Is it normal that I cannot charge my iPhone in my car if the screen is turned on?

[mcrum23]

Hi there,

Unless I turn the screen off I can't charge my Iphone 3GS through the cigarette plug, the battery will simply level off. I've tried different chargers and get the same issue so I wonder, is that normal or what?

(I'm using music+GPS+bluetooth is on)

thanks

 

[Tyler23]

Hi there,

Unless I turn the screen off I can't charge my Iphone 3GS through the cigarette plug, the battery will simply level off. I've tried different chargers and get the same issue so I wonder, is that normal or what?

thanks

Definitely not normal.

 

[ugcop]

It depends. Are you using the phone at the same time? Pandora or.maps?

How long are you in the car? What amperage charger are you using?

 

[zorinlynx]

Make sure you're using chargers specifically designed to charge iPhones at full rate.

Full rate is 1 amp for iPhones.

A lot of the cheap "China special" chargers will only put out 500mA, or even less. The quality control is also lousy in manufacturing and they can damage your phone.

Get a name brand charger from a trusted company like Kensington that has the "Made for i" logo.

 

[ant1298]

It's probably a simple case of your charger not supplying enough juice to charge the battery to compensate for the power being removed by the phone running.
Zorinlynx is correct, get a 1amp charger.

 

[mcrum23]

It depends. Are you using the phone at the same time? Pandora or.maps?

How long are you in the car? What amperage charger are you using?

Thanks for the input guys.

Yes I'm using the music player+Waze (or google nav) and the bluetooth is on (connected to my ALPINE UTE-72BT). I can stay in the car for hours at a time.

My ALPINE UTE-72BT is connected to my Iphone via USB cable and is supposed to deliver 1amp. I've tried with some Iphone specific charger but got the same issue.

 

[bjb.butler]

It could just be that you are using a lot of power... GPS + Music + Bluetooth is a lot of stuff going on. Still, I would look into getting a higher-quality charger and see if that helps.

 

[mcrum23]

It could just be that you are using a lot of power... GPS + Music + Bluetooth is a lot of stuff going on. Still, I would look into getting a higher-quality charger and see if that helps.

My Alpine is a high quality charger.

Can't anyone else charge the iphone while doing GPS+music?

If not, could it be that my battery is just to old?

 

[C DM]

My Alpine is a high quality charger.

Can't anyone else charge the iphone while doing GPS+music?

If not, could it be that my battery is just to old?

How many amps is it set to put it?

 

[mcrum23]

1 amp.

 

[sjinsjca]

Make sure you're using chargers specifically designed to charge iPhones at full rate.

Full rate is 1 amp for iPhones.

A lot of the cheap "China special" chargers will only put out 500mA, or even less. The quality control is also lousy in manufacturing and they can damage your phone.

Get a name brand charger from a trusted company like Kensington that has the "Made for i" logo.

Excellent answer.

Cheap, off-brand car chargers can behave as the OP described: enough juice to charge the phone or run the phone but not both.

Cheap, off-brand wall chargers can be outright dangerous, as a couple of recent headline-making electrocutions have demonstrated. Compare http://www.arcfn.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html and http://www.arcfn.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html for a quick lesson in why the "Apple tax" is money well spent.

 

[C DM]

1 amp.

That should be enough, if it's working correctly.

 

[mcrum23]

Could it be that my battery is fried or something?

 

[C DM]

Could it be that my battery is fried or something?

Well, something else that might be worth trying (if possible) is either to use a different charger in the car to see if it makes any difference and/or to try to use the same charger with another iPhone (hopefully the same model, but not necessarily). One or both of those "experiments" can help figure out what the issue might be, or at least where it is.

 

[Stuntman06]

Thanks for the input guys.

Yes I'm using the music player+Waze (or google nav) and the bluetooth is on (connected to my ALPINE UTE-72BT). I can stay in the car for hours at a time.

My ALPINE UTE-72BT is connected to my Iphone via USB cable and is supposed to deliver 1amp. I've tried with some Iphone specific charger but got the same issue.

Just FYI, I do the same with my phone (Galaxy S3) and it does not charge using the car charger. The best it can do is remain level or drain very slowly. The screen plus GPS app is very power hungry with every phone I have used. Add to that playing music over BT and that may cause the power drain faster than it can charge.

 

[mcrum23]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Btw I don't use the BT for music streaming though, just to make some calls when I need to.

 

[bjb.butler]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Btw I don't use the BT for music streaming though, just to make some calls when I need to.

All Samsung phones charge slow as hell, so I'm not surprised by his staying level.

On my iPhone 5, I frequently run GPS + Streaming music via Pandora and still charge just fine.

The best thing you can do is simply buy another car charger and see if it can charge your phone while you do all that stuff. If it can charge your phone, then you know it was the charger. If it can't, just return it.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I ran GPS with the screen on with my iPhone 4S with no problems. I'd try to run your GPS without anything else and see what happens.

 

[Michael CM1]

I've had a similar problem with older docking accessories. I have a couple of speaker/radio docks that might've set me back $20 each. They will play music and stuff fine, but they haven't charged any phone since my 3GS.

As others have said, check the amps. It makes a HUGE difference on the third-gen iPad. A 1 amp plug will charge an iPad 3, but slowly. Less than that (a lot of unpowered USB hubs) will NOT charge it at all or just charge with the display is off. A 2 amp plug, which is what the big white brick that comes with the iPad 3+ is, will charge it fine.

 

[stormchaser]

Mine was on charge in the car yesterday with GPS and no problems at all. My charger is a cheap one off eBay as the genuine Apple car charger is crap and doesn't even fit my cigar lighter in the car

 

[mcrum23]

Okay guys I just realized my Iphone's battery has a cycle count of over 500 (precisely 505) so I'm gonna replace it and see what happen. If it's still doesn't charge then I'm gonna buy one of those top notch charger and give another try (but I'm skeptic about that since I already got a -supposedly- good charger).

Of course I'll keep this thread updated, I'm sure I'm not the only one having this nagging issue.

 

[takeshi74]

Does it charge normally with nothing running? How hot does your iPhone get? Heat can cause charging issues.

 

[mcrum23]

With nothing running and screen off it's seems to charge normally. The Iphone get hot.

 

[Jaee]

Woah

That is definitely not normal . You should try buying another charger and seeing if you have the same problem .

 

[CTHarrryH]

When he 4 came out most car chargers or even USB connections couldn't charge the phones. Needed more power than the cars equipment could deliver