Charging phone off car battery for weekend?

Drumorig

I'm going camping for the weekend & have a cd-tuner with a USB port in the car, I turn the ignition on & it powers the lights & cd-tuner without starting the engine.

My question is, would it be a problem to turn the ignition halfway to turn on the radio to charge my phone etc for a few hours without draining the battery?

Secondly, if the above is risky, could I swap in a deep cycle battery I already have, in place of the car battery to power the radio etc? Obviously I wouldn't try drive with the deep cell battery in (although it might be no problem?!?).

If someone could explain I'd appreciate it, last thing I want is to be stranded with a dead battery because I charged my phone.

colm_mcm

Maybe turn wifi, Bluetooth and data off and turn brightness down on screen, that'll dramatically extend battery life.

whizbang

would it be a problem to turn the ignition halfway to turn on the radio to charge my phone etc for a few hours without draining the battery?

Thats for you to answer: What car is it ? Does the radio turn on at the first click of the key ?

The other battery is a good idea anyway. Wire the radio into it, but if you can, wire a charging relay into the circuit

colm_mcm

colm_mcm wrote: »

Maybe turn wifi, Bluetooth and data off and turn brightness down on screen, that'll dramatically extend battery life.

And stop background apps. Should get a day or two out of it easily depending on use.

mickdw

Could you not just run the car for a while to be on the safe side? A phone should nt knock anything out of a car battery but if your battery is in poor condition, very little drain can run it down. You would also want to be sure that you are not running other systems when turning on the key or you could well run it down.

Jeju

Easy Battery Saver App on super mode should get you through the weekend.

Drumorig

Cheers everyone, battery saver mode or apps won't cut it for 48 hours, there'll be more than 1 phone I reckon. I'll check out those apps anyway for myself.

whizbang wrote: »

Thats for you to answer: What car is it ? Does the radio turn on at the first click of the key ?

The other battery is a good idea anyway. Wire the radio into it, but if you can, wire a charging relay into the circuit

It's a hiace van & the radio & lights turn on at the first click of the key. You have me lost with actually wiring the radio into the battery directly, I was thinking replacing the van battery with the deep cycle one just while I'm camping?
Or maybe I'm worrying too much, maybe if the battery went dead I could jump the van off the deep cycle one (Is this possible??)
The battery in the van is in good shape, it's a self sealed battery I bought 6 years ago brand new & has never given me a problem.

Ronnie Beck

Drumorig wrote: »

Cheers everyone, battery saver mode or apps won't cut it for 48 hours, there'll be more than 1 phone I reckon. I'll check out those apps anyway for myself.


It's a hiace van & the radio & lights turn on at the first click of the key. You have me lost with actually wiring the radio into the battery directly, I was thinking replacing the van battery with the deep cycle one just while I'm camping?
Or maybe I'm worrying too much, maybe if the battery went dead I could jump the van off the deep cycle one (Is this possible??)
The battery in the van is in good shape, it's a self sealed battery I bought 6 years ago brand new & has never given me a problem.

Disconnect the main battery and connect your deep cycle to the system using jump leads while charging your phone. Save you some heavy lifting. Depending on the condition of your starter battery it could die in 4/5 hours.

whizbang

With only the radio on, and charging the phone, the normal battery will do fine for a long weekend. If its a good battery, you will get a week out of it.

Drumorig

Ronnie Beck wrote: »

Disconnect the main battery and connect your deep cycle to the system using jump leads while charging your phone. Save you some heavy lifting. Depending on the condition of your starter battery it could die in 4/5 hours.

Brilliant, so I can do that no probs? (runs out to get charger & deep cycle battery:D )

whizbang wrote: »

With only the radio on, and charging the phone, the normal battery will do fine for a long weekend. If its a good battery, you will get a week out of it.

Interesting, thanks whizbang.

Ronnie Beck

Drumorig wrote: »

Brilliant, so I can do that no probs? (runs out to get charger & deep cycle battery:D )


Interesting, thanks whizbang.

You'll have no problems this way. Otherwise your taking a chance. Not a hope of push starting the van on grass or gravel either .

dgt

When the fusebox decided to set fire to the board in the house we had to charge the phones in the van at the time, no problems atall, did the 2 days without power.

Having said that it had a 110AH battery and charged with the ignition off

Zimmerframe

The phone charger itself will use a negligible amount of power and will run for weeks from your car battery. The only issue is whether you switch on "other stuff" in the car by leaving the ignition ON.

Is your car cigarette lighter permanently powered up, when the ignition is OFF. If so wouldn't it be easier to buy a cheap car charger or generic usb charger for your phone and connect it to the car's cigarette lighter ?

If not, I would buy or get from an old car a cigarette lighter socket, stick two crocodile clips on it, connect it to your deep cycle battery and you will have a useful 12 volt point, you can use again and again on your travels.

Drumorig

Zimmerframe wrote: »

The phone charger itself will use a negligible amount of power and will run for weeks from your car battery. The only issue is whether you switch on "other stuff" in the car by leaving the ignition ON.

I get that, the phone draws only 5 volts, I guess it depends on my van. It's a 00 toyota hiace, no electric windows or any fancy stuff, a basic no frills van.

Zimmerframe wrote: »

Is your car cigarette lighter permanently powered up, when the ignition is OFF. If so wouldn't it be easier to buy a cheap car charger or generic usb charger for your phone and connect it to the car's cigarette lighter ?

If not, I would buy or get from an old car a cigarette lighter socket, stick two crocodile clips on it, connect it to your deep cycle battery and you will have a useful 12 volt point, you can use again and again on your travels.

Hmmm, that's bloody interesting, an old cigarette lighter socket rigged to a 12v battery, I'd have never thought of that, I'll have to keep my eye out for one of those.

I'll go with Ronnie's suggestion for now though

Zimmerframe

Summat like these, lots of places have them or similar

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/270863569426

+

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Belkin-In-Car-USB-Auto-Micro-Charger-/140989504643?pt=UK_Car_Interior_Accessories&hash=item20d3a11c83

Del2005

Drumorig wrote: »

I'm going camping for the weekend & have a cd-tuner with a USB port in the car, I turn the ignition on & it powers the lights & cd-tuner without starting the engine.

My question is, would it be a problem to turn the ignition halfway to turn on the radio to charge my phone etc for a few hours without draining the battery?

Secondly, if the above is risky, could I swap in a deep cycle battery I already have, in place of the car battery to power the radio etc? Obviously I wouldn't try drive with the deep cell battery in (although it might be no problem?!?).

If someone could explain I'd appreciate it, last thing I want is to be stranded with a dead battery because I charged my phone.

You could get an external battery pack and not bother with deep cycle batteries or the like. I've got the one in the link and it'll charge a phone 3 or 4 times.

delly

I'd recommend that you turn whatever phone you are charging off when doing so. With my S3 mini, I get about 10% to 20% charge for an hour whilst on, but get over 50% whilst off (roughly) if using the car charger.

dazed+confused

I have flattened my battery a couple of times by charging my phone while camping.

MarkR

This might be useful.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/solar-powered-12v-1.5w-battery-trickle-charger-98358

http://www.maplin.co.uk/productsearch?criteria=solar+charger

dr.fuzzenstein

Drumorig wrote: »

I'm going camping for the weekend & have a cd-tuner with a USB port in the car, I turn the ignition on & it powers the lights & cd-tuner without starting the engine.

My question is, would it be a problem to turn the ignition halfway to turn on the radio to charge my phone etc for a few hours without draining the battery?

Secondly, if the above is risky, could I swap in a deep cycle battery I already have, in place of the car battery to power the radio etc? Obviously I wouldn't try drive with the deep cell battery in (although it might be no problem?!?).

If someone could explain I'd appreciate it, last thing I want is to be stranded with a dead battery because I charged my phone.

Why don't you get a phone charger that runs off your cigarette lighter? Even the €2 shops have them, don't ask me how much they cost.:P
My phone charges via Micro USB, I have a USB power supply in my cigarette lighter, and hook the phone up via a micro USB charger cable.
In my car the power socket is always on, even with the ignition off, so no need to drain the battery needlessly.

keithclancy

Del2005 wrote: »

You could get an external battery pack and not bother with deep cycle batteries or the like. I've got the one in the link and it'll charge a phone 3 or 4 times.

+1

I went on a Camping trip down in the south of Germany in the forest and I have that exact model.

Got 4 1/2 charges on my Samsung Galaxy S+ and my Missus's iPhone.

My phone lasted 5 days working as a Wifi Hotspot for 3 other people

Bonus is you can just stick it in your bag and charge it on the go rather than having to leave it in the car.

You'll always get use out of it too, if your going somewhere on the train/flight and you don't have to be worrying about having a socket close by, if I got away for a few days I just charge that up, bring it and leave the plugs at home.

Also powering your stereo to charge your phone would be pretty inefficient i would think.

Those Solar Chargers are crap, I think you'd need to be living in the Sahara to charge your phone in any reasonable sort of time.