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Battery Drain Using GPS in Car Cradle

I love the GPS in my Droid. However, whenever I use the GPS with the Droid in the car cradle and with the Droid plugged in, the battery seems to discharge rather than charge. Today I used the GPS on a trip of about 1 1/2 hours. When I got to my destination, the battery was nearly totally discharged. I then drove for about a half hour with the GPS off, and the Droid out of the cradle. The battery began charging. Finally, I drove for another hour with the GPS on and the Droid out of the cradle. The battery continued to charge. This would suggest that it may have something to do with the Droid being in the cradle or perhaps a problem with the Car Home app that runs when the phone is in the cradle. I would be interested in knowing if anyone else has had a similar problem.

Comments

unknown

Are you sure the power cable was completely plugged into your Droid while in the car dock? I know the cable is a little short. I use my Droid in navigation mode with Pandora playing all the time with no problem. Something is not right (obviously).

adiron2hike

Yes, I have been watching this for awhile. It has happened more than once. Each time I have checked the power cord.

logicman

Could be due to overheating. See Cooking your phone.

adiron2hike

Interesting! Yes, the phone was quite warm. I thought it might be from charging or discharging, much like it seems to get hot if the camera or bar scanner has been left on. I will definitely check it out as a possibility.

y0diggity

I spend a LOT of time traveling for work in a car with my Droid mounted to the windshield and the GPS running. The linked forum post talks about direct sunlight, but I can tell you that even at night, in winter, with the phone charging and the GPS running, it gets HOT. Much hotter than I would think that it should get. I haven't experienced charging issues with mine fortunately, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if I did.

At this point I just let it cook. I really haven't found a solution to the issue anywhere and I haven't read much about it becoming a phone-killer. On the bright side, after a good long trip, I can put a toaster strudel on it and it heats up in about 3 minutes. mmmmmm.... Breakfast....

LennyHO

I had the problem under 2.0.1 where my Droid got very hot while in the car cradle (Motorola), though the battery would continue to charge normally. At the time I had been noticing that when I turned the Droid on each morning (I fully charge it before retiring at night and then power it off) the battery would be down to 70% or 80%. I finally removed the battery and reseated it. This seemed to fix both problems (overheating and battery drain). Now under 2.1 I have noticed, like other folks here, that when the Droid is placed in the car cradle, it again gets hot and now the battery also discharges. This is a shame because I prefer the Droid Google GPS over my Garmin GPS device.

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