[rjroch]

It looks like the amperage of this port is only 500mA. This is insufficient when faced with simultaneous charging and heavy use of an iPhone 6+, and maybe also a regular 6. This wouldn't be a big deal if everything worked the same over bluetooth as direct USB connection, but since you need USB for Spotify integration and things like that, this is a problem.

Has anyone figured out a workaround? I hate the thought of getting out of my car with less battery capacity than I started with.

[hyperzulu]

You hate the thought? So, you haven't actually experienced any issues yet, but just speculating on a could-be problem?

I've had the 6+ for several months now and no issues (aside from iDrive issues). The phone's battery life is really good and the only time I've had it breaking even was when using it for Waze and listening to music at the same time over BT. My drive was an hour long and I didn't get out of my car running for the nearest charger.

I think you'll be ok.

[Killramos]

Have you actually confirmed that running spotify on your phone while its plugged in will drain the battery more than its charged?

If the screen is off the majority of the power draw is actually gone.

I have found the console charger to be super quick. putting 20-30% on my iphone over a 20 minute drive.

Edit: looks like zulu beat me to it

[Cyberdemon]

Unfortunately USB regulation is locked at 500mA for a "Standard" USB port. Providing higher amperage for phone charging is common now, but that would present a problem when you went to plug in your flash drive to load media.

The best way around this is to buy a $4.99 12V cigarette adapter that puts out 1.2A or whatever your phone is looking for.

This is common - I have a Nexus 6 which sucks power, especially when in GPS mode. I face this problem all the time in rental cars so even with the device plugged in the battery will drain faster than it can charge, even with the screen brightness turned way down. I didn't think it was a real problem until my phone hit 5% a half hour away from my destination and I had to stop and eat Chick-Fil-A in the car with the phone shut off for 30 minutes just to let it get enough charge to turn back on.

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by rjroch

It looks like the amperage of this port is only 500mA. This is insufficient when faced with simultaneous charging and heavy use of an iPhone 6+, and maybe also a regular 6. This wouldn't be a big deal if everything worked the same over bluetooth as direct USB connection, but since you need USB for Spotify integration and things like that, this is a problem.

Has anyone figured out a workaround? I hate the thought of getting out of my car with less battery capacity than I started with.

My experience is similar to hyper and rj: the phone doesn't come close to losing charge when running, say, Spotify and ConnectedDrive together, or streaming BT and ConnectedDrive together, or executing a call via BT and running ConnectedDrive together.

I can see apps such as Google Maps, (possibly) Waze, BT streaming (phone or music), etc. potentially overcoming the charging capability if used simultaneously with the screen always on. If you encounter that (though I have to say: Why would you be? Shoudn't you be paying attention to, you know, the road?), get one of these and temporarily improvise.

[rjroch]

In general, I realize this is all very first world problems. The USB integration is good enough that I actually want to use it! Never had that problem on any previous car. Bluetooth was always more than good enough.

That said, where it truly becomes a problem is on road trips. When you're a long distance away from home, you're more likely not to know the lay of the land and thus require the use of your phone to look up information. For example I have no interest in looking up Yelp information via iDrive, even though the car can do it. If your phone's not charged, you're then tethered to your car for at least a little while.

I have already experienced the phone only breaking even or just barely charging when using Spotify. Texts, emails, etc all turn the screen on which causes that larger power draw, regardless of whether the phone is in your hand or sitting in the center console. The real power draw is using GPS. I have been trying to transition to using the car's built in NAV unit whenever possible, and it's mostly been great. The problem is this unit isn't as up to date as Apple/Google maps, even on a brand new car. For example a food co-op that changed locations a year and a half ago still has the old address in the car's POI database.

I was debating seeing if I could use an externally powered USB hub with high amperage ports with the car's USB port. Has anyone tried anything like that?

[arun21]

Can confirm. Running spotify + google maps nav + charging in console USB does see slow drain on the battery.

[Killramos]

Best of both worlds is get the BMW Remote app and beam POI's to the idrive unit ( it uses google maps to find things so it is up to date)

[Viffermike]

Originally Posted by arun21

Can confirm. Running spotify + google maps nav + charging in console USB does see slow drain on the battery.

Interesting. Glad I invested in the 12V USB charger for long trips, then, though since I have Nav, I may not see this issue. All I'll need to bring is a 3-ft USB-to-Lightning cable (instead of the 9-incher I currently use) in case I need to switch back and forth.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by rjroch

In general, I realize this is all very first world problems. The USB integration is good enough that I actually want to use it! Never had that problem on any previous car. Bluetooth was always more than good enough.

That said, where it truly becomes a problem is on road trips. When you're a long distance away from home, you're more likely not to know the lay of the land and thus require the use of your phone to look up information. For example I have no interest in looking up Yelp information via iDrive, even though the car can do it. If your phone's not charged, you're then tethered to your car for at least a little while.

I have already experienced the phone only breaking even or just barely charging when using Spotify. Texts, emails, etc all turn the screen on which causes that larger power draw, regardless of whether the phone is in your hand or sitting in the center console. The real power draw is using GPS. I have been trying to transition to using the car's built in NAV unit whenever possible, and it's mostly been great. The problem is this unit isn't as up to date as Apple/Google maps, even on a brand new car. For example a food co-op that changed locations a year and a half ago still has the old address in the car's POI database.

I was debating seeing if I could use an externally powered USB hub with high amperage ports with the car's USB port. Has anyone tried anything like that?

FWIW if your car has nav, just use the app to send the address to the cars navi. The GPS & high data associated with it is what's killing you. You can also try setting your screen brightness as low as possible so if it's sitting in the console it's not lighting up and wasting more juice.

It is a first world problem for sure. I am not sure a USB hub would properly enumerate with the car, let alone where to get additional power from.

The only thing I could think might be worth trying is something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Mikrotik-5VUSB.../dp/B00D84L5IQ

You would need to try and source a 12v->5V 1Amp DC adapter (or a transformer to hard wire) and then cobble the 2 together. That would give you additional power output on the USB port but enable communication. We use this setup for rugged vehicle cradles we design for truck drivers (since the products I design require a high current to charge + run GPS as well).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-Mini-D...item4ad9907b46

This would also do what you need from a voltage perspective - you'd need to wire one end to a switched 12V source and the other end to the power input of the power injector.

It's a bit of a science project, but it could probably work if you're handy with a soldering iron.

One last point - USB fast chargers typically have the data pins shorted so the device knows that it is able to receive high powered input. It is entirely possible even if you try any of the above, it won't correctly send data anymore (or accept more than 500mA) regardless.

[rjroch]

Originally Posted by Cyberdemon

One last point - USB fast chargers typically have the data pins shorted so the device knows that it is able to receive high powered input. It is entirely possible even if you try any of the above, it won't correctly send data anymore (or accept more than 500mA) regardless.

I was actually considering that Mikrotik part, as well as the fact that it may not work the way I envisioned...which is why I posted here. I figured maybe that way I wouldn't necessarily have to make myself a guinea pig.

[hyperzulu]

The cars nav can search the Internet. You're not limited to the poi addresses. I pretty much always use search the Internet for locations.

[Racer20]

Which component actually limits the current? The harness? The plug itself? Would it be possible to retrofit a higher amperage unit? It's not a major issue for me, but it would be nice to get more than 10% charge on my 45minute commute.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by Racer20

Which component actually limits the current? The harness? The plug itself? Would it be possible to retrofit a higher amperage unit? It's not a major issue for me, but it would be nice to get more than 10% charge on my 45minute commute.

Somewhere along the lines there is a DC->DC converter, haven't ripped apart the console but if you pull the console open you'll likely find it built onto the PCB with the USB port itself.

All of these parts are generally cheap, so you could try to find an external power source and see if the power injector will work for an iPhone. My suggestion would be do it outside of the car first. Get the power injector, plug it into your PC, get a cheapo 5V 1A power supply that fits the DC jack and plug it into the wall. Then connect your lightning cable and see if you can charge while running all of your tasks and still get a USB connection to your PC.

If that works, then it should prove the concept without hacking your car apart and show the iphone will allow a higher voltage + sync.

Then you just need to figure out how to get 5V 1A into that power injector and hide it in the console.

[BarryJI]

Originally Posted by Killramos

I have found the console charger to be super quick. putting 20-30% on my iphone over a 20 minute drive.

Do you mean the snap-in charger? I hope so. I bought one because it makes it so much easier to stow the phone and forget about it. I gather it also confers other benefits such as a better charging capacity, access to the car's antenna and better iDrive integration but I have not been able to verify any of this.

[nike001]

The center armrest port is a media port, not a charge port. This is why for most 2015 vehicles you'll get the cigarette lighter charger with 2 usb ports on it. The cigarette lighter will give you sufficient charging capabilities.

[BarryJI]

Both the manual and the BMW "Genius" at my dealership advise against using the cigarette lighter port to recharge devices. How seriously should we take this, I wonder?

[Icy J]

Originally Posted by BarryJI

Both the manual and the BMW "Genius" at my dealership advise against using the cigarette lighter port to recharge devices. How seriously should we take this, I wonder?

Been doing that for quite a while and no issues, but I'd stay away from cheap adapters just in case

[mike@tpc]

we use a plug in charger on road trips.

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by BarryJI

Both the manual and the BMW "Genius" at my dealership advise against using the cigarette lighter port to recharge devices. How seriously should we take this, I wonder?

That seems rather odd when one considers just how much current the cigarette lighter device pulls.

[Cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by BarryJI

Both the manual and the BMW "Genius" at my dealership advise against using the cigarette lighter port to recharge devices. How seriously should we take this, I wonder?

Unless your BMW Genius also had a degree in electrical engineering I would not worry.

Phones have the charge protection circuitry built in - you can plug basically any phone into any charger these days and it will take what it can use to charge.

In the long term, there were always concerns about extra heat which comes from higher amperage chargers that can decrease the life of the batteries, but phones now understand that and will properly trickle charge and reduce the input current once the battery starts to get toasty. That's what my Nexus 6 calls "Turbo mode" - it will take a lot of charge very quickly then slow down to a normal pace.

Either way, I think if the concern is the phone dying on long trips, your best bet is to just use the in car navi or turn the brightness way down so you're not drawing a lot of power. I drove my wife's car home last night and her Jeep had the same issue. I was in the car for 45 minutes and my phone went up by a whopping 13% when plugged in and completely unused the entire time.

[Gepeto]

I can confirm that if you have an iPhone 6, are using it for music and navigation at the same time, especially if the screen is on, the charge has a hard time keeping up through the USB port.