Gel battery = slow phone charging?

[RenoHuskerDu]

Standing voltage with a gel cell battery is slightly lower than with a standard battery. So the running voltage of my car is slightly lower than if I had a standard battery.  Right? I notice that my android doesn't really charge when in my X5, it only stops discharging. But my phone charges fine in our other cars with standard batteries.

I wonder if somebody markets a cigar lighter USB power plug that guarantees a full 5V output?  I see quite a few with high amp output but none mention voltage.  Amazon.de offers a Wicked Chili 4A 20W dual USB charger which I'll give a try to see if it's better.

Has anybody BTDT?

[X5Sport]

Gel battery voltage is (or should be) higher than 'flooded' types.  12.85V instead of 12.7V at full charge.  AGM Batteries are slightly lower again at 12.80V, and use a different charging voltage/cycle again.

What voltage are you actually seeing on yours?

[RenoHuskerDu]

My old Fluke 77 reads 12.33v. It's been sitting for 2hrs after a 30-min freeway drive. I'd just opened the power hatch and actuated a soft-close door. 

You may recall a previous thread where I had my AGM replaced, probably unnecessarily, last winter. So it's spankin' new now. The dealer says the charging system checks out.

My phone otoh is a bit of a power hog; 5.5" screen and I run gps/waze whenever I drive.

[X5Sport]

What's the voltage with the engine running?  Should be about 14.4V if memory serves.

12.33V sounds a little low, though not badly so, but that's assuming the car is asleep.  Opening the boot and the door will wake the car up so you need to let it go back to sleep again (16 mins approx) and then check it without opening anything.  Ideally you should do it at the 4 hour point but at two hours the charge state will be pretty much settled.

The charging points under the bonnet should be OK as it's very heavy cable between there and the battery itself so not much of a drop.  You can open the bonnet and then lock the car and leave it to sleep before checking the volts.

It also takes approx 20 mins to put the starting charge back in, especially on a cold day.  No idea what the temps are like for you at present.

I think the USB points in the X's are current limited so it may not be allowing enough current through to charge the phone.  Mine charges my iPhone6+ but the screen is off, just the audio via USB and the Bluetooth on for the phone.

[RenoHuskerDu]

Thanks, will check that and report tomorrow.  Whether I use the car's USB ports or a little charger plugged into the cigar lighter, the results are the same. I'm hoping that a better quality little charger will turn the tide.

[kenniff]

I must preface my comments by saying I know NOTHING about electricity.... but, on a recent long journey I noticed that the charger I had plugged into the cigarette lighter was not charging the Wireless hard drive i had plugged in (to provide viewing pleasure for the little ipad users in the back), but would happily charge my iphone. It wouldn't charge an ipad though, just stop it draining much.

The usb ports don't provide enough power for an ipad either, though they will power an iphone

The purchase of a new charger with a 2amp output (old one was 1) solved the issue. it will charge ipad or wireless hard drive.

[Steamyrotter]

[quote="RenoHuskerDu"]

I wonder if somebody markets a cigar lighter USB power plug that guarantees a full 5V output?  I see quite a few with high amp output but none mention voltage.  Amazon.de offers a Wicked Chili 4A 20W dual USB charger which I'll give a try to see if it's better.
[/quote]

The USB standard is 5v therefore no one states anything different as they should all be 5v..
It is the current capacity that you are more interested in.

As these are just simply voltage regulators to a certain current then they will always regulate to 5v (unless under excessive load / short circuit) but proper circuits should protect against that.

I dont think this is linked to your gel battery as the input voltage wil be in the correct range (The regulators only need 1 or 2 volts more on the input than the output to regulate properly) and the current supply capacity is obviously sufficient.....

Modern electronics take an excessive current IMO.  Technology should be dropping current needs but manufacturers disagree with me on that point!!
The present tranch of iProducts (c) tend to take much more than the last, as does a fair amount of Android.  There fore not appearing to charge as they use more current than the PSU can supply.
If you are really stuck then turn the phone off and it will then take charge as there wil be minimal useage and drain... 


That is assuming you can cope without the phone for a short while??

[RenoHuskerDu]

I trickle charged it all night with a maintenance charger, then let it sit undisturbed all day and overnight.

This morning my Fluke reads 12.66v after one softclose. 

[X5Sport]

Nothing wrong with that then 

I used to run a Road Angel detector from my upper USB point until the dealer told me it was drawing too much current and causing an alarm warning in the car fault log.  Again it was just battery charging but it wanted more than the port was set up to provide.

[squeaky2]

Check the USB charger amperage.  Iphones wont charge properly with less than 1a.

quite a few usb chargers are only 500ma

[RenoHuskerDu]

Thanks to all.

My 'Wicked Chili' 4A charger is in the mail from Amazon.de and I'll post back with how it works out. It even has cooling vents, which seemed a thoughtful touch. 

This problem will probably become more common as many people step up to phablets from phones. Now my daughter wants a OnePlus One like mine.  https://oneplus.net/fr/one

[RenoHuskerDu]

Closure! The 'Wicked Chili' 4A charger from Amazon.de did the trick but only with a new USB cable too.

Problem solved.