Car charger & GPS

[shobuddy]

I know that charging via USB/Computer doesn't give the phone enuff juice to maintain, let along charge up if you are performing tasks on the phone. I'd like to know if this applies to the car charger as well. For example, if I'm on a long road trip and have the GPS & navigation turned on while phone is connected to the car charger, will the phone maintain charge, charge up or slowly deplete?

 

[Farabomb]

I have tried the car charger verizon sells and a motorola rapid rate I got off of amazon and neither will keep up. The motorla does a better job but I still see it drop on my 45 min ride into work.

 

[sv_one]

Seriously? There isn't a car-charger that charges this thing? :'(

 

[tintn00]

I have tried the car charger verizon sells and a motorola rapid rate I got off of amazon and neither will keep up. The motorla does a better job but I still see it drop on my 45 min ride into work.

I have the same problem. Everyone raves about via blue lit Motorola car charger but it doesn't keep up.

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[Farabomb]

I bought it becasue for that reason. I got the impression it would at least keep up but I went from 63 to 58 on my ride in with trapster on and full brightness. Still better than the one I had but it will not keep up.

Glad I bought 2 extra batteries and a wall charger as well.

 

[rixpre2010]

I use the charger that came in this set:

http://store.androidcentral.com/griffin-powerduo-universal/5A202A6702.htm [didn't buy it here - found the first one locally for less - ordered a second one online elsewhere]

This one is rated 2.1amps. Many chargers are 1amp or less.

I ran a quick test this afternoon. Ran google nav and pandora connected to the sound system by bluetooth. Took the wrong way home on purpose - lots of recalculating route. In the 15min drive power went from 61% to 64%. It's not a fast charge, but at least it stayed ahead of the drain.

 

[Farabomb]

My only worry is pushing that amperage constantly will shorten the life of the battery. I know from RC cars the harder you charge them the less life you get. I don't know if it holds true with Li-ion batteries as well.

On my way home I was running dashboard assist (datalogging speed and such with GPS) and it was charging with the motorola charger. I believe that one is 950 amps. I have had the charge go into saftey mode when it cuts brightness and charging with the verizon one (750 amps iirc) so the phone's internal monitoring should keep everything safe.

 

[randomizzer]

Just went on a recent trip and I used an old adapter that I had bought at Fry's several years ago that was for a PSP (the charger and the cable are seperate) so I plugged in my Droid USB cable to it and was able to slowly charge while using navigation. I believe it was rated at 1.5 or 1.75 amps, what ever it was it was less than the AC charger that came with my Charge so I was not to concerned about the current for charging.

 

[delco714]

Turn off 4g after you start driving. Bw the 4g gps and display you done even stand a chance. Make the display as dim a possible a well. I know this is hard when it is sunny out especially with sun glasses on

 

[Farabomb]

Just get a charger that outputs 1+amp and you don't have to worry.

 

[papa54]

Just get a charger that outputs 1+amp and you don't have to worry.

i ordered my charger from here if i remember right and on a two hour trip, it maintained the droid charge. got home pulled thecharger and checked phone..it was bout 2/3rds charge. i only recieved the charge yesterday so thats about all i can say except that last night i piddled with it and finaly went to bed. this morning i checked to see how dead the battery might be.. and i was surprised.. it was alive and ready to run..
battery life good...
car charge while gps on, good,
over night ... battery good,
Gps right on the dime...
calls in and out good even in areas where fassy never worked..
over all no complaints except one..

its loaded with Verizon junk for now but has a &^&%^% game named "lets golf" i can not get rid of her at all and she cost 5 bucks. called verizon they gave me a curtesy credit this time and for this time only,
seems Samsung/Verizon arranged a way to make even more cash flow..
sorry for this last part,, i'm just ticked .. thx for interruption..

 

[Farabomb]

On a trip camping this weekend I noticed a few things. On the way up at night the charger actually kept up with navigation, trapster and dashboard assist running. Seems night mode sucks less power. There even was a about a 20 mile stretch where there is no cell service and that didn't affect it. It was on the ragged edge but I had more charge on the phone then when I left.

 

[rmanaka]

Here's the deal, if the phone makes a USB connection when you plug in the charger, it probably won't keep up. The phone limits the charging current to 500ma or less if it thinks you are capable of handling a data transfer. The AC cube charger shorts the data wires and then the phone allows a higher charging current.

I fabricated a charge only adapter using a short USB extension cable and now it will actually charge when plugged into a 2.1A dual USB,car charger!

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[Farabomb]

Or just buy a charge only cable.

 

[richs10]

Maybe a stupid question, but I don't know a lot about the 'lectrikal stuff....

I have a 2amp cigarette lighter insert with a USB plug at the other end for my car (no wires involved). Can I just plug the phone into that using the USB cord it comes with the phone? Will it overcharge the phone? Or do I need a fancy Motorola "Blue Light" car adapter to charge the phone in the car?

Thanks

 

[04redgto]

I just made a 11hour trip from semissouri, to Detroit running navigation and streaming slacker radio the whole way. Full brightness. Battery was 100% when started, and 89% when I got there. About 1% an hour loss. Should be plenty ass long as u start at 100%. I use the blue lite moto charger by the way. Also on gummycharged set to underclock to 900mhz when charger is plugged in. I'm sure that may help some.

 

[Farabomb]

Maybe a stupid question, but I don't know a lot about the 'lectrikal stuff....

I have a 2amp cigarette lighter insert with a USB plug at the other end for my car (no wires involved). Can I just plug the phone into that using the USB cord it comes with the phone? Will it overcharge the phone? Or do I need a fancy Motorola "Blue Light" car adapter to charge the phone in the car?

Thanks

As long as the phone sees it as charge only. If you plug it in and it thinks it's plugged into a PC it will throttle the charge rate. I use the Moto "blue light" one and it works great. $5 off amazon.

 

[basscadet]

I just used the car charger that came with the phone from Costco (it's a generic piece of cr*p cigarette-lighter charger) and it had no problems keeping my phone charged on a 12 hour road-trip yesterday.

 

[atlantar6]

When I see a long stretch (50 miles plus) I set the car odometer and turn off the display. Then I get a positive charge. I have 4g, nav, and book on tape all going.

I did a 13 hour trip and only lose 1_2 percent an hour but when getting on a plane I always want a full charge.

 

[millemots]

I have a RocketFish car charger that I bought specifically because it had the highest power output of any charger on the rack at Best Buy. It doesn't have any problem keeping up with the Charge (haha) even with Navigation running (the battery overheats, but it does charge).

As a bonus, the charger has a USB outlet on it so I can also charge/power my GTab.

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