Outrunning the car charger?

[sbhsquared]

Is it typical to "outrun" the car charger - I know it charges more slowly than the home charger, but it seems a bit ridiculous to be charging in the car for 6 hours on a trip, and to get home with very little battery left. (And a very hot Maxx, as well.) I'm running Google Navigation, music (stock app) and Bluetooth, and ICS. Is that just too much drain for the car charger to keep up with?

Thanks,
Beth

 

[Unforgiven]

Check the output of your car charger. I have a 1Amp charger and it will barely charge if I am running navigation. When I was on a .5Amp charger it would actually drain quite rapidly.

Also, I find for long trips I turn the screen off when I have a good distance between turns as Screen On is usually the number one battery killer. Say I have 50 miles to the next exit I'll just make a mental note of my odometer and turn the screen on after about 45 miles.

 

[DDG]

Unfortunately, running nav and music will outrun your charger.

As stated, it helps turning off the screen. The voice will tell you when to turn.

 

[Optid]

Is it typical to "outrun" the car charger - I know it charges more slowly than the home charger, but it seems a bit ridiculous to be charging in the car for 6 hours on a trip, and to get home with very little battery left. (And a very hot Maxx, as well.) I'm running Google Navigation, music (stock app) and Bluetooth, and ICS. Is that just too much drain for the car charger to keep up with?

Thanks,
Beth

It's your charger. I had the same problem, I purchased a new one and voila problem solved.

 

[B360155]

It's your charger. I had the same problem, I purchased a new one and voila problem solved.

Do you have a link you can post of the one you bought or tell us where you got it? I have a Motorola car charger, the one with the clear circle with the M logo on it and blue light that would add to the charge level just fine with my previous Droid X with Navigation, Bluetooth and Music App running simultaneously. Same charger with my Razr Maxx running the same things on ICS at 85% screen brightness stays about even or maybe loses a percentage point or two per hour.

 

[Optid]

Do you have a link you can post of the one you bought or tell us where you got it? I have a Motorola car charger, the one with the clear circle with the M logo on it and blue light that would add to the charge level just fine with my previous Droid X with Navigation, Bluetooth and Music App running simultaneously. Same charger with my Razr Maxx running the same things on ICS at 85% screen brightness stays about even or maybe loses a percentage point or two per hour.

To be honest with you I'm using one from Walmart. I'll include a picture. I believe it was 10 bucks.

 

[Unforgiven]

To be honest with you I'm using one from Walmart. I'll include a picture. I believe it was 10 bucks.

I'm using a Verizon one. Nothing special but 1amp

 

[OrderFromChaos]

It could be a couple of things. As stated already, what is the amperage on your charger? Is the phone in the direct sun when charging?

The temperature makes a huge difference when charging. I have a 2.1 amp charger that works great (the phone only draws < ~1 amp). Even then, during the summer time when driving in the direction of the sun my phone's battery will slowly decrease even though it's charging. In the summer when driving the opposite direction, or any other time of the year my phone's charge increases. In the summer the phone's temp can get as high as 125 (driving with the sun hitting the phone), whereas it's usually around 105 any other time when charging. Remember, temperature is kryptonite to electronic devices.

Here's the charger that I use:
Amazon.com: Griffin Technology PowerJolt 2.1 amp Power Charger for iPad, iPhone and iPod (Black): Electronics

 

[steveo42]

I have the Verizon Charger with the little trap door on it that has a standard USB connection as well as the normal sub-mini Razr one.

I find the thing charges REALLY FAST even when using Google Navigation.
Don't use the phone for music so I can't comment on that, but I do have the brightness on full when plugged in so that's definitely a drain.

Try another charger.

 

[Optid]

I have the Verizon Charger with the little trap door on it that has a standard USB connection as well as the normal sub-mini Razr one.

I find the thing charges REALLY FAST even when using Google Navigation.
Don't use the phone for music so I can't comment on that, but I do have the brightness on full when plugged in so that's definitely a drain.

Try another charger.

Ya its definitely the charger. I use spotify navigation and Waze when on road trips and my phone charges fine.

 

[droidnick]

When I use my Verizon car charger it charges 3x's fater than the wall charger. i\It will gain 10% every 15 minutes, on the wall charger it takes much longer ? No issue, just thought I would share my user experience.

 

[JRJ]

I use the Verizon Dual usb charger (2 amp) that uses the original usb cable that came with your phone and it has no problem at all charging the phone while using nav and streaming music that is being played over bluetooth.

 

[steveo42]

When I use my Verizon car charger it charges 3x's fater than the wall charger. i\It will gain 10% every 15 minutes, on the wall charger it takes much longer ? No issue, just thought I would share my user experience.

I didn't measure the speed of my Verizon car charger, but it's VERY FAST so what you are saying makes sense to me.

 

[CooperLA1]

I didn't measure the speed of my Verizon car charger, but it's VERY FAST so what you are saying makes sense to me.

I can agree with this, I was charging my phone last night for the first time on the car charger and it charged very quickly. Seems that the Verizon car charger works pretty well for a few of us at least. Hope that helps!

 

[B360155]

OrderFromChaos raises a very valid point about temperature impacts. I live in TX and I noticed this morning driving into work before the sun was up that I did increase my charge level. The times when I've noticed a drop in charge has been in the afternoon driving home when it's much hotter and the sun is beating on my phone. I even use a A/C vent mount to try and help keep the device cooler.

 

[farfromuman]

When the battery gets to a certain temperature it will not charge to prevent damage. Also when the battery gets hot it looses capacity.
To prevent overheating when running multiple tasks in the car I setup underclock profiles in SetCPU based on the battery temps, everything still runs fine even at 600Mhz.

 

[FussBoss]

I would say it can also be the car. I know it is the case for me. My wife and I had the same charger. When in my car I would plug it in, use waze and stream music via winamp - screen on the entire time hooked up with an AUX cable to the stero (for the music). by the end of the trip I would have more power than I started with.

Now, in my wife's car I use the same charger and only use waze (no aux input so not streaming music) and the battery will be much lower at the end of the same trip. So that shows me the car can have something to do with it.

We did recently pick up a new charger for my car, since we take longer trips in it:
reNUE c2 - Dual 10 Watt (2.1A) USB Car Charger
and OMFG it is amazing. Super fast for *both* phones. I would pay doubel that for the same thing because it works so well.

 

[Andy in NY]

I had the same problem... It was the charger. After a 3 hour trip running just nav, the battery was at 40%. Now it gets to full charge and stays there. I'm using an enercell charger from Radioshack.