I made a dual device mount for my car. I have been using a mount for my Dell Axim Pocket PC for GPS navigation. It plays over my stereo using the PIE Hon-Aux adaptor.

I wanted to store more music than my SD card could manage and bought the new 40GB ipod. I LOVE THIS COMPARED TO THE DELL DJ I RETURNED LAST YEAR. It is incredibly simple to use and the line out feature works wonders.

I bought the Belkin ipod car kit, plugs into the dock connector, charges the ipod and has an amplified line out (NOT headphone out - so you get better highs and lows).

I already own an Arkon CM088 pedestal mount. I was using an Arkon Multimedia mount to hold my Axim. However, I needed/wanted both devices to work at the same time AND I wanted something that would let me mount and remove the devices quickly - I bought a Seidio mount (it cracked in the first week - granted it was a first gen model), bought a Tom Tom mount (THEY ARE HORRIBLE AND HAVE NO CUSTOMER SERVICE).

So, I was left with few options, this option ended up being the best BY FAR. I bought a proclip mount for each device from proclipusa.com, then made a bracket from plastic I bought from a model store. I spaced the mounts to where I wanted them next to each other, scored the plastic sheet and created a mount. The plastic is about 4-5mm thick. I sprayed the plastic black, then put a dull coat on after to give better heat resistance. I then drilled holes into the plastic to attach the proclip mounts and the AMPS mount for my CM088.

When I want to listen to my music, I just slide the ipod and the axim into their mounts, connect the dock connector to the ipod, power and sound line to the axim and start the car. Works really well, only downside is the amplifier on the belkin car kit drowns out the axim's sound more than I want, but I can clearly hear my music at most speeds (any ideas on how to increase the axim sound?)

Here are the results:

 

Sweet setup!!! Very creative

 

I ran into one snag...need an engineer or someone with a lot of electrical knowledge and some advice...

I couldn't get much volume out of the Dell, but the ipod sounded incredible. I took both units inside and connected them to a set of computer speakers. Same thing - ipod was loud, Dell was nearly quiet. If I unplugged the ipod from the splitter the Dell's volume increased 10 times.

I did some research on the internet and no one recommends sharing the same line with two powered devices, causes some issues. The several articles I read talked about shorting the system with what I did. I already unplugged the line connecting to the Dell so only the ipod is going over the stereo through the hon-aux. The articles were based on sharing a set of speakers with two computers. The funny thing is I do that, but my speakers actually have two inputs on them and were made for that...

Anyone know of an option to connect both devices to the line in and not have power/shorting concerns? I looked at Radioshack.com for some device that may filter the power, but couldn't come up with anything.

Worst case, I get a small external speaker for the Dell... Radio Shack had one for CB radios (mono) for $10 or so, which is fine for me at this point. I just don't want the size of the powered mount. I could mount the speaker up in the passenger footwell, if needed.

Anyone have advice?

 

I found a solution for my sound problem. The solution just came in and works extremely well. Both the ipod and my Dell Axim with GPS play at the same volume.

I bought a mini-mixer from Rolls through their online dealer Music123.

Here is a link to the device:
http://www.music123.com/Rolls-MX42--Stereo...r-i138112.music

Inexpensive and it lets you connect up to 4 devices to one output.