Phone stops charging in Car Dock.

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kilofox

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I have a '09 Honda Civic. Like many newer cars, the Civic has a very raked window. While driving down to Indy from Michigan, I put my phone in the Car Dock that is mounted on my dash to the left of my steering wheel.

The car dock/phone performed great using Google Nav along with Spotify playing some tunes the the back ground. After a while I noticed that the phone stopped charging. When I took the phone out of the dock, it felt very hot.

I turned off the phone and waited a few minutes. Restarted... the phone then took a charge. But again... after awhile the phone quit taking a charge. It was hot when I removed it a 2nd time from the dock.

These episodes started around 3pm as I was traveling south... it was very sunny and the dash was hot even with the ac on.

Anyone else experiencing this issue?
 
Haven't used the 3 car dock yet bit had the same issue with my og droid when using navigation from ohio to gatlinburg. Basically same situation as you described where it was in the afternoon and the phone got very hot and quit charging. I would just let it cool down some then it would charge again .

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums
 
So... I guess if I am not needing Google Nav during a summer afternoon, I should be OK? :)
 
Maybe you're using more battery than you're actually charging!
 
I didn't really expect it to charge and navigate at the same time--it didn't seem to. I noticed the heat issue and thought it could be due to being in the window, but it seemed to be too hot for that to be the cause.
 
klintala said:
Maybe you're using more battery than you're actually charging!
Click to expand...

I dont think that is the case as the phone does charge at the beginning of use... I think its a heat issue.
 
I am still on the road.. I stopped to eat dinner before continuing south to Indy. Its 6:20p and the sun is lower in the sky. I will try the dock again and report after I reach Indy.
 
I had this same issue with my Droid1. Because of it's position with the windshield the phone does get very hot and my theory is that when it's at this temperature, it disables charging as a safety feature to try to keep the heat down. I attribute it to temperature outside, not necessarily direct sunlight because in the winter even on sunny days it was fine.
 
Mount in front of AC vent

I have this same problem with my Droid2 Global. I have a Droid3 on order and was hoping the problem would be fixed, but evidently not. The solution I found is to mount the phone right in front of the AC vent. That keeps the phone cool, so it stays charged and doesn't overheat in this position, even if I drive all day.

This isn't really a complete solution, because when I rent a car there often isn't an easy way to mount the phone over an AC vent. So the battery quickly runs out.

To mount the phone over the AC vent in my Prius, I used a couple of small plastic cable clips, with double-stick mounting tape, which you can buy at Office Depot. Cut off the portions of the clip that you don't need. They are black and very small so they don't look too bad mounted on the bezel just below the AC vents and above the radio. The cord goes between the two clips and holds the phone in place.

In rental cars it sometimes works to use small velcro squares to hold the phone near the AC vent. But many cars lack a smooth surface for the velcro squares to stick to.

I wish there were a better solution but this is the best one I've been able to find.
 
I don't think this is phone specific as my Fascinate and my OG Droid had same issues. I found that when charging, the battery gets warm. Add to that using navigation and the warmer summer temps made it stop charging. I monitor the battery temp with elixir widget and anything over 120 f would make it stop charging. Since it is mounted on the winshield I run the AC in defrost mode and this keeps it around 114 f and is able to charge.
 
paul gyver said:
I don't think this is phone specific as my Fascinate and my OG Droid had same issues. I found that when charging, the battery gets warm. Add to that using navigation and the warmer summer temps made it stop charging. I monitor the battery temp with elixir widget and anything over 120 f would make it stop charging. Since it is mounted on the winshield I run the AC in defrost mode and this keeps it around 114 f and is able to charge.
Click to expand...

I had this issue with my D1 and now my D3, and that is the same solution I came up with. As long as there is some cool air to keep the temp down, it charges and navigates just fine.
 
The D3, the D2 and possibly the D1 has a feature that puts the phone in a dormant state when it gets too hot. I believe it is in the manual. Not sure if it charges while in dormant state and may very well drain your battery.. I've also noticed when playing games while charging it will consume the battery faster than it charges. Weird, right?
 
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