Hi everyone

 

In my previous car (Golf Mk7 estate) there was a very convenient place to mount a phone Qi (cordless) charger, using the air vent option on the central vents, choosing the vent nearest the driver. Worked a treat, short lead to the 12V to 5V USB adapter.

 

However on my new Monster Truck (sorry, Kodiaq) air vent mounting isn't an option - interferes with the controls, (vents either side of the wheel) or the two support feet of the mount would foul the glove box on the other 'central' vent.

 

The dash slopes significantly towards the driver and thus a dashboard mount (suction/sticky) doesn't look like it would be very stable, especially with a big and heavy Pixel or iPhone, and the phone would be in the driver's sight line. Can't find a decent place using the suction mount on the windscreen - again, too much in the sight line.

 

Where do other people mount their phone chargers please? Or does everyone use Android Auto/Apple Car Play/Built-in navigation, and/or bluetooth for audio streaming etc ie place phone in the front part of the centre console?

 

Thanks

 

 

https://www.brodit.co.uk/brodit/vehicles/Skoda/Kodiaq/2019.htm

 

 

I use one down by the gear lever

Thanks SimonAudi, will have a look at this, and also I'm still exploring what the 'art of the possible' might be on the Amazon site. Would much prefer the phone to be as high as possible without interfering too much with the driver sight line

Hi @SinglePointSafety

 

I mucked around with the Brodit one that jams in the drivers side air vent but it kept falling out.

 

I am now using a Baseus 10W Qi charger that I got from ebay.  It was $35 AU Pesos which is about 50 pence Stirling after conversion.

The suction cup works very well (it's really sticky).  The bottom of mine rests on the edge of the dash soft plastic which stops it bouncing around on the arm. The cable started packing a divot in the dash so I've put an adhesive felt pad under it now to spread the weight. 

I had the first one fail after about a month (the electric mechanism that clamps the phone arms failed and started making grinding noises) but the seller replaced it with no fuss.

Charging is enough to keep charging while running heavy apps like Tomtom Go and has no problem charging quickly while running Waze.

 

In AU summer when the sun shines on the phone, the phone would stop wireless charging due to over-temperature so I printed a aircon vent redirector that blows the cool air over the phone and that solved that problem.  It also was a handy mounting point for the Ultragauge.  This mounts by some 1mm aluminium strips on the edge that jam down the sides of the air vents.  I will print a thin support from this vent mount up to the Baseus phone mount to support it but it really doesn't need it.  The mount is cantilevered a long way so it bounces a bit on rough roads but not excessively.

 

 

 

Hi wokwon, that's very useful information thanks. I'm still trying to decide on the best compromise position - easy to see the phone, but not too much in the sight-line

I have this one

Soaiy 3in 1

https://www.amazon.de/SOAIY-Magnetische-Zigarettenanzünder-Ladefunktion-Led-Autobatterieanzeige/dp/B071CWXBR2

Thanks schmad72. I'm experimenting with (so far) my least-worst solution, which is mounting my existing Qi charger in the air vent between the wheel and driver's door. This vent holder has a nice spring clip and supporting feet, so doesn't work loose. It's definitely not ideal, but like I've said, it's a compromise of being able to see (and easily reach) the phone without it obscuring the road ahead. Needed a 3 m lead to do a neat job of hiding the power lead as best as possible.

This post is purely for my own curiosity. I'm a bit old school regarding phone use in cars, partly because I think it's dangerous, but also cos I'm thick !

I don't understand why you need to clip your phone onto the dash. Surely if your phone is paired to the car via Bluetooth, you can carry out your phone functions via the steering wheel and/or the infotainment screen.

What am I missing here? Please don't say a brain 🤔

Some might want to use Waze or Google Maps to navigate?

No need to apologise olderman1, happy to explain. Sometimes I physically connect my phone to the car to start Android Auto, so I can have Google Navigation (and other apps eg Spotify) appearing on the central screen. Then my phone is not in its vent mount but laying in the area near the USB port. But sometimes I want to use an alternative navigation app such as TomTom GO, which isn't compatible with Android Auto, hence the phone sits in its charging holder. I can also stream music via Bluetooth at the same time.

And I should add, I never 'fiddle' with the phone when I'm driving (unlike a huge number of drivers that I observe, which worries me because most days I commute to work by bicycle)

18 minutes ago, SinglePointSafety said:

And I should add, I never 'fiddle' with the phone when I'm driving (unlike a huge number of drivers that I observe, which worries me because most days I commute to work by bicycle)

 

Ahh, now I get it, thankyou.

Guess I'm lucky then, because most times when I need a sat nav to travel anywhere, I have my wing woman with me. She's pretty good at it and I don't need to fiddle with anything, which is a Bertie bonus when you're getting older. 😁