jordanross]

Man, this thread really makes me want to mod my iPod! I think when I upgrade from my RSA Tomahawk (possibly to a predator), I'll break out the soldering iron and buy some caps. By the way qusp nice job on your mod.

[joneeboi]

Originally Posted by Hayduke

What's a good place to get Blackgates? I guess I should go do a search and then ask :P

Parts ConneXion is pretty good for price and speed. One of my favourites actually, but that could be because I'm in Canada. They have cheap shipping that's more than proficiently packaged and protected, and they've got a good reputation to boot. So, A++, highly recommended, great seller!!!

qusp:

The toughest part of the diyMod 6G is getting into the darn thing. I don't own one, so it's different when people offer to give me theirs to open. iFixit actually bends their back casing, something you'll notice when you read the comments on their 6G disassembly guide.

Something I've had on my mind was to do a form of "search and replace" for the Black Gates. Yes, they are supposed to be nice, but I wonder if any other similar spec capacitors can dethrone them. It's going to take some time since I don't even have a working diyMod at the moment, but I will be placing some Digikey orders soon to work on the BantamDAC. I'm not familiar with the audiophile terminology, and I never want these kinds of reviews to be taken as dogma, but it'll offer something for those who are looking for easily accessible capacitors still in production. That way it'll offer some extended support for future generations of vintage iPod owners. I'll let you guys know how that works out.