Fastest phone charging option (not Wireless) with CarPlay?

[ScottSt]

Hi, I've given up on wirelessly charging my iPhone 16 Pro wirelessly. Too flaky, too hot. So I'm going the wired route. Seems there are a few options:

Wireless carplay:
1. Use a high quality cigarette lighter adapter and a charging cable. Looks like the armrest lighter socket is powered without the car running while the one in the center island cubby isn't. Any idea whether one gets more power than the other?
2. The USBC plug in the armrest that isn't the Wired Carplay plug

Wired carplay:
3. The USBC plug in the armrest that IS the Carplay plug

I guess I have two questions:
a. What have people gravitated towards re: the best wired setup? And why?
b. Which of the charging options not only "keep up" but actually will charge the phone while driving AND using carplay?

Every option I've tried so far seems to "barely keep up". I haven't spent much time with the "wired carplay" option because wireless is so convenient. But maybe it's more draining for the phone? Either way I'm running a cable...

 

[ADS-B]

It would be interesting to know where exactly do you keep your phone while in use. I have a phone mount over the centre air vents and they help with keeping the phone at a lower temperature.

 

[N7turbo]

Download the map data so it doesn't use the cell radio so much. That will save power and heat.

 

[ScottSt]

It would be interesting to know where exactly do you keep your phone while in use. I have a phone mount over the centre air vents and they help with keeping the phone at a lower temperature.

Right now I just have it plugged into a "high power" cigarette lighter and sitting in the cubby under the HVAC controls while I'm driving.

Soon I'll be installing a mount from Proclips that puts it up on the dash just under the screen. Along with a magsafe charging adapter.

 

[DoubleCH]

1. Both cig lighter sockets should yield same power, which should be more determined by your power adapter.

a. The factory wireless charger on my 2022 could barely keep up charging my Samsung S22 with Maps and music usage through my aftermarket wireless AA adapter. Wireless AA is ok for when I need to make multiple drives in a day to avoid multiple plug ins/outs. On longer trips with fewer hop on/offs, I use wired AA. I route USB cable from armrest box to where I place my phone under the front cig lighter socket so it's easy 1-hand plug/unplug operation.

 

[SKL]

USB-C port inside the armrest is the fast charge port for my Pixel 8 Pro.

I have a 12v USB charge under HVAC but this isn't fast charge - maybe my 12v unit is just older.

 

[ADS-B]

I was thinking that maybe your phone's battery discharges faster because you probably use google map or other navigation app on your phone.

 

[ScottSt]

Ok, my new setup is a Proclip mount with a Scosche MagSafe charging mount. It leverages wireless CarPlay which is a bit laggy, but the convenience is awesome and I like the mounting spot. I have used Proclips for years -- probably bought 10 mounts. Good stuff. The Scosche uses a branded 40w cigarette-plug charger (that has two USB-C outputs) and seems to actually increase my phone's battery while driving using Google Maps wirelessly.

 

[N7turbo]

Wireless is definitely the killer. Even wired charging will heat up the phone. Best you can do is download map data for offline use so it's not using cell power for maps.

 

[HyFlyer]

In front of the vent definitely helps a ton for cooling

 

[N7turbo]

In front of the vent definitely helps a ton for cooling

And heating.

 

[ScottSt]

And heating.

Heat tends to get routed low. I have used the same mount in our other cx5 for years without issue.