Does the wireless charging pad charge enough?

[Nick72]

Thinking of getting a Motorola wireless AA adapter. But if I'm not plugging my phone in and putting it on the charger pad, is more juice going to go in than goes out from my phone burning the calories?

Running a Samsung S24U so it's a bit of a beast. What I don't want to happen is I get to my destination and there's less charge in the phone than when I put it on the charging pad. 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

I think that’s exactly what usually happens when charging wireless.
I only offer this type of charge to my passengers.  
For me the best way is old school original or high quality aftermarket cable and charger.

[Nick72]

21 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

I think that’s exactly what usually happens when charging wireless.
I only offer this type of charge to my passengers.  
For me the best way is old school original or high quality aftermarket cable and charger. 

That's what I was afraid of. 

[dannyboy413]

Just to confirm the above, although I have the C-HR. The wireless charging pad might as well not be there! I have used it a few times and like you @Nick72 , I have the Samsung S24 Ultra. I used it yesterday on a 20 minute journey home and for once, the phone stayed in contact with the pad, but when I got home, the state of charge was exactly the same as when I started - and I was not using the phone. And the whole phone was quite warm so I have decided I will not be bothering with it again and if I do need to charge the phone in the car, I will use a cable and the usb charger thingymajig that plugs into the accessory socket.

[J2024IE]

i had the wireless charging in the 23 Corolla TS, and also have it in the new Rav4, when i used with with an iphone  the phone got very hot, and phone didn't charge as much as i expected. so now I just use the cable to charge when needed.

[Torrox]

For a long drive say 5-6 hours yes it charges, but short journey hardly any. I think the rate of charge is really low. You can see it is charging by the icon on the left hand side of the infotainment screen.

[Nick72]

Thanks all. Sounds like if you have an electron guzzler phone then it's largely pointless. I mean, it probably reduces the amount of charge loss when AA etc is fired up, listening to YouTube music, Waze running etc. but I'm probably not going to have a fully charged phone at the end of a 2 to 4hr journey. I think I may need to knock wireless AA on the head 😥

[ernieb]

11 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Thinking of getting a Motorola wireless AA adapter. But if I'm not plugging my phone in and putting it on the charger pad, is more juice going to go in than goes out from my phone burning the calories?

Running a Samsung S24U so it's a bit of a beast. What I don't want to happen is I get to my destination and there's less charge in the phone than when I put it on the charging pad. 

I have a Motorola A1 and yes it works very well but it does burn the Battery on a longish trip. I just plug the phone in all the time. I have lead already connected and then just connect the phone then turn on the car. No hassle really and a phone that always ready to go when I get to the end of my trip.

[Kos_ta]

I'm using aftermarket charging pad bought from AliExpress as my 69 plate RAV4 didn't have one and it's actually charging the phone while it's being used for maps and music connected through MA1 adaptor. 

[Mike2222]

I too bought a wireless AA dongle thing, but have yet to use it, primarily as a result of already conditioning myself to plug in every time I get in the car, so although I completely see the point of wireless AA, I always seem to have prioritised other items on the to-do list rather than set it up! It's stayed in its box for about a year now 🤦... 

 

I have this vague idea in the back of my mind that at some point I will install it and move to using the charging cables in the armrest console, so as to have the phone hidden away when driving. I've seen the authorities have started rolling out traffic monitoring camera systems that use AI to spot when people are handling phones and issuing fines/penalty points etc. Call it paranoia, but at present the phone sits very close to places my hand moves to when driving (air con, infotainment, gear selector, hybrid/ev selector etc), and if such penalties transpire to be as difficult/pain in the a&se to dispute as those automated parking charge camera systems, then for the sake of being able to hide the phone away, the wireless AA might be worth it. 

[Mojo1010]

My setup is different in that I don't have a wireless pad (no wireless phone anyway), using wired AA on a short trip doesn't charge the phone much - 500mah. So bought a wireless AA ACP dongle and charged the phone via the 12v for fast charging. 

[Nick72]

6 hours ago, Kos_ta said:

I'm using aftermarket charging pad bought from AliExpress as my 69 plate RAV4 didn't have one and it's actually charging the phone while it's being used for maps and music connected through MA1 adaptor. 

Thanks. Does that charging plate plug into the cigarette lighter or the USB? I thought the USB connector had a very limited wattage?

[philip42h]

You don't want to be using the USB connection to the multi-media system as a power source. It's a data input (that will also provide a limited amount of power to the input device). The original USB spec limited it to 0.5A @ 5V (2.5W) but it has increased somewhat since - either way you'd be limited to whatever the multimedia system is capable of delivering.

Google tells me that a typical wireless charging pad will provide somewhere around 5-10W which is probably about right for keeping an active device alive during the day and recharging it overnight. Dedicated device specific ones might get you up to 15W.

Choose the right 12V accessory socket to USB converter and you might be able to get something around a 30W power supply. That has a much better chance of providing a decent top-up to a smartphone during a drive of an hour or two.

[Paul john]

33 minutes ago, philip42h said:

You don't want to be using the USB connection to the multi-media system as a power source. It's a data input (that will also provide a limited amount of power to the input device). The original USB spec limited it to 0.5A @ 5V (2.5W) but it has increased somewhat since - either way you'd be limited to whatever the multimedia system is capable of delivering.

Google tells me that a typical wireless charging pad will provide somewhere around 5-10W which is probably about right for keeping an active device alive during the day and recharging it overnight. Dedicated device specific ones might get you up to 15W.

Choose the right 12V accessory socket to USB converter and you might be able to get something around a 30W power supply. That has a much better chance of providing a decent top-up to a smartphone during a drive of an hour or two.

Standard car usb is 1amp minimum so 5w

[Kos_ta]

20 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Thanks. Does that charging plate plug into the cigarette lighter or the USB? I thought the USB connector had a very limited wattage?

It's not a plate but a charging tray which replaces the factory non-charging tray and it plugs into existing cigarette lighter wiring (no need to hack factory loom). 

[Nick72]

Is this for real? Press the wireless pad power button 3 times to enable rapid charging?

Just found this in the manual for the 2024 PHEV.

 

[Paul john]

6 minutes ago, Nick72 said:

Is this for real? Press the wireless pad power button 3 times to enable rapid charging?

Just found this in the manual for the 2024 PHEV.

 

If your owners manual says it. It must be true. 

[Nick72]

6 minutes ago, Paul john said:

If your owners manual says it. It must be true. 

Well that's no guarantee given differences across markets. I wonder though if they've upgraded the wireless charging pad, introducing a higher wattage with the triple press. 

I'll try it this week.

The charging pad and whole area seems smaller. My phone only just fits whereas before there was space at either end. 

[Cyker]

58 minutes ago, Paul john said:

If your owners manual says it. It must be true. 

My owner's manual says my 15" wheels should be 40psi!  

[Paul john]

And mine says “full size spare” not “spacesaver” but hey ho. 

[Nick72]

20 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Is this for real? Press the wireless pad power button 3 times to enable rapid charging?

Just found this in the manual for the 2024 PHEV.

 

So I just tried this. 3 presses of the power button and the lights started to alternate green and amber. Phone was charging much faster than on the charge plate on the last car. I really need to do some proper experiments to confirm. 

[philip42h]

In normal mode I understand that it delivers less than 5W. In rapid mode it delivers 7.5W to 'phones that are built to take it.

I'm not sure that I understand the point of wireless charging, other than to stop the 'phone Battery running down while it's being used in the car. There are better and quicker ways to charge a 'phone ...

[Nick72]

1 minute ago, philip42h said:

In normal mode I understand that it delivers less than 5W. In rapid mode it delivers 7.5W to 'phones that are built to take it.

I'm not sure that I understand the point of wireless charging, other than to stop the 'phone battery running down while it's being used in the car. There are better and quicker ways to charge a 'phone ...

Sadly that's half what my phone is capable of. 15W on wireless. 45W on cable. 

I rarely used the charging plate on the last RAV because I always plugged it in for AA. When I did use it, my Battery was going down rather than up. The phone consumed more power than was going in. 😂🤷 But this may not be the case in "super duper" 3 button press 7.5W mode. 😂

I only ask because I'm considering a wireless AA adapter. So for long trips I can just throw the phone on the pad and I'm net positive at the destination in terms of state of charge. No cable plugging in shannigans. And short trips I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket but still have AA.

[nlee]

I gave up on the wireless charging pad a long time ago. Instead I have a MagSafe phone holder/charger that delivers 15w (but you also need to make sure you have a suitable cigar lighter style adapter  that can output sufficient for the charger to output the full 15w - it will usually have a usb c connection marked as PD if the plug isn’t hardwired to the cable). Generally always arrived with 100% phone Battery after a half decent drive, although it could still be a bit flaky at times with a google pixel, but that’s the phone that is a bit sensitive to any wireless charging. Been using an iPhone for a few weeks now now and it’s been perfect.

That’s always using wireless AA adapter (now a wireless ACP adapter)

Edit, before someone says a pixel isn’t MagSafe, I was using an aftermarket case that made it MagSafe (from Peak Design, the holder/charger is also from Peak Design - not the cheapest but I like their camera camera gear and you get what you pay for)

[Torrox]

On 9/11/2024 at 6:11 PM, Nick72 said:

So I just tried this. 3 presses of the power button and the lights started to alternate green and amber. Phone was charging much faster than on the charge plate on the last car. I really need to do some proper experiments to confirm. 

Well don Nick! I'll give it a go tonight's drive.