Wireless car charging experiences

[djp246]

I'm looking to get my S6 soon and definitely want to get a car dock and charger.

Love the idea of wireless charging and will probably also get a wireless charging pad/stand for overnight charging.

I know wireless charging is slower, but I'm interested to know what the real world experiences of those with wireless car chargers is. Probably looking at the official Samsung car dock charger but I guess all wireless car docks are comparable.

Typically in car the screen would be on, bluetooth (transmitting music to my bluetooth wireless receiver), GPS often for SatNav, etc. My current car setup (HTC One) has a wired mirco-USB charger which just about holds its own (very slow net drain of battery) when charging but with all the features on. Typically, if I set off with 100% battery, I can make a 5-6 hour drive before the batter is close to depleted if constantly charging.

I'm worried that the S6 wireless charging will be so slow that my battery could be drained quickly even if he phone is constantly charging.

I guess my questions are:

1) For those that use in-car wireless charging and often have screen, bluetooth and GPS on, what is the situation with charge/battery drain approximately?

2) With most wireless car docks, I guess I could unplug the cable that powers the dock (as long as it is micro-USB and not proprietary) and plug this directly into the phone to get faster (if not wireless) charging in emergencies. Is this typically possible? Does anyone have the need to do this? If so, what would 'typical' battery drain be in this case?

Really interested to know how effective wireless charging will be in car as the wireless car dock chargers are pretty pricey and I'm wondering whether to get one or just opt for a standard car dock without wireless charging.

Thanks in advance or any help or insights.

 

[jcp007]

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Wirel...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU4489167

Welcome to the AC Forums. I too am interested in the OEM wireless car charger. Amazon has a pretty decent price. If it's anything like the OEM wireless charging pad that I got with my pre-order and use in my home office, you should be fine. It works fine with a Defender case or going commando. If you are interested one for home, check out my Defender review video.

 

[jcp007]

Samsung Wireless Car Charger

http://youtu.be/51DyRxHJzQQ

Samsung Wireless Charging Pad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7GZjDKS6E0

 

[djp246]

Thanks for the info and videos. That's the car charger I am looking to get. Really keen to know how fast these things charge the phone especially when the screen, bluetooth and GPS are all on. Hopefully someone who is using it (or similar wireless car charger) can let me know their experiences with it.

 

[bjybhs8]

I've tried 4 different wireless chargers trying to find one that actually charges while in use. I have not found one that is awesome.

My next move is to get a less expensive wireless care mount charger and still use a 2A cigarette plug. I will keep it setup to do wireless charging but only when I'm not using the battery extensively. Since the USB ports are near each other, I'll connect the USB directly to the phone to get the faster charging.

 

[djp246]

I've now owned the official Samsung Wireless Charger for a few weeks. Here are my thoughts.

1. The charger is very well designed and made of quality materials with a good finish.

2. The dock holds the phone very securely and the suction has been faultless so far.

3. The release mechanism is excellent.

4. In terms of my original question about wireless charging speed, it is a bit better than I expected. With the screen, bluetooth, GPS, etc. on permanently in car, with wireless charging enabled, the phone tends to lose approx 1% per 3-4 mins so I reckon it would survive for somewhere in the 3-4 hour range if using from 100% full battery. This is fine for shorter journeys. For longer journeys of 2 hours+, I simply plug the cable in direct rather than using wireless charging and this increases the battery top-up rate and therefore range. Even wired charging often doesn't hold it's own, but the drain tends to be around 1% every 8-10 mins or so meaning very long journeys can be done.

5. My only gripe - and it is fairly significant - is that, on occasion, the wireless charging pauses, then charges, then pauses - continually. This probably happens 1 in 10 times or so, but when it does, it goes on and on. 'Bleep', wireless charging pauses (music pauses), 'bleep', wireless charging (music pauses), bleep, wireless charging pauses (music pauses), and so on. I usually unplug the thing or plug it in wired when this happens. Sometimes a reset helps but this is not always practical when driving to reset then initiate music and/or satnav again, etc.

If anyone know how to stop the 'wireless charging paused' scenario or what may be causing it, I'd love to know.

Other than this though, the charging dock is first class.