OK. So Apple ditched support for FireWire charging on the iPhone 3G. Stopping it from working properly with a lot of audio systems and car installations. FireWire support has been on its way out on the iPods for a long time and I guess Apple had to remove this feature at some point. Apple have a history of removing old technology pretty fast, but usually they have provided some kind of replacement. An external floppy drive when that was removed. An external DVD drive for the MacBook Air etc.
In this case they did not provide any adapters, leaving a lot of people pretty angry. Whatever. Other companies are already working on the appropriate pieces of electronics. And I need one of those, because the iPhone 3G will not charge in my car.
However, I am experiencing problems charging my iPhone through a lot of standard USB equipment as well. Stuff that charges my Nokia Phone, my iPod and a lot of other USB based gadgets.
It seems like the iPhone 3G does more checking on the USB port before it starts charging. Here are some examples.
The image shows two standard USB charging units. Simple connectors that converts the 12V in the car to 5V in the USB port. The white one charges my 60GB iPod but not my iPhone 3G. The black one charges both my iPod and the iPhone 3G.
The same goes for these travel chargers. The one to the left only charges my iPod. The one to the right charges both.
And because of the not-so-impressive battery life of the iPhone 3G it would have been nice if this portable battery / solar charger would work. But it won’t. Works fine on all USB based gadgets I’ve tried, but not on the iPhone 3G.
Others are also looking into this, but if you have a simple explanation or know about an adaptor that will make all USB chargers work on the iPhone 3G – please let me know.
Update:
I did some more research and found a solution.
eirikso 
[…] presa romaneasca lauda iPhone 3G (OMG! cati bani bagati in publicitate). Uite ca are si probleme cu incarcarea pe USB, drept urmare un blackberry tinde sa fie mai bun, sau cel putin SonyEricssonul meu Etichete: de pe […]
yeah, I bought a usb car adapter at Clas Ohlson, and it didn’t charge my iphone 3g. Pretty disappointing.
[…] I posted my last article I decided to do some experimenting based on the description of the DIY iPhone 3G charger I linked […]
I just bought a Charge Converter from CableJive and it worked great. It also has a mini-USB port on the side if you have a Blackberry or something of that nature. It only took a few days to get to me, and the guys there answered all the questions I had quickly. I’d recommend checking them out for a solution to this problem. Heres the link:
http://www.cablejive.com
I do have problems with some cheap chargers.
For example I bought a pair – one for car one wall charger. The car charger works all the time, in any conditions. The wall charger works only if the iPhone 3G is charged already at least 70-80%. If it’s over that threshold, it will charge it fully and it will keep the charge (while playing music, playing games, etc). But if it’s under, although it says it’s charging, it’s not.
That never happens with Apple chargers. So it might be something design-specific for cheap chargers.
my iphone doesnt charge with the USB wall and neither with the USB direct to the PC but it does show the icon of a plug and a power (thunderbolt) and the battery with a small red line on the the left side…anyone has this problem?
Further to your problem alex, im havin sort of the same. i plugged my iphone into the computer via usb last night and the battery logo came up, half full, as expected…..
When i got up this morning, the iphone had switched itself off due to low battery, as if the computer had almost sucked the charge out of it
Alex, Matt, I’m havin sort of the same. Any solutions to this?