I have an Alpine CDE-102 w/iPod cable (professionally installed) with which I use with an old 5th gen iPod Video 30gb. My goal is to just leave the iPod in the glove compartment and only remove it once a week or so to sync.
The problem is that when I turn the car off the iPod doesn't go to sleep, it just stays paused in the low power mode (display dimmed but not off). It will stay this way until the battery drains.
I found that if I just switch the lock switch to unlocked and back to lock while leaving the iPod connected to the stereo, this "wakes" the iPod up and allows it to then go to sleep shortly thereafter without disrupting the "pause". I should note that I do not have any issues with the iPod going to sleep when it is not connected to the Alpine.
After playing with it some more, I discovered how to get it to sleep without touching the iPod. If I just turn the car off after running the engine, the iPod does as described above (paused but not sleeping). However, if I then turn the car back on to accessory (without starting the engine) and wait a couple of seconds for the stereo to begin to initialize (the 'Alpine' name appears on the display) and then turn the car off the iPod will go to sleep. There is something about just turning the engine off that leaves the iPod in an unsleepable pause.
Turning the car back on is a little awkward, but less annoying than opening the glove box and flipping the lock switch back and forth.
Has anybody else has similiar issues and found a better solution?
Best Answer
I've found that with my 5thGen iPod (30GB Video, same as yours) that if I hold down the "pause/play" button, it goes into a deep-sleep mode (display off). Then I quickly push the "lock" switch so that I don't turn it back on.
This seems to work well for keeping my iPod charged up.