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Would my 2.1A car charger have killed my iPhone 5 battery?

X

Xystence

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 17, 2010
147
2
Yesterday I upgraded to the iPhone 5S because the battery on my iPhone 5 has gotten so bad. It would die having 25% battery left on the bar.

Could this have been caused by my car charger? I would like to know before I use my new phone on the same charger!

Thanks in advance
 
Xystence said:
Yesterday I upgraded to the iPhone 5S because the battery on my iPhone 5 has gotten so bad. It would die having 25% battery left on the bar.

Could this have been caused by my car charger? I would like to know before I use my new phone on the same charger!

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

It shouldn't. I use my iPad charger to charge my iPhone. The LI ION batteries have little "computers" in them to prevent overcharging.
 
Well that's reassuring, my battery took a nose dive when iOS 7 came out and that's also when I bought that charger. One this that would kill it was FaceTime, it would be at 60% and die after 3-5 minutes of FaceTime.
 
More likely, your battery just died of old age after nearly a year (or more) of usage.
 
So it's looking like my rapid car charger is likely not the reason? Lol

What's the difference on power from the iPhone to iPad charger?
 
Xystence said:
Yesterday I upgraded to the iPhone 5S because the battery on my iPhone 5 has gotten so bad. It would die having 25% battery left on the bar.

Could this have been caused by my car charger? I would like to know before I use my new phone on the same charger!

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
I don't believe aging, iPhone batteries regularly go 3+ years. Not impossible, just unlikely.

2.1 amp 'fast charger' is an irrelevant spec to base potential damage to your iPhone. Chargers are designed to deliver a stated voltage(volts) up to a maximum current(amps) amount before the charger's voltage begins to sag. Obeying Ohm's Law.

In order to protect the LiIon battery, the iPhone has smart circuits monitoring charging and will only draw as much as Apple wants it to. You could wire it into a linear power supply providing 5V with 20A behind it and the iPhone will only pull the 1-2A that it wants.

However; Apple makes no car chargers, and if you got a cheaply/poorly designed one with very little filtering, your iPhone could have been exposed odd voltages. A vehicles 12V system fluctuates greatly 12V-15V, with lots of odd frequency content from alternator and engine parts. This would likely be the only way your 2.1A car charger *could* have hurt your iPhone, *IF* that is even the cause, not saying it is.
 
The 2.1A rating on your charger is the maximum value that it can supply. The phone itself has charging circuitry that will determine how much it will actually draw from the charger.
 
The charger I bought I believe was a belkin from walmart and it was around say 20-25 bucks.

It's sounding more and more likely that the charger wasn't the reason lol
 
I heard 2.1A car chargers can be very dangerous to iPhones, even lethal at times. I saw one snooping around a popular iPhone hangout just yesterday.... I could tell he was up to no good so yeah, I think your 2.1A charger may have be guilty of the crime.
 
Doesn't iOS 7 have problems with this happening? Chances are, your battery is still perfectly fine. Its just the OS acting up.

But then, your battery could also be ruined. You could always replaced it from iFixIt.
 
Hi guys I could not resist. Your iOS is not the culprit. Go to you tube and watch how to save your battery on iOS 8. There are up to 12 settings you have to disable and I get a day and a half of charge. As far as car chargers go, you are talking to an old school car audio and car alarm installer. If you have your iPhone plugged in when STARTING your car, your iPhone could fall victim to VOLTAGE SPIKES. WHEN STARTING YOUR CAR, if your charger even has gold plating, the simple voltage regulator can be overwhelmed as voltages soar upwards of 120 amps at least when starting an old Chevy. We used to remove starters in school and stick a BROOM HANDLE in the little cog that turns the flywheel and it would MUNCH THE BROOM HANDLE. Voltage spikes do not harm car radios because of circuitry to protect them. Your CAR CHARGER was made to LIGHT CIGARETTES and heat up a coil to light up your smokes. The circut in many circumstances goes directly to your car battery with little it no protection, and that mighty voltage spike could realistically lunch past the iPhone circuitry and BANG!
Best off, watch videos, disable settings, charge iPhone at HOME and never ever use car chargers. Car chargers have been known to eat Bluetooth devices such as PLANTRONICS VOYAGER, with one start, as their amp rating is TINY and... POW! A CAR CHARGER also ruined a BRAND NEW NEXUS 5 I owned and again, DO NOT use car chargers or ANY charger of ANY KIND but the supplied one that comes with unit. Also read about CYCLING with batteries. Your device can cycle only so many times. Consider this message as "a tear from God" as you'll find out it's sad but true. With common sense and planning, your devices should last a long time.
 
No. 2.1 amps is not that high at all. I would think that your battery was just not very good, or was getting close to being worthless. I had the same issue with my old iphone 4, a few years ago. I had used it for two hours, and it drained from 100% to 10%, and then just shut off. It's not the car charger, it's the battery.
 
Apple installed some defective batteries in the iPhone 5. You can go to there web page and chec your serial# to see if your phone is one of them. My daughter and husband got the 5 at the same time and both had the bad battery.
 
I dont think that a car charger would make a huge difference to the battery. I think that iphone batteries just tend to decay over time
 
Xystence said:
Yesterday I upgraded to the iPhone 5S because the battery on my iPhone 5 has gotten so bad. It would die having 25% battery left on the bar.

Could this have been caused by my car charger? I would like to know before I use my new phone on the same charger!

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

https://www.apple.com/batteries/maximizing-performance/

Well ... Apple do NOT like wall and car battery charging systems.

Apple LIKES ... and suggests .. you use the USB Lightening port to charge your iPhone or Apple device.

USB chain on the iMac ... or any USB port ... like in your vehicle stereo system.

USB electricity is conditioned by the electronic circuitry of the iMac or the vehicle USB system such as a Kenwood, Panasonic, Alpine, etc ... and works better at keeping your battery around longer.

Also ... do not let your battery get down to 20 percent charge or lower.

If you must use the wall plug or the battery component system in a vehicle that is none USB .. then you must do that.

Having a battery charge pack around .. is much better.

Also ... charge the battery pack with the Lightening port as well .. if it has a Micro USB port like Mophie and Ampaudio ... do not buy it as it will be a headache for you and pretty much worthless.

I asked Kenwood and some other manufacture agents to make a protective case for the iPhone ...

1) that has a Battery Pack in it of course ...

2) speakers ...

3) a Lightening USB port in it ...

4) and that also as a Memory slot for a Micro SD Sandisk type memory card of 62 GB lets say supported for the Apple device such as the iPhone.

5) solar panel .. (see below)

Have unlimited video and audio that the iPhone or apple product will use ...

just pop in a new card and you got a new library on the road.

Kids will love it for their iPads .. great family fun.

Mom and Dad have a video movie library if they like all downloaded over the internet through their iMac.

Alan

:apple::apple::apple:

PS ... Snow Lizard has an Extreme Protective case with a Solar Panel in it .. that will recharge your iPhone.

Just put it under a table lamp .. and it will charge the battery in a safe way that is good for it like the USB port.

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/snow-lizard--slxtreme-case-for-iphone-4-yellow--15169998?cm_mmc=PS-_-MSN-_-Shopping%20PLAs-_-15169998&device={Device}
 
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