Nokia Lumia 1020 GPS drains battery faster than charging in car - Flat in 3.5 hours while charging

[a teo]

Update: This issue is now resolved by using a Nokia DC-20 car charger
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My first long 5hr drive with the GPS running, drained the battery to nothing in 3.5hrs. I was panicking and wondered if I had a dodgy new phone. It was on charge all the way.( never had any problem with my pureview 808 so I didn't think ) Fair enough I used a 1A car charger..

Just in case anyone suggests having a look at the settings, I have nothing running in the background. Network data off. all settings that use power has been set to OFF.

I am now using a 2.1A car charger , and tested it with GPS running for a 2x 15min journeys. Battery level dropped from 99% to 91% in the first 15min trip. And from 91% to 84% in the return 15min trip. So this means for long journeys it is still going to fail. even with a 2.1A charger.

I'll try it next with a good 2.1A power pack (instead of car charger) , and even set Battery Saving to ALWAYS ON. If GPS power draining is still faster than charging. Im not sure if Nokia have thought this out at design stage, hardware/software-wise.

Would be glad to hear of other user's experiences with extended GPS use..

 

[bijak_riyandi]

you do realize that Lumia 1020's battery is "only" 2000 mAh, right?

anyway, my Lumia 1020 survived a 10+ km trip fully using HERE Drive+ and listening to music halfway through while in battery saver mode...
that one was on Lumia Black firmware, though

 

[Blacklac]

Prob not an actual 2a charger.

 

[scgf]

I used to have this problem, and went through a few car chargers purportedly rated at 2amps. Eventually I purchased a Nokia branded charger and that worked fine. I can drive using GPS and listening to streaming music and I arrive at my destination with a fully charged phone.

 

[Remco de Wit]

Indeed, i also have that problem with my 920. on a normal car charger and it drains like a mother****er,
So now i need to drive a lot faster ..........................

 

[a teo]

Thank you scgf ..I will get a Nokia car charger. ... this may be the solution .. all the after-market chargers claim to be 2.1A , but I cant really test them.. I am happy to hear that at least it is not totally hopeless !! ... Once I have the Nokia charger and tested the GPS on the road on another long journey I can report back on here.. very grateful to you.. ( PS I use on of those chinese retractable usb cables, not sure if they also affect charging rate at all ?)

 

[Blacklac]

I used to have this problem, and went through a few car chargers purportedly rated at 2amps. Eventually I purchased a Nokia branded charger and that worked fine. I can drive using GPS and listening to streaming music and I arrive at my destination with a fully charged phone.

Are you using this 1a?

Between this sites store, Amazon and a quick Google, I couldn't find any ~2a Nokia chargers.

https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...ource=vb_wp&utm_medium=content&token=dS2isuy8

 

[Phillip Deackes]

I have the Nokia DC-20. Looks like it is 2 x 1a but it does the job.

Nokia Dual USB Charger DC-20 - Overview - Nokia - UK

 

[a teo]

Thanks for the link Phillip . the Nokia DC-20 works "perfectly" and 100% full at all times when constantly running the GPS. .Very handy.. it can also charge tablets ( but separately ). Wont be using those after-market (purportedly 2.1A) chargers ever again ....

 

[AlanTeew]

We just had this problem...I think the high heat and having the phone on the dash didn't help, and I'm concern our batteries (1020, 925) are seriously damaged. Qi also isn't working as well as it used to, perhaps the contacts were damaged. :unhappy:

 

[Tiago Coelho1]

Can anyone else confirm that the Nokia DC-20 solved the battery drain problems? Thinking of buying one, but slightly sceptical.

Thanks

 

[bathugeo]

Whether or not upgrading your charger will fix the problem depends on which problem you have.

Chargers all specify their power output misleadingly as a peak volt-amps, rather than (more correctly) as the wattage. The voltage regulator in a cigarette charger will have an efficiency of up to about 40%. That is, a good quality 1A charger will produce a charging power of less than 2W, giving a no-load charging time of over 3 hours. Cheaper chargers may have an efficiency as low as 14%, making the peak figure claimed virtually meaningless, and may well not have enough power to charge the phone under load. Therefore, upgrading your charger may fix your problem if you have been suckered in this way.

However, there also seems to be a separate problem with the Lumias. My Nokia 925 gets too hot to touch when using GPS, either from Drive+ or Microsoft Maps and I can confirm that using official chargers or even better ones does not solve the problem as it is probably drawing more than 2A.

The only thing that has worked for me is that I have noticed that the power drain is intermittent. Sometimes turning the phone off and on again fixes it. The problem has got worse since upgrading to Cyan, however. I am now thinking that it may be a hardware problem as some people on this thread don't seem to have the problem at all.

 

[efsb]

I'm having the same problem. I've used both official and non-official chargers and the battery drains faster than charging when using GPS. I get around it by turning off the GPS when I'm on long stretches and letting it charge, then turning on the GPS for the tricky bits...

 

[Sandor Nagy]

hi.
He maintains with absolute certainty that the store-bought nokia, nokia dual charger can maintain the levees during navigation.

so be sure that it works?

 

[Sandor Nagy]

hi.
He maintains with absolute certainty that the store-bought nokia, nokia dual charger can maintain the levees during navigation.

so be sure that it works?

 

[Blacklac]

You guys with the battery drain issues, have you downloaded Maps for offline? Using GPS is one thing, constantly downloading map data along side GPS updates are another.

 

[Live2Deliver]

pardon me if it is not polite to bump this thread. I have something to point out regarding car chargers from my own observation.

the electric current from the 12V port is very much affected and will vary according to the RPM of the engine.
electric is produced with each rotation of the alternator. thus as the engine speed varies, too will be the current produced.
When the RPM is screaming, the current generated was over the scale.

I did measure my 12V once to notice this relation to RPM. However what adverse effect will having variable or excessive current on the battery im not sure.
and the circuit design on each car can vary too.