Charging while driving and navigating....

[3rdpig]

I typically run GNav and PocketCasts while driving and have the phone's BT connected to a Moto in car BT adapter that plays though the car's radio. The phone is in a dash holder and plugged into a Moto branded DC charger that's listed as 950 mah.

The battery will slowly discharge with this combination. 2 hours of driving will drop the phone from 80% to 50%. I realize that I'm running the BT radio, the cell radio, the GPS and the screen. I haven't tried a different charger yet or tested the one I'm using to make sure it's putting out it's listed amperage.

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[bradvoy]

I do this often, and it doesn't discharge. If the phone gets too hot it will stop charging. Make sure it can get plenty of ventilation in the spot you've mounted it.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[3rdpig]

I do this often, and it doesn't discharge. If the phone gets too hot it will stop charging. Make sure it can get plenty of ventilation in the spot you've mounted it.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

I hadn't thought of that. I keep it in a pretty thick, rubberized case, so overheating definitely may be the problem. I'll try it without the case tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I have the car dock and use it all the time while driving and use my casette adaptor to listen to music through my vehicle radio and the phone does get a bit warm, but it does charge. I remember once having my HTC Incredible and running GPS while streaming music and charging.....battery temp hit 125 and shut down.

 

[epimeth]

The few times I have used the bionic as a dash mounted gps I found that the discharge rate of the screen + gps + 4G is exactly the same as the charge rate from the car charger. Add bluetooth to the mix and I guess it discharges faster than it charges...
Try it without the bluetooth and see if the phone keeps a steady charge.

I realize that one would expect to be able to connect to their car over bluetooth while using gps and 4G - sounds to me like standard practice - and would be miffed that they can't do so and, at the very least, keep their charge level while plugged in. Sucks to not be able to :-(

 

[renegademoose]

I do this often, and it doesn't discharge. If the phone gets too hot it will stop charging. Make sure it can get plenty of ventilation in the spot you've mounted it.

Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

I have had this same experience, and being in the dash makes it very easy for the phone to heat up in the summertime during the day. Luckily I have a vent I can mount my phone over which keeps it nice and cool and I can have podcasts, bluetooth, and gps all going without a problem. It doesn't charge fast, but it does charge.

 

[Lee_Bo]

Also remember that mounting the phone anywhere on the dash or glass where the device is in direct sunlight, it's going to get hot. Even with a vent trying to keep it cool, the phone is black and will absorb the suns rays. I found the best place, at least in an Explorer, to mound my phone is just to the left of my rear view mirror. It's up high and out of the way but I can still see it easily.

 

[hkklife]

I recommend buying a 2.1A car charger (I personally have the Belkin micro one that's made for iOS devices): Belkin Car Micro Charger 2.1 AMP F8Z689tt

I have tried it with several microUSB cables and they all work find on my Bionic (and previously on my Droid X2).

It works FLAWLESSLY with my Bionic and I have never been able to "do" enough to make it lose power while charging. Personally, if I were in your shoes I'd turn one of those radios off (probably BT or GPS). i am kinda surprised to see a nearly 1A Moto charger exhibiting this kind of behavior. The wife had an older VZW-branded car charger that was 750mAh or so and it would drop while she was just using GPS & data. But I then switched her to a spare genuine Moto charger I had laying around and she had no issues whatsoever.