Battery draining while in car mount w/charger?

[aiwasoundsystem]

All day today I have been driving around with my X in the carmount w/ charger. I noticed it drop from 80% to 70% while I was driving around and later noticed it was at 30%. All this time it was in the carmount. I was using only GPS for navigation. I don't think it should be discharging at all while on the charger no matter what is running. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[Droidxer10]

same issue

Yes, I seem to have the very same issue. If you look carefully at the battery icon, it displays whether it is charging or not (it displays by showing something like a lightning bolt going through the battery). My Droid X charges when I plug the auto-charger directly into the Droid X. However, my Droid X does not charge at all, not ever, when I plug the auto-charger into the car mount and then put my Droid X into the car mount. I presume that the wires in my car mount are bad. I ordered a new car mount from Verizon online and plan to return the old one to the Verizon store where I purchased it (they were about to sell out of car mounts when I bought the phone - that is why I ordered a new one online as opposed to trying to exchange the one I bought at the store).

I guess I am not the only one with a faulty car mount, and neither are you.

By the way, do you have any trouble hearing the verbal navigation directions in your car? I do. I generally have trouble hearing things with the speaker phone on my Droid X - the speaker phone volume seems much, much too low generally to be acceptable for a new smartphone. I love my new Droid X except for this volume problem. If you have a similar problem with low volume/speaker, could you please consider checking out my post on the matter, perhaps following the simple steps described in the post, and maybe also replying to the post with comments on any low volume/speaker problems you might have with your Droid X? Thanks.

Here is a link to the post:

Special Post on How to Make Progress with the Alleged Low Volume Speaker Problem
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...gress-alleged-low-volume-speaker-problem.html

 

[aiwasoundsystem]

Yes, I seem to have the very same issue. If you look carefully at the battery icon, it displays whether it is charging or not (it displays by showing something like a lightning bolt going through the battery). My Droid X charges when I plug the auto-charger directly into the Droid X. However, my Droid X does not charge at all, not ever, when I plug the auto-charger into the car mount and then put my Droid X into the car mount. I presume that the wires in my car mount are bad. I ordered a new car mount from Verizon online and plan to return the old one to the Verizon store where I purchased it (they were about to sell out of car mounts when I bought the phone - that is why I ordered a new one online as opposed to trying to exchange the one I bought at the store).

I guess I am not the only one with a faulty car mount, and neither are you.

By the way, do you have any trouble hearing the verbal navigation directions in your car? I do. I generally have trouble hearing things with the speaker phone on my Droid X - the speaker phone volume seems much, much too low generally to be acceptable for a new smartphone. I love my new Droid X except for this volume problem. If you have a similar problem with low volume/speaker, could you please consider checking out my post on the matter, perhaps following the simple steps described in the post, and maybe also replying to the post with comments on any low volume/speaker problems you might have with your Droid X? Thanks.

Here is a link to the post:

Special Post on How to Make Progress with the Alleged Low Volume Speaker Problem
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...gress-alleged-low-volume-speaker-problem.html

I haven't had any problems hearing the nav instructions in the car mount. It shows that it's charging but the battery is going down instead up. Am I to assume that no matter if I have Bluetooth, Wireless, GPS all on simultaneously that it should still charge in the mount with the charger plugged in? I don't see what the point of the charger would be if it can't meet the demand of the phone while charging.

 

[Warner]

Yes, I seem to have the very same issue. If you look carefully at the battery icon, it displays whether it is charging or not (it displays by showing something like a lightning bolt going through the battery). My Droid X charges when I plug the auto-charger directly into the Droid X. However, my Droid X does not charge at all, not ever, when I plug the auto-charger into the car mount and then put my Droid X into the car mount. I presume that the wires in my car mount are bad. I ordered a new car mount from Verizon online and plan to return the old one to the Verizon store where I purchased it (they were about to sell out of car mounts when I bought the phone - that is why I ordered a new one online as opposed to trying to exchange the one I bought at the store).

I guess I am not the only one with a faulty car mount, and neither are you.

By the way, do you have any trouble hearing the verbal navigation directions in your car? I do. I generally have trouble hearing things with the speaker phone on my Droid X - the speaker phone volume seems much, much too low generally to be acceptable for a new smartphone. I love my new Droid X except for this volume problem. If you have a similar problem with low volume/speaker, could you please consider checking out my post on the matter, perhaps following the simple steps described in the post, and maybe also replying to the post with comments on any low volume/speaker problems you might have with your Droid X? Thanks.

Here is a link to the post:

Special Post on How to Make Progress with the Alleged Low Volume Speaker Problem
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...gress-alleged-low-volume-speaker-problem.html

I haven't had any problems hearing the nav instructions in the car mount. It shows that it's charging but the battery is going down instead up. Am I to assume that no matter if I have Bluetooth, Wireless, GPS all on simultaneously that it should still charge in the mount with the charger plugged in? I don't see what the point of the charger would be if it can't meet the demand of the phone while charging.

Using the car dock, don't your Nav instructions come over your car speakers? Mine do. I have run Nav and Pandora at the same time with my X in the car dock and it still charges. Having said that, I'm probably using a different charger than you. I found some bad reviews of MY charger though, so I ordered the official Moto/Verizon one so maybe I'll see the same issue when I switch chargers?


Warner

 

[maidmarianiii]

Thats odd, I seem to get better battery life when I use my car charger. I figured it was because it was a long slow charge. Also, in a recent post, they mentioned to pull your battery and reset it and watch your charge go back up. I did this and havn't had any battery issues since doing both the battery and using car charger.

 

[Dark Lazer]

It's happened to me with my droid in the past. I'll be using the GPS while listening to Pandora, and my battery life goes down while using the car charger. I did notice the battery was very hot when this was happening (and I'm rooted and overclocked) so I figured this was the reason. But if it's happening on the DX, then I have no idea. I was using the moto/verizon car charger btw which I dont recommend. After about 4 months of having it, the part that plugs into the phone would slide out of the phone very easily. I'd have to have it sit on my lap with minimal movement (not gonna happen while driving). Was especially frustrating putting it into the car dock and hoping the car charger wouldnt slide it.

With no success I went to Best Buy and got one from their. Been working great since.

 

[garath]

Yes, I seem to have the very same issue. If you look carefully at the battery icon, it displays whether it is charging or not (it displays by showing something like a lightning bolt going through the battery). My Droid X charges when I plug the auto-charger directly into the Droid X. However, my Droid X does not charge at all, not ever, when I plug the auto-charger into the car mount and then put my Droid X into the car mount. I presume that the wires in my car mount are bad. I ordered a new car mount from Verizon online and plan to return the old one to the Verizon store where I purchased it (they were about to sell out of car mounts when I bought the phone - that is why I ordered a new one online as opposed to trying to exchange the one I bought at the store).

I guess I am not the only one with a faulty car mount, and neither are you.

By the way, do you have any trouble hearing the verbal navigation directions in your car? I do. I generally have trouble hearing things with the speaker phone on my Droid X - the speaker phone volume seems much, much too low generally to be acceptable for a new smartphone. I love my new Droid X except for this volume problem. If you have a similar problem with low volume/speaker, could you please consider checking out my post on the matter, perhaps following the simple steps described in the post, and maybe also replying to the post with comments on any low volume/speaker problems you might have with your Droid X? Thanks.

Here is a link to the post:

Special Post on How to Make Progress with the Alleged Low Volume Speaker Problem
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...gress-alleged-low-volume-speaker-problem.html

I haven't had any problems hearing the nav instructions in the car mount. It shows that it's charging but the battery is going down instead up. Am I to assume that no matter if I have Bluetooth, Wireless, GPS all on simultaneously that it should still charge in the mount with the charger plugged in? I don't see what the point of the charger would be if it can't meet the demand of the phone while charging.

What kind of charger do you have? Sounds like the phone is expending more power than it draws.

 

[dansbetter]

I noticed this same exact issue. I used the car dock and car charger together from a Verizon store. On a 3 hour drive using the turn-by-turn Nav system my battery was slowly draining.

The next day I tested it by wearing the battery down, then connecting it using the car dock and charger but without using gps and barely even touching it as I drove and sure enough it charged.

I guess with the GPS activated it drains faster than it is charging? This does not seem right.

 

[Warner]

I noticed this same exact issue. I used the car dock and car charger together from a Verizon store. On a 3 hour drive using the turn-by-turn Nav system my battery was slowly draining.

The next day I tested it by wearing the battery down, then connecting it using the car dock and charger but without using gps and barely even touching it as I drove and sure enough it charged.

I guess with the GPS activated it drains faster than it is charging? This does not seem right.

In fairness to this discussion, I am not currently using the Verizon car charger, nor do I use the GPS much. I'm usually just streaming Pandora music. I do have the Verizon charger on order though, after some scary sounding reviews of the charger I currently have (with the charger burning out, not that it was hurting anything attached to it). I'll be able to provide better feedback after I've had the Verizon (Motorola) charger for a while while using the GPS. I just don't use the GPS very much...I usually know where I'm going.

Warner

 

[deranger]

I had this EXACT problem today. Bought the car mount, used navigation on a 2 hour trip, and by the end my phone was dead, starting from a 70% charge. It showed a charge icon in the notification area but was not gaining a charge. The battery lasted longer than I would expect given no charger, screen brightness to full, GPS enabled, and satellite map data downloaded over 3G. The phone would slowly charge if I turned off Google Navigation and locked it.

I'm thinking the Verizon USB charger has an output of 500mA, which is the standard for USB ports. I checked the Motorola wall charger as soon as I got home, and it outputs 840mA. This would cause the phone to think it's charging, yet slowly drain because the car adapter can't supply the power. Any one else using the standard Verizon USB car charger and having this problem?

[edit] I'm almost certain that the typical USB chargers are only outputting 500mA, enough for a slow charge, but not enough to feed the massive display and processing requirements of having navigation up all the time. I noticed my phone charged almost two times faster on the Motorola wall charger than the phone turned off and connected to the Verizon 12v USB charger. I'm thinking an item like this 1000mA USB charger from DealExtreme might solve the problems.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34040

[/edit]

 

[xeene]

I'm thinking the Verizon USB charger has an output of 500mA, which is the standard for USB ports. I checked the Motorola wall charger as soon as I got home, and it outputs 840mA. This would cause the phone to think it's charging, yet slowly drain because the car adapter can't supply the power. Any one else using the standard Verizon USB car charger and having this problem?

[edit] I'm almost certain that the typical USB chargers are only outputting 500mA, enough for a slow charge, but not enough to feed the massive display and processing requirements of having navigation up all the time. I noticed my phone charged almost two times faster on the Motorola wall charger than the phone turned off and connected to the Verizon 12v USB charger. I'm thinking an item like this 1000mA USB charger from DealExtreme might solve the problems.

DealExtreme: $2.63 1000mA Car Cigarette Powered USB Adapter/Charger (DC 12V/24V)

[/edit]

you're absolutely right. that's the problem with most chargers, even with some generic verizon chargers. you have to purchase one that's specifically designed for droid x as the phone requires more mA then generic phones.

i've purchased a charger pack for my droid on ebay for $4 and the wall charger would work but not the car charger, so i gave the car charger to my wife as her lg env touch works fine with it and in return i took her car charger that i also purchased on ebay for $2 and it works fine with my droid x. worked out in the end but you have to be careful as dx requires more juice then other phones.

 

[KenniB]

Found this.....

Here's a link to an Amazon review for a MOTO rapid-rate car charger. Read through the review AND the responses for some interesting info on this issue. They're talking about the DROID, but it should be applicable to the DX also?

Amazon.com: N. Powers' review of Motorola P513 Vehicle Power Adapter MicroU...

 

[mrtoto54660]

I had this issue

I had this issue with the car charger. What I found out is that the sun is making the phone hot and as a safety setting once it hits a temp it stops charging. What I did was put it lower out of the sun and it was fine. Tried this a few times. But if I keep the phone cool i can use nav and pandora or rhapsody with no issue with it not charging

 

[-MikeR-]

Here's a link to an Amazon review for a MOTO rapid-rate car charger. Read through the review AND the responses for some interesting info on this issue. They're talking about the DROID, but it should be applicable to the DX also?

Amazon.com: N. Powers' review of Motorola P513 Vehicle Power Adapter MicroU...

I use this charger in my dock and it charges while my nav is on, i usually dont run anything else. My battery will stay charged all day but i usually drive a hour then it sits for 30-45 min charging then back on the nav.

 

[aiwasoundsystem]

So I finally got my replacement phone Friday due to another issue with a rebooting issue when the screen timed out. I put it on the mount with Nav and nothing else running. Again had the issue with it draining slowly. Turned off Auto-brightness and changed it to 40%. Started charging just fine. I'm thinking the display on the X is a HUGE power hog. Will try with higher levels of brightness to see where the threshhold is. Other than that the new X has been running like a dream, except the whole wi-fi not picking up the network when it's turned on till I do something that kicks it like a wifi analyzer.