Custom phone charging ideas

KvonReiner

Member
 St. Louis MO USA
I have been wondering, with so little extra space for todays "big" phones, what have people come up with to charge and or hold these in the little cabin of the Z4? Im considering making a custom charging cradle in the door of the center console. I personally dont like it sliding around under the ebrake or glued to my dash. Just wondering. . . .
 
How big is your phone? I haven't been able to fit my iPhone in the door slot since about the iPhone 3.

Mine now sits in my front jeans pocket - and it connects to the hand-free device via bluetooth.

If I need to charge it, I simply connect it to the USB 12v socket and put the phone in the glove box.

If I need to use it as a sat-nav then it's even easier, as it has to be on the screen/dash anyway - the following location is where I usually put the TomTom or phone. The power cable simply comes down to the 12v socket - and it's not hard-wired as I swap it between cars.

SatNavTrim.jpg

Satnav03.jpg
 
I use a magnetic mount with a metal plate in my phone case and I fitted a usb charger, works through my headunit with android auto etc, looks very discreet when mounted
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Jamie-innes said:
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I like the look of this a lot. I’ve been looking for a decent single din apple CarPlay unit. Where did you get yours from?
 
nick_l said:
Jamie-innes said:
20201007_123905.jpg

I like the look of this a lot. I’ve been looking for a decent single din apple CarPlay unit. Where did you get yours from?
Got it from joyingauto.eu website, its the 10.25 single din unit! Good thing about apple carplay is it can connect to this through bluetooth and looks brilliant where android on mines is a wired connection and only uses 2/3rd of the screen
 
I installed a Bluetooth adapter on the CD/Radio and then bought a wireless charger/phone holder that fits in the CD slot. It works, not the “be all - end all” but will do. I like not having anything valuable that is visible from outside the car.

I’m interested in seeing what other options are out there!
 

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You'd have thought in these days of superfast charging the need to charge in car would be almost redundant, i dont think Ive even plugged in a charger in any car in the last 5 years, one mains charger at home and one at work seems to make a car one redundant, i guess if you spend a good chunk of your working day in your car then there may be some need
 
Jamie-innes said:
joyingauto.eu
I know the Joying stuff has been discussed before, but upon seeing yours and having the discussion spark up again, I looked at the Joying website. It seems the screen can be mounted high or low. Just out of interest, why did you mount yours to cover the vents? It seems like you could mount it low enough to not lose the functionality of the vents?
joy.JPG
 
Z4C_er said:
Jamie-innes said:
joyingauto.eu
I know the Joying stuff has been discussed before, but upon seeing yours and having the discussion spark up again, I looked at the Joying website. It seems the screen can be mounted high or low. Just out of interest, why did you mount yours to cover the vents? It seems like you could mount it low enough to not lose the functionality of the vents?
joy.JPG
Yes it's totally possible but to be honest i felt it just looked a bit naff sitting so low as it hangs well below the line of the dashtrim, down to the heater buttons. Sometimes i do wish i could blow heat out the centre vents on a cold morning but to me the pros outweigh the cons.
My original idea was a double din conversion to remove the vents completely but I've not seen one of those either that haven't totally ruined the car lol
If i was brave enough I'd go for the unit that sits on top of the dash and have best of both worlds
 
Jamie-innes said:
Z4C_er said:
Jamie-innes said:
joyingauto.eu
I know the Joying stuff has been discussed before, but upon seeing yours and having the discussion spark up again, I looked at the Joying website. It seems the screen can be mounted high or low. Just out of interest, why did you mount yours to cover the vents? It seems like you could mount it low enough to not lose the functionality of the vents?
joy.JPG
Yes it's totally possible but to be honest i felt it just looked a bit naff sitting so low as it hangs well below the line of the dashtrim, down to the heater buttons. Sometimes i do wish i could blow heat out the centre vents on a cold morning but to me the pros outweigh the cons.
My original idea was a double din conversion to remove the vents completely but I've not seen one of those either that haven't totally ruined the car lol
If i was brave enough I'd go for the unit that sits on top of the dash and have best of both worlds
Aaaah, aesthetics......
 
Hi folks,

I've been using a Baseus Big Ears wireless magnetic charger for the past 3 years in my F10, and it's been great. Minimal wires on display, and easy to attach/detach the phone each time.

I run android auto from it, and positioned just left of the wheel, so is within finger reach whilst driving.

20201008_143934-COLLAGE.jpg

I've just put the same setup in my Z4C, but had to locate to the right of the wheel as placement options weren't great on the left (dash gradient too steep, or too far away from the wheel etc).

20201008_144048-COLLAGE.jpg

It currently runs from the cigarette lighter, but will be hard wired eventually when I have the time. If you're careful with the wiring, I think it gives a nice and clean wire free way to hold your phone, with the added bonus of charging it too.

The only cons I have identified are that if you use a thick case, it could be hard for the magnets to hold it in place firmly, so bumpy roads/fast acceleration could dislodge it. The stand comes with a nice leather covered metal plate for the phone though to counteract this, but I've not had reason to fit it yet as I've moved to a very.slim cover.
 
Z4C_er said:
Jamie-innes said:
Z4C_er said:
I know the Joying stuff has been discussed before, but upon seeing yours and having the discussion spark up again, I looked at the Joying website. It seems the screen can be mounted high or low. Just out of interest, why did you mount yours to cover the vents? It seems like you could mount it low enough to not lose the functionality of the vents?
joy.JPG
Yes it's totally possible but to be honest i felt it just looked a bit naff sitting so low as it hangs well below the line of the dashtrim, down to the heater buttons. Sometimes i do wish i could blow heat out the centre vents on a cold morning but to me the pros outweigh the cons.
My original idea was a double din conversion to remove the vents completely but I've not seen one of those either that haven't totally ruined the car lol
If i was brave enough I'd go for the unit that sits on top of the dash and have best of both worlds
Aaaah, aesthetics......
That's the one :thumbsup: :rofl:
 
mr.tourette said:
You'd have thought in these days of superfast charging the need to charge in car would be almost redundant, i dont think Ive even plugged in a charger in any car in the last 5 years, one mains charger at home and one at work seems to make a car one redundant, i guess if you spend a good chunk of your working day in your car then there may be some need

my commute is 45 min... i have 4 iphones, to be able to go from 10% to 75% with usb c is amazing... all my usb 2.0 at home has been replaced with usb c.. the Ipad pro can't even be used without an USB c charger, it just keep discharging. Plus I'm adding additional usb in trunk.. it'll be fun :)
 
Any suggestions as to what I could do with the redundant phone cradle ?
e.g. Is there any easy way to get power out of it to charge a phone and is there a name for that connector socket that the old phones used to be able to plug into ?
Thanks,
Robbie.

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