08-19-2014, 11:38 PM | #1 |
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Charging phone in car? Bad habit?
I always have my phone plugged into my car via USB for music, but I heard people talk about their car's electronics being affected by it.
The horn on my car recently blew out and I'm guessing my phone had something to do with it...? Anyone want to share experiences of charging their phone while driving and what it does to the car? |
08-21-2014, 08:48 AM | #2 |
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This makes no sense to me. Your phone is only another current draw on the battery like everything else in the car. Unless your phone is pulling down like 20 amps, which would probably melt your USB port, it's not going to interfere with anything. And if you leave it plugged in all the time, it should only pretty much be fully charged all the time unless you go days without driving.
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08-21-2014, 01:36 PM | #4 |
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Totally.
If we make a venn diagram of total number of people who have had electrical issues with their BMW, and the total number of people who have charged their phone, I think we'd find a significant overlap. This might very well be the reason. |
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08-21-2014, 05:17 PM | #5 |
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Is that like the Venn diagram of people who have some kind of rattle or buzz in their F30 and people who eat chicken? Eating chicken makes your F30 rattle!
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08-22-2014, 06:09 PM | #6 |
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08-25-2014, 09:39 AM | #8 |
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If your iPhone was somehow (cant imagine how) causing electricial voltage/impedence issues, you would have other symptoms from other systems that are a lot more sensitive to electrical anomalies than a horn. by the way, you have 2 horns at different frequencies. I had one of mine fail about 6 months ago and the remaining horn sounded terrible.
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08-26-2014, 01:39 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
Turns out that it was because I flashed my high beams while I was blaring my horn at someone drifting into my lane. I didn't quite connect the two, but I remember that ever since that incident, the low pitched horn gradually started to get raspy and eventually fizzle out over the course of a few months. I'm getting a new horn covered under warranty. I still think it's a possibility that the plugged in phone overworked the circuitry because a horn shouldn't fail simply because I flash my high beams at the same time. |
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09-13-2014, 11:25 AM | #11 | |
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The alternator on a 3-series, meanwhile, supplies between 2,400 watts and 2,900 watts (varies with trim level). Let's assume that various inefficiencies (stepping down in voltage, losses in the wiring system, etc) lead to your phone putting 10 watts of load on your car, then your phone uses up about 0.4% of the alternator's capacity. |
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charging, phone, phone charger, usb, usb audio |
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