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Two iPhone 6S charging questions.

E

Electrics

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 17, 2015
46
14
My iPad Mini 2 came with a larger USB charger to plug into the wall. Is it OK to use that larger charger to charge the iPhone 6S? Will it charge faster?

Second, I have extra official Apple lightning charger cables to use in the cars. I just need a USB charger to plug into the cigarette lighter port. Is this something that needs to be Apple approved? Or only the cable matters? I've heard of people having problems in the past. Also, is there a certain amperage that I should look for in order to charge it faster?
 
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Electrics said:
My iPad Mini 2 came with a larger USB charger to plug into the wall. Is it OK to use that larger charger to charge the iPhone 6S? Will it charge faster?

Second, I have extra official Apple lightning charger cables to use in the cars. I just need a USB charger to plug into the cigarette lighter port. Is this something that needs to be Apple approved? Or only the cable matters? I've heard of people having problems in the past. Also, is there a certain amperage that I should look for in order to charge it faster?
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Actually yes, it charges faster. I have a amp meter. And when i plug a iphone 6 or 6s it reads 1.4 or 1.5 when it should read 1.0. And with the 6s plus it reads 2.0-2.1
 
HEK said:
Concurr with these responses. You will love the 12 watt iPad charger, cuts charge time way down. All I use now, bought several extra.
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Sounds good, I'll use the iPad charger from now on.

As for the car charger, it seems like that Amazon Basics one has good reviews so I'll pick that up.
 
Something else to note. iPhones regulate the amount of amps they draw from charger depending on battery charge state. When battery is quite low 10%, the phone will use all the 2.1 amps the charger can deliver. The battery level will increase rapidly. As the battery fills, the phone will draw less and less amperage.

So going from 10% to 50% will happen faster than going from 70 to 100%. As you approach 100% the draw drops to a trickle charge. You can't overcharge, or harm the battery by leaving the charger attached. You will see the phone go from 100 to 99 and back to 100% as the trickle charge is turned on and off. All this happen automatically. Apples' guidelines state that iPad chargers are completely safe to use on the iPhones.
 
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Electrics said:
Sounds good, I'll use the iPad charger from now on.

As for the car charger, it seems like that Amazon Basics one has good reviews so I'll pick that up.
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It really reduces time, my iPhone 6s plus takes like 3 hours or a bit more to fully charge but with the ipad charger it takes like 1 hour and 15 or 30 min
 
This is the car charger I bought. It's great for my needs.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PRB1J48?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

71n2qD2+pWL._SL1200_.jpg
 
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Just did a time trial charge as follows. Used new iPhone 6s Plus, short cable, 12 watt / 2.1 amp iPad charger.

Used 6s Plus playing music, screen on full, let it drop to zero, shutting itself down. Plugged in cable, after minute phone rebooted. Set screen to low, playing music as I charged.

Charged from phone shut itself off, 0% to 70% in 70 minutes. Charge rate was 1% per minute. Checked frequently.

Continued charge, going from 70 to 90% took an additional 30 minutes. Charge rate was beginning to ramp down. 20% more in 30 minute.

Continued charging, reached 99% in another 15 minutes. At which point it appeared to be trickle charging. Total time from zero completely dead to 99% took 1 hour, 55 minutes. Took another 15 minutes to read 100%.

Screen was on, low, with music playing through EarPods.
 
After the full charge, so far this morning at 96% with 9 hours standby, 2 1/2 hours use. Mostly music.

Woke this morning still at 100%

Will report further.
 
I've noticed that the battery on my new 6S doesn't seem to be that great. I let it get down to about 12% yesterday and let it charge for 4 hours (I left it charging after it was full). Today I have 17 hours standby and 1 hour and 20 minutes use, the battery is at 79%. Even this morning after very little use I noticed the battery was down much further than my old iPhone 5 used to get overnight.
 
Electrics said:
I have extra official Apple lightning charger cables to use in the cars. I just need a USB charger to plug into the cigarette lighter port. Is this something that needs to be Apple approved? Or only the cable matters? I've heard of people having problems in the past.
Click to expand...

My understanding is the cables should be MFI certified, then you're good to go.
 
In curious about the larger amperage. How much faster does it charge your phone? I'd spend the money if I saw at least 50% gains, but anything less than that I view as a waste simply because I generally just charge overnight anyway.
 
lordofthereef said:
In curious about the larger amperage. How much faster does it charge your phone? I'd spend the money if I saw at least 50% gains, but anything less than that I view as a waste simply because I generally just charge overnight anyway.
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I tested last night, from zero to 70% it charged at 1% per minute. Took 1 hr 55 min to reach 99%. See my earlier post.
 
I've heard that charging your iPhone faster using higher power adapters isn't good for battery longevity, not sure how much truth is in that though!
 
James6s said:
I've heard that charging your iPhone faster using higher power adapters isn't good for battery longevity, not sure how much truth is in that though!
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With three phones I have not noticed any decrease in longevity of battery. Apple has done a good job at modulating the amount of current the phone draws to charge based on the battery level. It self adjusts, such that at 100% it trickle charges turning on and off. So you can leave the charger attached.

The phone will only draw the amount of amps it needs. Since the 6, the phones are designed to accept the full 2.1 amps from the iPad charger. I replaced all my chargers with iPad largest 2.1 amp charger and happy I did. Slap the phone on for twenty minutes and I get a 20% boost if it's below 70-80%.
 
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HEK said:
With three phones I have not noticed any decrease in longevity of battery. Apple has done a good job at modulating the amount of current the phone draws to charge based on the battery level. It self adjusts, such that at 100% it trickle charges turning on and off. So you can leave the charger attached.

The phone will only draw the amount of amps it needs. Since the 6, the phones are designed to accept the full 2.1 amps from the iPad charger. I replaced all my chargers with iPad largest 2.1 amp charger and happy I did. Slap the phone on for twenty minutes and I get a 20% boost if it's below 70-80%.
Click to expand...

I wish to hell MacRumors had an agree button instead of just a like button.
 
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HEK said:
I tested last night, from zero to 70% it charged at 1% per minute. Took 1 hr 55 min to reach 99%. See my earlier post.
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Ah. I wasn't sure about that being the larger amperage piece. That doesn't seem leaps and bounds ahead of my charger but I'm also just going by what I think I remember (I haven't actually recorded anything). I'll have to take a look.
 
11:20 pm report. 6s Plus, used throughout day, phone calls, wifi, Bluetooth to car, music, bill paying banking app, Internet surfing, looking real good to me so far. Manual screen brightness set about 25%, except when outdoors, then at 90%. Music through speaker or Bluetooth in car. Motion reduction turned on. Hey Siri turned on including sleep mode.

21 hrs standby, 8 hrs 16 min use, 59% battery level.

So far it's better than my 6 Plus.
 
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