Car Dock and Overheating??

[pilot25]

Anyone have a problem with your phone getting really hot while on your car dash? The sun beats on it then stops charging. Once it cools down, after removing it from the dash, it starts charging again. I'm not rooted or overclocked.

 

[rjax]

I just noticed this today (my phone wasn't charging despite being plugged in, and it was fairly warm when I took it out of the dock). I hadn't associated the behavior with overheating, even though in retrospect it seems like the most obvious conclusion.

I'm also stock all the way.

 

[Vulcan1600]

Are you running Maps or Pandora or anything while charging and in the dock?

 

[pilot25]

maps. does it matter??

 

[rjax]

It matters, but I don't know how preventable it is. Maps will use both GPS and 3G, which definitely heats the phone up.

However, I was only using the stock music app (with the screen on -- certainly a contributing factor), so it can happen even with no GPS/large amounts of data being used.

 

[pilot25]

Thinking about it. Couple times moving it off the dash I still had the maps running but it was out of the sunlight. Started charging after about 15 minutes out of the sun. It's never done this before but it just started getting warm the last couple weeks here in D.C.

I can't believe that kind of heat would shut down the battery charging. Guess I'm going to need to get one of those vent mounts. Otherwise the NAV portion of the phone is completely useless in the summer.

 

[souljerr]

When I use the car dock and run maps it runs hot also. It doesn't stop charging though. I thought it might just be the sun beating down on it bur now I'm not so sure.

 

[Dxun]

This answers a lot of my questions. I take a drive to Vegas from AZ just about every 2 weeks. I use the GPS for this trip and found that my battery is near dead by the time i get to my destination. I never thought for 1 second that it stopped taking charge due to the phone temp. I'll try something different Tuesday when i leave for Vegas again. See if keeping the phone out of the windshield helps any. I thought it was the phone using more power than what the charger was providing.

 

[rjax]

I'm in DC, too, interestingly enough.

I'd have to see the Droid stop charging a few more times under possible overheating conditions to truly be concerned about it, though.

I do wonder if the dock would help prevent this, if the dock were white.

 

[pilot25]

My screen shuts off when charging stops. After a couple times I set it to dim after a minute of no use so I know when it's too hot and the charge has dropped off.

I would like to hope the next gen devices (incredible and such) won't have this problem but how do you fight the sun? How does Garmin, etc... do it?

 

[pilot25]

I do wonder if the dock would help prevent this, if the dock were white.

I doubt it. I drove from Quantico, VA to Frederick, MD and back today (1.5hours each way) and it didn't have a problem for the first 45 minutes then it started getting hot. I'd put my hand on the dash, after taking it down, and the dash was boiling. I was out of the car for a couple hours but around 30ish minutes in the car again it shut down.

I drive from Baltimore to Quantico, about an hour drive, a few times a week and haven't seen this until the weather started warming up. I use it when I drive for traffic all the time too.

I just installed a battery temp monitor and on my next trip I'm going to watch it to see what happens. I've left the gps unit on in my house while charging and it's been fine for the last 2 hours. So it has to be the damn sun.

 

[amberstang]

Noticed this today driving for 4 hours with GPS and Maps running. Phone was plugged into charger and became very hot to the touch. The phone was in the car dock on the dashboard. It was sunny. Also, Droid turned itself off and restarted 3 times. Did not get as hot when not connected to charger. After battery drained completely from using phone when not plugged into charger, I replugged it into the charger. It did not charge despite being plugged into car charger for over an hour. I now have it plugged into the desk dock and charging off my my laptop. The phone is cool to the touch.

Moto Droid OS 2.1. update 1

 

[rjax]

I do wonder if the dock would help prevent this, if the dock were white.

I doubt it. I drove from Quantico, VA to Frederick, MD and back today (1.5hours each way) and it didn't have a problem for the first 45 minutes then it started getting hot. I'd put my hand on the dash, after taking it down, and the dash was boiling. I was out of the car for a couple hours but around 30ish minutes in the car again it shut down.

I drive from Baltimore to Quantico, about an hour drive, a few times a week and haven't seen this until the weather started warming up. I use it when I drive for traffic all the time too.

I just installed a battery temp monitor and on my next trip I'm going to watch it to see what happens. I've left the gps unit on in my house while charging and it's been fine for the last 2 hours. So it has to be the damn sun.

I don't drive all that often, so I'll definitely be interested to hear those battery temp results. I assume you'll find a temperature that consistently maps to charging shutting down.

I might be maxing out the AC next time I need Nav for an extended period of time... if would even make much of a difference.

 

[pilot25]

I might be maxing out the AC next time I need Nav for an extended period of time... if would even make much of a difference.

I thought about doing that. Putting it on defrost but I decided it wasn't worth it. I had the sunroof open and it would just tick me off I would have to enclose myself for traffic watch on my phone.

I'll update the next drive. I'm going to use it going up on the dash and keep it completely out of the sun on the drive back. If it doesn't shut down on the drive home then we know it's not the map app but the sun. Then I will be getting a vent mount.

....

 

[rjax]

By the way, there's some discussion about those with rooted Droids having this problem here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/31665-help-temperature-2.html#post334624

Basic summary is that one guy saw his Droid get up to 150F and was also reporting possible charger shutoff.