[xPETEZx]

Hi,

Bit of an odd one this, but here goes:

I have my phone holder mounted to the right hand side of the steering wheel, and I have run a USB Micro cable behind the panels and round to under the Armrest.
There I have a 2.0A USB charger.

The distance needed is probably 2.2 - 2.3M, a 2M cable is just too short by a tiny bit.
So I ordered a 3M cable.

Here is the issue:

When I connect my phone (Galaxy S3) to the USB charger with the 3M cable, it charges but very slowly.
If I have SatNav running, in a 30 minute drive it will pickup maybe 2-3% charge more.

If I connect with a shorter cable (1M) and do the same test, the phone pickups like 20% charge over the same time.

I have now ordered 3 different 3M cables, and same result with them all.
Especially went with the thickest cables I could find.

Is it worth me buying a higher amps charger? Like a 3.6A unit?
Or is 3 meters just too far a distance to charge?

I hate having cables just dangling about, so dont really want to go back to a cable trailing across the car.

Anybody have some nice clean solutions?

Cheers

[detachngo]

Electrician told me not too long ago that the length of the cable can affect the charge. Don't know of any alternatives however, sorry.

[IanS100]

I use the Brodit active holder which works well, the power supply is micro USB fitted in the holder & taps into a 12v supply the other end.

[misterS3]

Where are you getting your cables from?

I've got a 5 metre cable and it shows as AC charging on my android phones from my 1A house charger (not tried it in the car!) but i've not spent any time doing a comparison between that and a shorter cable in terms of time to charge. But not noticed any issues with the cable.

[xPETEZx]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Done some more testing using the app Battery Monitor Widget.

Connected the phone to its original wall charger with original Samsung cable:
Charging @ 900mA~

Connected phone using short cable to car 2A charger:
Charging @ 900mA~

Connected phone with 3M cable to Dock then docked phone:
Intially started charging @ 800mA~, then within a few minutes settled down to about 450-500mA~ charge.

Connected 3M cabled directly to the Phone (No Dock in-between) and got a charge of about 750-800mA


Next thing I am going to test is how much charge if I use the Dock and a short cable.
It appears the dock itself may be restricting charge

The 3M cable is definately providing less charge than the shorter cables.

May have to ditch the dock and then get myself a vent-mount.
Anybody using a vent mount thats as small as possible with an S3?

Cheers

[xPETEZx]

Any boby used this mount in an E90 vent with a Galaxy S3?

[rich1068]

If it's small you want then I use one of these in my wife's S-Max.

[parapaul]

I don't drive enough to need one, but I'd go for Brodit every time.

[doughboy]

It's to do with the pinout in the extension leads, nothing to do with their length. Data ports and charging ports work differently.

Charging leads are optimised for charging as their pinout is different, with either restricted data or, as one of my nokia leads is, no data at all.

google is your friend, you need a USB charging extenion lead, not a standard data extension.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing...our-smartphone

[xPETEZx]

From what I understand, the length has an effect in that the resistance will increase the longer the cable.

The pin-out is actually done in the charger, so even a 'data' cable will work like a dedicated charging cable.
This is normally done by shorting the 2 data pins together at the charger side.
When the connected phone detects that the data pins are shorted, it switches to "AC" charging mode and will pull more than the 500mA normally sent over USB.

My problem does appear to be the charging cradle I am using, as when I connect my charger to the cradle and then put the phone in, the charge is limited to a max of 500-600mA. When connected directly with the same 3M cable, I can get up to 800mA.

I ordered the Kenu Airframe and will give it a try.
@rich1068, like the look of that magnet solution! If the Kenu dosent work out the way I want it to, ill give that a go!


Thanks for all the comments guys. Will post up a pick with the Kenu once it arrives.

[rich1068]

Originally Posted by xPETEZx

I ordered the Kenu Airframe and will give it a try.
@rich1068, like the look of that magnet solution! If the Kenu dosent work out the way I want it to, ill give that a go!

Dirt cheap and does the job. Like parapaul I'd normally go for a Brodit but it just seemed an expensive solution this time around. Never had any problems with the magnet's ability to hold the phones either.