can i charge iPhone from car radio with USB socket ?

Hi all, in my car i have a Car Radio with a USB socket, into which i put USB memory sticks to play music thereon.

I just had a brain wave ?, could i plug my iPhone into this socket, using my standard mains charging lead (without the 3 pin plug !) and charge up my phone with it, i realise i wouldn't be able to listen to MP3 files on my Phone LOL.

I find that normal Phone charging leads that come out of a cigarette lighter socket are far to bulky and never long enough, to such an extent that i can't stick my phone holder on the windscreen where i want it to be !.

My Meriva has a terrific blind spot at the side of the windscreen with a little window that i can't see anything out of, this is the best (and only) place i want to stick my Phone !.

Has anybody tried to charge phone from a car radio usb socket ?.

Tim

The iPhone should charge since USB sockets have to give out power to work. You will soon know as the charging graphic will show on the phone and it will beep to indicate it is in charging mode

louishen said:

The iPhone should charge since USB sockets have to give out power to work. You will soon know as the charging graphic will show on the phone and it will beep to indicate it is in charging mode

Click to expand...

Thanks buddy very reassuring of you, i will give it a go, i didn't want to mess anything up LOL.

I had a stick on the windscreen type of thing, which was supposedly ONLY for my old phone, i was going to give it away, BUT i was well pleased to find out it was equally suitable for my iPhone

tim

No, the iPhone will not charge from the USB port built into a car radio.

Dam, but NVM

thanks chas

tim

If you are willing to pay for a new stereo head unit then you can get one that not only plays your music through the USB and let's you control your iPhone from the stereo unit but it will also charge your iPhone. They are relatively affordable to buy and install if you don't go to those dedicated car stereo shops. Just buy the basic stereo unit. It all cost me less than my iPhone.

It was well worth it. My iPhone is now almost always fully charged when I drive somewhere. I never have to worry about whether I charged my phone the night before. Being able to select songs from the stereo unit is also a lot safer than trying to do it on my iPhone while driving.

OK thanks EndlessMac that does sound a dammed good idea, i shall look into that possibilty.

tim

But TimmyToad, in your other post yesterday about a cradle for your iPhone you moved on to wanting a cigar lighter plug-in USB charger??

pendlewitch said:

But TimmyToad, in your other post yesterday about a cradle for your iPhone you moved on to wanting a cigar lighter plug-in USB charger??

Click to expand...

Dam you noticed, i don't know what i am doing/saying half the time LOL.

What it all boils down to is this,

firstly i had a phone cradle to stick on the windscreen type of thing, but it was for a HTC Desire but i thought that my iPhone would NOT fit in it !. without actually trying it, because i didn't really know where it was.

next i thought i could anchor my phone with a stalky kind of thing sticking out of the cigarette lighter socket.

next i found the HTC windscreen gadget and was well pleased to find that my iPhone DID fit in it, and perfectly as well.

so then of course i thought the ideal thing now would be to stick the cradle on the extreme right hand end of my cars dashboard on the quarter light, where there is already a blind spot, so the next problem is to get a bit of wire to reach halfway across the dashboard, i definitely didn't want one of those curly kind of wires they are far to clumsy.

So then i found i could get a cigarette lighter gadget with a USB socket in it with which i could use my standard charging wire from indoors !.

So now, i can happily report that ALL my queries have been happily sorted out and i now know what i doing, believe it or not ???

Thanks for drawing my wayward questions to my attention

tim

I find that normal Phone charging leads that come out of a cigarette lighter socket are far to bulky and never long enough, to such an extent that i can't stick my phone holder on the windscreen where i want it to be !.

Click to expand...

How far away from the phone can your car cigarette socket be? I use a car socket USB adapter at the cost of a about £2.00, the standard iPhone USB lead and the iPhone can go pretty well anywhere on the screen I want it. If that is not enough why not use a USB extension cable which costs almost nothing.

Hi Andy, in actual fact that is what i have decided to do, eventually !.

I am getting, in fact i am waiting for it to come from Amazon through my Letter Box, a USB socket thingie that plugs in the cigarette lighter GGGggggreat !.

Then as you say i can then use my iPhone charging lead (without the 3 pin plug !)

Thank you all for your input on my query, it is good to get lots of Feedback.

I am currently over the moon with 17mbps from Plus Net my new ISP, have now left Virgin Media, good riddance LOL.

Tim

Lighter socket double USB port

chas_m said:

No, the iPhone will not charge from the USB port built into a car radio.

Click to expand...

I have a double USB port that plugs into the lighter socket on my car. It seems to charge both my iPhone and a certain e-reader that shall be nameless. It cost very little and means that I can also plug my GPS in because the original plug-in lead broke.

As the standard UK charger for connection to mains electricity has packed up, yes I have tried changing the fuse, I am using the e-reader's charger which has the same rating.

chas_m said:

No, the iPhone will not charge from the USB port built into a car radio.

Click to expand...

Actually, this depends on the head unit itself.