Mod Your 5G Video iPod With Internal Bluetooth

Here's the long awaited 5G Video version of my iPod BT Mod! If you're tired of the headphone cord? We've all seen iPods die an early death because someone got their cord tangled up while on the treadmill or something and the iPod goes flying!

Sure you can buy a $50 BT adapter and plug it into the dock connector. But what if you wanted an integrated, OEM-like solution? Something that on the outside would look like it came from the factory, like Apple should have done?

Follow along and don't forget to check www.iPodHackers.net for more details and info on other iPod hacks!

You might also want to check out my first iPod BT Instructablebefore you start on this one.

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Step 1: Materials and Tools

Ideally, you will need the following items:

Small Phillips Driver
Small Flat Screw Driver
Plastic iPod Opening Tool
One or two 3mm LEDs
Xacto Knife or Razor Blade
Compact Flash to 1.8" ZIF IDE adapter. Get it from Tarkan
Fully ATA compatible Compact Flash Card (2Gb min). I've had good luck with Transcend, Sandisk and Adata but others may work as well.
5th Generation iPod Video. If you use an iPod with a bad drive, just make sure that the unit is otherwise fully functional.
Drill and small drill bit (optional)
Bluetooth headphones (A2DP)
Universal Bluetooth Adapter*

Comments

[Mikkun]

I'm looking into doing this mod, however, I do admit that I'm a dunce with soldering connections. If anyone can help update this mod, or post an instructable that has all the instructions, please message me if you have managed to upload it. Thank you

[mitchellhacks]

Will This Effect My Jailbreak

[DurtyBunny]

How does using the BT impact the battery life of the iPod?

[fstedie]

It all depends on the module you use but yes, it will use up more of your battery. I recharge mine pretty much everyday so it doesn't really matter to me. However, keep in mind that if you change out your HD for flash, you'll be gaining battery life there.

[Smokabowl]

and if you are using CF you should have the room for a hi cap LI POLY battery from the 4g series. Which would give you about a 370% increase in battery life + CF = 400%. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/BIPOD1350MPH/

[hakeem42020]

are you sure these work in the 5g ipods

[Mikkun]

do you still remember the model number of this bluetooth module?

[hakeem43020]

Does this work with the new ipod classics?

[Kristyanna1019]

look at the last slide before this there are three. the blue wire is audio ground.

[GENERALCHAOS]

ur link is dead

[Smokabowl]

Everything you need, is here people http://pinouts.ru/PortableDevices/ipod_pinout.shtml

[cotton]

my broter puled my clam shel ipod shuffle out while sinking and killed it i got it to work againand i hate the updated firmware

[Smokabowl]

The ground goes to the frame doesn't it always? As far as the actual DC+ all you need is a multimeter, a new battery in your ipod, and some patience.

[mat314kid]

Can you please tell me where the power and ground go to? I have my board all wired up, have completed the flash card upgrade, just finished tribooting IPL, RockBox and the Original FW. All I need now is to know where to solder the power and ground because I can't find my multimeter anywhere and really don't have the money to go spend $30+ on a new one.

[wvufan8866]

where does the ground for the audio go to on the ipod? and where do the ground and power go to on the ipod that were on the top right of the bluetooth mb?

[pledpfldfpldfp]

I second this request. This guide is useless because it leaves out these 2 critical steps. They show you disassembly, reassembly, but leave out where you actually solder the bluetooth power and audio wires. PLEASE FIX THIS GUIDE. IT IS USELESS IN IT'S CURRENT STATE!!

[fstedie]

No need for insults, this instructable is not useless, tons of people have successfully modded their ipods with this guide. 

As for the power & ground, it was left out on purpose.  If you can't figure out where to solder these two then you probably shouldn't be doing it...

[Mike8913]

 does this enable you to sync with your computer via BT?

[Robert.Springer]

Hey, I am looking at modding either a 5G or 4G ipod with the compactflash internal ssd and then adding a FM transmitter. My problem is though that I can not find the internal voltage that the ipod runs on anywhere on the internet. I need this because as I have the larger version of both these ipods I wish to add an internal fm transmitter (belkin tunecast 1 or equivalent) for use in the car. I know that most electronic devices run at 5v and was wondering if the ipod has a dc-dc transformer in it to transfer the voltage from the 3.7v lithium cell. Am I right to assume that the dc-dc converter only turn on when the ipod is on? If so I will just use a voltage divider to supply my 3v input for the FM transmitter. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Robert Springer

[MaltiK]

Must use up to 50% more power... so you will need to tether this baby, which will make the fact that its bluetooth kind of useless... because your wiring it up.

[potato413]

how much are the clear front panels and where do you buy them?

[ipodmodder]

For a 5th gen video they're only 10 bucks with a tool kit and everything else you need.
get em at http://www.rapidrepair.com/shop/ivue-ipod-crystal-case.html

just be warned, if you live outside of the us, they only ship international priority so you'll end up spending 30 bucks on shipping.

[joly]

Really good tutorial! I might try it! but what do you mean by : CF card fully ATA compliant

[fstedie]

fully ATA compliant means that the card will look just like a hard drive to the iPod.

[Derin]

or in other words:CF is fully IDE

[Derin]

or sata

[Derin]

no not sata sata dosnt have 50 pins(i counted)

[Redgerr]

lol, thats a lot of counting :O

[lasalite]

not really sata has only a few pins, less than 20 i think, ATA compliant means you arnt using some wierd SCSI, SATA, IDE, S-IDE, are all ATA

[bubbapod]

where on the ipod motherboard can you tap into the positive and negative power from the battery on a 5th generation ipod?

[nrusnak]

i would like to know what the hot glued wires are for? and because i do not see a place for the ground audio common where does it go?

[pmac93]

can you fit everything in it if you leave the hard drive in......it's pretty tight.....

[Derin]

you can with the 60/80 gb backplate

[lightmoon1345]

Wouldn't the constant exposure to the bluetooth give me cancer? I usually keep my ipod in my pocket the entire time. Im thinking long-term, I'm 16. So I don't wanna die at 50 or 40.

[NetReaper]

I think thats microwave radiation and cell phones, bluetooth isn't powerful like cell phones

[konablue]

not trying to rip on you in particular but to the general population...it drives me crazy when people say the higher number and then the lower number lol i.e. "50 or 40" or oh go put the cookies in for 15 or 10 minutes...its 10 OR 15 MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH lol

[surroundsound5000]

Have to agree. It just goes against grammatical convention. Just don't get me started on -Lack of capital letters -No space before ellipsis -Lack of quotation marks for direct speech -Overuse of exclamation marks -Etc -Etc Lol

[altmaker]

Sorry mate but its a difference of opinion. It may annoy you, but try venting it somewhere more appropriate.

[Redgerr]

i agree, this is not the place to vent about it lol, but i do think that is lower to higher numbers.

[konablue]

I felt this was pretty appropriate considering this is a fun site for people and i thought I made it pretty clear it was a joke...I realize different people and places have different ways...lighten up