Alternative approach to wireless charging in the car ...

[gomezz]

Just got myself one of these

Aukey Wireless Charger Charging Pad with Built-in: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

which is a combined power pack / wireless charger. Cannot only be used as a powerpack to charge you device wirelessly or via USB but as a regular wireless charging pad plugged in overnight in a hotel room say and also as a wireless car charger. Just need a car cradle with deep enough arms or do what I intend to do and jam charger and phone into a cup holder with the charger plugged into the car's AUX power socket. Solves the problem for me of all the currently available integrated wireless car chargers being clunky and is easy to pack in bag or pocket.

 

[Harrie-S]

Great tip and cheaper as the Nokia DC-50
Amazon.co.uk: nokia dc-50: Electronics & Photo

 

[gomezz]

Just hit one slight problem: The cup-holder built into the works van is too small to hold the charger which is slightly too wide. Never mind, Plan B is I am getting a cheap cup holder which I intend to fix to my old Garmin sat-nav beanbag mount and which I can modify if need be to be wide enough hold the charger and phone. Was doing that anyway for use in my car which does not have a built in cup holder.

 

[gomezz]

While waiting for said cheap cup holder to arrive I have taped one of the several small plate stands I use to park my phone or tablet around the house to the bean-bag mount with a couple of bits of foam glued on to make sure the phone is positioned correctly over the charging sweet spot of the slightly larger charger. Added a loop of elastic round the top to make sure it is held secure.

 

[gomezz]

Have to say the plate stand idea needs further thought. Main issue is lack of side support when going round corners. Next idea it to adapt a tupperware box with indents cut in to allow it to be firmly gripped by my car cradle and by my Kenu Airframe portable vent clip with the front part of the plate stand glued inside suppyling the requisite bottom lip. Add bits of foam and an elastic retaining band to suit.

 

[gomezz]

OTOH on a two hour drive yesterday using the mobile phone sat-nav with the charger the battery dropped from 71% to 5% in two hours (was heading home so could risk going that low) even though the phone showed it was charging. This was with the screen cover of the flip case folded back between phone and charger which creates a slight air gap which I guess reduces charging efficiency (though not a problem with my two of my home wireless chargers but is with a third). Need to try that again with the screen cover just hanging loose so the phone is tight against the charger with just the thin plastic back of the case in between.

But it look like I will probably be continuing to use my old Streetpilot 2610 as my sat-nav for longer journeys but that has 2009 maps for which updates are no longer provided so keep the phone for just the last mile or so to home in on the final destination if the SP gets lost.

 

[gomezz]

Yet another option: Was tidying the guest bathroom and came across and old small tub of earbuds. The tub is the perfect size to hold charger and phone so have modded it by cutting away a section at the front to make the screen viewable.

Done a static sat-nav test with the phone held snug against the charger without the screen cover in the way and it charges faster than the sat-nav app runs it down. Just need to repeat that test while on the move as I suspect there is less GPS usage going on while stopped on one place.

 

[gomezz]

Repeated sat-nav test on the move and we still have net positive charging, hurrah!

Decided that the plate stand taped to the bean mount is my best option with the use of a piece of elastic tape holding the top of charger and phone secure to the stand. May dismantle and re-assemble more neatly though.

 

[gomezz]

Latest idea: Will keep the bean-bag mounted plate stand version but it is a bit bulky and heavy to keep in the work bag so will keep it for car use. New plan is to adapt another plate stand by cutting off the rear plane and cutting in a couple of notches into the sides of the front plane for my Kenu Airframe to grip securely. Still with foam and elastic for positioning and security. With changes to my delivery area in prospect I foresee the need for more sat-navvery for a while until I learn the new bits so I need a means of charging on the move given the USB socket of my 820 is not working.

Edit: Works well without any notches cut in the sides as the Kenu Airframe firmly grips both charger and plate stand. Very light and very compact, ideal to pack into my work bag. Works with my centre console mounted car cradle too and allows me to use the cradle's built in USB lead to power the charger (the beanbag mount on the dash was too far away).

So unless the cup holder (when it turns up) can be modded to offer a better solution (with no need for elastic bands) I think I am done.

 

[gomezz]

Small update: The cup holder eventually turned up and looks like it had the potential for adaptation but very happy with the plate stand solution now so attached the cup holder to the passenger side air vent of my car using a couple of cable-ties as reassuring security in light of the weedy looking clips it came with.

 

[gomezz]

Finally figured out why Glance in Peek mode seemed to stopped working whenever I used this homemade charging cradle: To hold the phone in place I use two flat hairbands, one near the bottom just above the fixed Return/Home/Search buttons but low enough to see all of the Here+ navigation screen and the other at the top, again so I can see all of the Here+ navigation screen. But this meant the top band was covering the camera lens and flash apertures so Glance was thinking that it was still in my pocket as it was totally dark so the screen stayed blank. Moving the top band a little lower means that the only thing of note it is obscuring on the Here+ navigation screen is the battery charge indicator and I can live with that as the power pack is providing a net positive charge even when using sat-nav which is heavy on the battery.

Edit: BTW I also discovered from this that DTTW does not activate if it thinks the phone is in your pocket which makes sense - you lot probably already knew this though.