Resolved Qi charging problems but just in car - phone hot, not charging

[raylo32]

So, I have been using an Anker wireless charger in the house for my XR for years, works great, charges pretty fast, and the phone barely gets warm. I have been trying to add wireless charging in my 2023 Tundra and am having issues. First, I am using the same exact Qi charging puck as indoors, connected to one of 2 "high power" charging ports in the vehicle, one USB-A and one USB-C. Both of these charge the phone flawlessly when plugged directly into the phone with lightning cable, but not on the Qi charger. The phone gets hot and hardly charges, if at all. Again, this is with the same exact Qi charger that works a treat in the house. Same phone, same case, etc. I also tried a real Apple MagSafe Qi charger and it does exactly the same thing.

I am going to try this again this weekend with the new iPhone 16P coming tomorrow. I also have a MagSafe clear case for it so the coil interface will be visible and perfectly aligned. I guess we'll see... But this is puzzling.

Edit: wondering if these chargers made for home use have different voltage input specs and what the truck is providing is just not going to work properly? IDK, though, it should be the same DC voltage output that the indoor ac power supplies put out.

Edit 2: in the truck the phone automatically connects to wireless Carplay and I know that has a tendency to use a lot of power which creates heat. So maybe these chargers just aren't powerful enough to overcome the Carplay drain all the while the charger and Carplay both add to the heat generation. Probably best to keep using wired charging. LOL.

 

[raylo32]

So, I did a test today... I turned wireless CarPlay off and the Magsafe charger worked perfectly to charge my XR in the truck, just as it does indoors. I got a solid charging rate and the phone barely got warm. So, the phone getting hot whilst running wireless CarPlay is the combination of wireless Carplay power draw and the Qi charging inefficiencies. And the lack of significant charging is the wireless CarPlay load overcoming the MagSafe charger's charge rate.

I wonder if... and hope that... this might be improved in later model phones, whether in better Qi efficiency and/or lower wireless CarPlay power requirements. I guess I'll see soon with my new 16P.


BTW, this is the setup in my truck. I just 3D printed a mount for the MagSafe puck and fitted it into the console. Hope it works OK with the 16P on wireless carPlay... if not, it will be back to using the charging cable.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Plain ol’ Qi with wireless CarPlay, is gonna struggle to keep up with power requirements so you will get little to no charge while using it. MagSafe works fine… in my Chevy the USB-C port became the limiting factor with MagSafe so I switched to a high-power cigarette lighter adapter for it, and that’s been flawless for the past couple of years.

Qi 2 should, theoretically, work fine but I’ve not tried it as I have enough MagSafe pucks.

 

[raylo32]

I tried the MagSafe with my XR and it behaved exactly as the generic Qi. Hot and no significant charge progress. That MagSafe in the photo. It is about a year old and I don't believe they have changed since then, but IDK.

I have not yet tried it with the new 16P. I'd have to look up the specs on my vehicle's 2 USB charging ports (they are not wired CP ports) but they call them "high power". When plugged into the phone they easily charge the phone right up even using wireless CarPlay so they do put out some power.

Plain ol’ Qi with wireless CarPlay, is gonna struggle to keep up with power requirements so you will get little to no charge while using it. MagSafe works fine… in my Chevy the USB-C port became the limiting factor with MagSafe so I switched to a high-power cigarette lighter adapter for it, and that’s been flawless for the past couple of years.

Qi 2 should, theoretically, work fine but I’ve not tried it as I have enough MagSafe pucks.

 

[raylo32]

I just tested my setup with the 16P and, success! I did a little 3 mile loop running wireless Carplay with the phone on the MagSafe and it put ~8% into the battery and was barely warm. This through the Spigen clear silicone case. Nice. But I'll also keep a USB-C charging cable in the console for road trips in case longer sessions cause too much heating.