StromTrooper banner

Too much voltage at the 12V socket?

4K views 21 replies 11 participants last post by  DesertBike 
#1 ·
Recently I've been having problem with both of my 12V socket USB chargers.

That is, they don't charge. Much of the time, they either are charging the phone (Nexus 5X through USB C) very very slowly, or the phone is actually discharging despite showing being connected to a charger.

Here's where the mystery deepens: Both of these USB chargers work absolutely fine with the cigarette lighter socket in my car. Phone stays charged at all times, and charges rapidly if the battery is low to start with.

I did a little detective work with a multimeter and found the following:

Voltage at car's 12V socket, engine idling: 13.00V
Voltage at bike 12V socket, engine idling/various speeds: 14.44V (!)

Could it be the bike's socket voltage is so far outside the allowable range, that the charger is shutting itself off as a self-protection measure?

Both chargers supposedly can only take "9-12 V" input, but clearly that's a bit inaccurate, as they work fine with the 13V from the car socket.
 
See less See more
#4 ·
It's the voltage at the USB port that is important. The charger could have failed or not be providing enough current regardless of the voltage. See if it still works in the car. Car or bike should provide between 13.5V and 14.8V above idle and maybe a little lower at idle.
 
#5 ·
It's just the USB plug in not connecting the 12v socket properly, moving it about till it gets a connection works when the bike is still but when you ride it goes off again , time for a clean up or a change out. Happened to me, put in a new socket and all good since. On inspection the positive point of the socket was rusty and it was enough to make it lose contact, cleaning out worked for awhile but it rusts again quick quickly.
 
#7 ·
There's no rust involved, and the USB chargers work just fine in the car.

I suspect they just don't like the somewhat high (14.4V) voltage at the socket on the bike.

A dedicated USB charger would be great, as long as it's USB-C and can therefore supply up to 3A of current. That's what I was doing before with the 12V chargers.

I don't get why they worked fine for the last few months, but now won't charge the phone consistently.
 
#8 ·
That should not be a problem. 14.4V is not high. I too suspect the problem is the connection between the device and the bike's socket.
 
#9 ·
+1 for a bad connection.

I had the same exact problem on my Wee. The chargers worked fine in the car and were spotty on the bike. I never put a multimeter in the socket, but I zip-tied the charger so that it stays tight in the socket. Now it works great!
 
#10 · (Edited)
Could be. I definitely had a physical connection problem with my old 12V tire pump. I had to wiggle the plug just right, or else hold it in by hand, for a solid connection. Like the USB chargers, it worked fine in the car socket.

I always attributed that to the tire pump being kinda crap, but maybe it's the bike's socket that's the problem.
 
#11 ·
Give the 12V socket a good cleaning with q-tips and rubbing alcohol. My heated gear wasn't working a couple of months ago, had me scratching my head chasing it down before I finally cleaned the grunge out of the socket. No further problemo.
 
#14 ·
Eh...something's still screwy. Rode a couple hundred miles today. Despite the charger being firmly wedged into the socket with a zip tie, the phone started discharging a couple of times (like before, still showing the "charging" icon...!).

Unplugging it from the charger & plugging it back in got it charging again both times, though. Guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it.

This isn't normal behavior. Don't understand why it only happens on the bike.
 
#17 ·
There's a reason I didn't buy one of those doohickeys in the first place. Unfortunately, they are all USB 2.0, which only supplies a maximum of 2.0 A current - short of the USB C spec of 3.0 A.

That said, I could probably live with it. Generally the phone only needs 1 A or so to stay charged. I've had a lot of problems, though, with a USB (non-type C) charger claiming to provide 2 or 2.4 A, but only supplying 1.5 A or less in practice. Guess I'll give one a shot and see how it goes.

Not the Oxford socket replacement though. I need a regular 12V socket for my tire pump.

The original charger I mentioned (Tronsmart model CCTA, described as 33W Dual USB Car Charger with Quick Charge 3.0 Technology) is definitely trashed. I tried the other port (using a USB A to C cable) but had the same result: phone charges for a bit, then phone goes into discharge.

That's too bad. I liked the built-in cable on the Tronsmart charger. Means I can't accidentally unplug or lose the cable!
 
#20 ·
Nope, just too hot to charge

The old USB charger is definitely defective. Doesn't work at all in the car, either. The manufacturer was being a pain in the dick about a warranty replacement, so I got a new charger, this one: Aukey CC-Y1 USB charger

Does it work? Mostly, yes. But, as the weather has become warmer, I'm running into a big problem: in the mount on the bike, the phone gets too hot to charge much, or to stay topped off.

Lithium ion batteries don't like heat. The phone's charging circuit won't charge the battery quickly, or at all, if it gets too hot. Unfortunately, that's happened a lot recently, as temps have climbed into the upper 70's and higher.

Riding around, I'm routinely seeing battery temps from the mid-90°F range to as much as 107°F. The power management IC says "nuh uh" and either supplies a trickle (100-300 mA) or almost nothing (<100 mA) until I can cool the phone down.

Since the phone is in direct sunlight in the mount, it's just gonna get hot. Taking the case off made barely any difference. Air movement at highway speeds does help some. In stop and go traffic? Fuggehdaboutit.

So if I really need to charge the phone quickly, I have to tuck it in my tank bag. That way it's not getting beat on by the sun, and the display (another source of heat) can be off.

I didn't run into this problem riding in the fall or winter, because the colder air kept the phone nice and chilly.

I guess I'll have to devise some sort of a sun shade, or else just not use the phone for navigation the way I was planning.
 
#21 ·
I had to get new USB connector for my top box cigarette socket as the older one had worn.
Bike fittings tend to get more wear and tear.
 
#22 ·
I'm sure all that's true, but heat is the real problem in my situation. So far, I haven't found a good way around it.

There are some aftermarket phone sunshades, but so far all the ones I've seen only go on the phone in a horizontal orientation. And won't work with my Ram mount.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top