I use a Garmin weighted dash mount and since November I frequently ran the GPS (google maps) in the car mount without a problem. I noticed the heat/battery discharge issue as the weather and temps have improved. I think the external heat on the Droid through the windshield is too much even if you have the AC on. As soon as I remove it from the mount and then place the phone in front of an AC vent the phone starts charging again.
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Car Dock and Overheating??
- Thread starter pilot25
- Start date
dr01dm0dd3r
Member
sounds crazy man
Doesn't matter. I drove 45 minutes today in relatively cool weather 65 degrees out, running zero apps and the thing still hit 120F in the sun. Took it down and it started charging right at 118F. Even while charging it was cooling off. I turned on maps and listened to a ball game on MLB and it went well below 100F out of the sun.
The hot sun is the culprit. Without question. Verizon should give refunds out for anyone who bought a car mount because it's worthless in the summer.
I am a mobile on the run guy. I have used every GPS unit in the store. Most have better ancillary features than "Maps" on the Droid, but none have had as good/accurate/up to date maps as Google. If I want maps stored on a device, I'll use my stand alone GPS unit. But I might complain at my VZW store where I bought my windshield mount, and then mount the Droid somewhere else.
I think this might be the way to go. I have one on order.
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-accessories/23747-cheap-easy-way-car-dock-your-droiid.html
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-accessories/23747-cheap-easy-way-car-dock-your-droiid.html
It may not be the sun causing this issue. In post #45 my Droid got hot in a windshield mount 4 hours into an 8 hour trip and stopped charging.
I made my 8 hour return trip yesterday. I found a spot to lean my Droid on the console. The phone was shaded the entire trip. No direct sunlight ever touched the Droid. I had meat locker temp A/C running in the car the whole time. At about 4 hours in, (same as in the windshield) using GPS and Pandora and a phone call or 2, the phone got hot and stopped charging.
Marathon multi-tasking may be too much.
I made my 8 hour return trip yesterday. I found a spot to lean my Droid on the console. The phone was shaded the entire trip. No direct sunlight ever touched the Droid. I had meat locker temp A/C running in the car the whole time. At about 4 hours in, (same as in the windshield) using GPS and Pandora and a phone call or 2, the phone got hot and stopped charging.
Marathon multi-tasking may be too much.
tkimball00
Member
when a battery gets hot it discharges at a higher rate regardless of it it is in a charger or a phone being plugged in
Have you guys ever considered getting your windows tinted?
I recently bought a dock that plugs into my cigarette lighter which I used to play music from my phone to the stereo and noticed how hot it got.
I was planning on getting my windows tinted tomorrow anyways since it'll cut back on the heat on my 21 hour car ride to Utah (I'm from Chicago but I'm driving out to my college in Utah so I can have my car). I figure this way, it'll drastically reduce the temperature inside the car.
As well as looking stylish
(Just make sure to look up your window tint laws because it varies from state to state. Also check for lifetime warranties against bubbling, discolorization, peeling, etc).
I recently bought a dock that plugs into my cigarette lighter which I used to play music from my phone to the stereo and noticed how hot it got.
I was planning on getting my windows tinted tomorrow anyways since it'll cut back on the heat on my 21 hour car ride to Utah (I'm from Chicago but I'm driving out to my college in Utah so I can have my car). I figure this way, it'll drastically reduce the temperature inside the car.
As well as looking stylish
(Just make sure to look up your window tint laws because it varies from state to state. Also check for lifetime warranties against bubbling, discolorization, peeling, etc).
Well, tints reflect up to 57% of heat that enters your vehicle and 5-50% of sunlight into your car. So people who complain about how the sun comes down on their dock, that would solve it somewhat. The internal temperature of your car would be significantly lowered, which would certainly provide a cooler environment for your battery.
Mine are. Can't tint the windshield in this state though so it really doesn't help.
Where are you getting these numbers from? The performance of the tint depends on the specific film you're talking about. My tint, for example, has 92% heat rejection and I'm using 20% and 30% tint. There aren't one-size-fits-all specs for every film out there...
In any case, GPS is really one of the biggest culprits for the issue being discussed in this thread.
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