Is Car Charger bad for iphone battery?

[kjay80]

I have an iphone 5 and my battery sometimes drops by 20% or more instantly.
Just now, it dropped from 30% to 7%... This happens quite often.
I think some of my battery cells are dead and am wondering if the car charger has anything to do with shorting a battery life.
I got a battery replacement under warranty last October, was fine for a while, until it started acting up in the past couple months.
Recently, I started using a car charger more often because I have been on the roads a lot.

I heard from somewhere car chargers should be used only for temporary due to its electricity not being as clean as from the wall outlets.
Is this true?

 

[BuffordT]

I have an iphone 5 and my battery sometimes drops by 20% or more instantly.
Just now, it dropped from 30% to 7%... This happens quite often.
I think some of my battery cells are dead and am wondering if the car charger has anything to do with shorting a battery life.
I got a battery replacement under warranty last October, was fine for a while, until it started acting up in the past couple months.
Recently, I started using a car charger more often because I have been on the roads a lot.

I heard from somewhere car chargers should be used only for temporary due to its electricity not being as clean as from the wall outlets.
Is this true?

If you are using cheap car chargers, yes. They can damage your phones battery, just like cheap wall chargers can. If you are using a quality car charger then no, you are fine.

 

[BigMar89]

I would also like to know since I use the GoGroove FlexSmart X2 Bluetooth Car Adapter's USB to plug in my Apple branded Lightning cable to charge my phone.

 

[kjay80]

Mine is made by Belkin.

 

[z28black98]

I have an iphone 5 and my battery sometimes drops by 20% or more instantly.
Just now, it dropped from 30% to 7%... This happens quite often.
I think some of my battery cells are dead and am wondering if the car charger has anything to do with shorting a battery life.
I got a battery replacement under warranty last October, was fine for a while, until it started acting up in the past couple months.
Recently, I started using a car charger more often because I have been on the roads a lot.

I heard from somewhere car chargers should be used only for temporary due to its electricity not being as clean as from the wall outlets.
Is this true?

Might have a bad battery. Put your SN into the following link and check. If it is, apple will replace it free of charge, just make an appt at the Genius Bar

https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

 

[Eileen89]

I just use the car charger that I got from the AT&T store as it is fast and hasn't given me any problems yet.

 

[Vertigo50]

As stated by others, cheap chargers can mess up the battery, but also they can simply mess up the battery calibration, and it can be fixed. I've had bad enough luck with cheap chargers that I never use them anymore.

1. Get an MFI charger. These are items that are certified "Made for iPhone". These have been approved by Apple to have exact voltage, safeguards, etc. Here are several MFI certified chargers on Amazon, for example: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=...=blended&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325

2. Only use Apple or MFI chargers for a day or two. This starts to reset the battery.

3. Restart the phone a few times the normal way, holding the power button then swiping. Then do at least two "hard resets", which you do by holding both the power button and home button together for something like 10 seconds until the phone completely shuts down. (No swiping)

4. Now, charge your battery all the way to 100%, then run it down until it shuts itself off. If it shuts off at say 20%, this means the calibration is way off. Connect it to the charger until it turns back on, then disconnect and use the phone some more until it shuts off again. Maybe it's at 15% this time, for example. Charge it again until it turns on, disconnect, repeat. Do this until it gets down to 1%.

5. Now charge it all the way back up to 100% again. If you want, you can repeat the calibration from step 4, but it's usually not necessary.

Good luck!

 

[lke]

And what about charging your iphone directly from the usb connectors of some cars.

How is the quality from charging from that connectors integrated to all new cars?

 

[Snot Rox]

I'm using a car charger by morphie. It was 20 bucks at the Apple Store.

 

[moldy lunchbox]

I use an apple usb cord plugged into my car's headunit usb port. I feel like overtime it can miscalibrate the battery and hopefully I can restart it like one of the previous posts explained.

 

[kaibob]

I've been charging my iPhone 4s with a Belkin car charger for over two years now and the battery on the phone holds a charge quite well given its age. If I remember correctly, Apple sold this charger in their stores, and I assumed (or at least hoped) that Apple would not sell something that would damage the phone.

 

[Vertigo50]

And what about charging your iphone directly from the usb connectors of some cars.

How is the quality from charging from that connectors integrated to all new cars?

I think it would depend somewhat on the quality of the head unit. If it's a decent recognizable brand, I'm sure it's fine. If it's a cheap one, it's hard to say. I would have no trouble plugging into my stock Ford Sync USB port for charging. But I actually plug into a separate charger anyway, because I use Bluetooth instead of USB and when I connect to USB it automatically switches, which I don't want.

Also, to answer the OP's question, there is nothing inherently bad about car chargers. If you're using an MFI charger, as I suggested above, it's perfectly safe. I use one almost every day and have never had any problems except when I was using cheap, non-MFI chargers.

 

[roland.g]

I bought a 15W RocketFish Rapid Charger Lightning cable unit at BestBuy a few years ago for my 5. It always worked great, charged quickly, and I use it now on my 6 Plus.

I also use my iPad 12W block to charge my iPhone 6 Plus when I can. Speeds up the charging. According to Apple, the new iPhone 6/6 Plus can take the higher W charger and charge faster.

 

[BulkHedd]

How can you be sure a charger is MFI buying online? Does Apple only sell MFI chargers in the Apple Store?

I'm looking at the Incase EC20117 from the Apple Store but I can't find anywhere that says whether it is MFI or not.

 

[Tracyx143]

I have an iphone 5 and my battery sometimes drops by 20% or more instantly.
Just now, it dropped from 30% to 7%... This happens quite often.
I think some of my battery cells are dead and am wondering if the car charger has anything to do with shorting a battery life.
I got a battery replacement under warranty last October, was fine for a while, until it started acting up in the past couple months.
Recently, I started using a car charger more often because I have been on the roads a lot.

I heard from somewhere car chargers should be used only for temporary due to its electricity not being as clean as from the wall outlets.
Is this true?

You should use those MFI Certified in that way you're assured that your devices are safe. Check the specs and the manufacturer of the charger first before buying.