Prius v iPhone 4S Charging Cradle Mount (with too much power alert fix)

I've learned a lot from these forums, prior and after I purchased my 2012 Prius v Three, and wanted to give back. I use an iPhone 4s and found that the battery life was horrible. After trying 3 different battery cases, I finally found one that works well, and can fully recharge the iphone. Plus, it comes with a nice charging cradle and can be charged directly from a micro USB port. The best part is that it costs less than $30.00. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links, so I'll just say that it came from Monoprice, and was their Product ID 9590.

When I got my Prius, I realized that I could use the charging cradle to create a nice charging phone mount in the car that doesn't require any effort to connect or disconnect. When you get in the car, you simply set the phone down on the dock/cradle, it starts charging. If you want to use the USB connection and Entune on the prius you can (more on that later) but personally, I found Entune to be a bit of a bad joke, and prefer to use a 12V adapter charger, and play music via bluetooth only.

So here is what it looks like (hopefully the pictures work)

















I ended up making a simple "L" bracket out of a piece of metal from Home Depot. (it was a strip of the metal they use to connect boards together in home construction). Took apart the bottom of the cradle, and drilled through it with some nuts and screws to secure it to to the "L" bracket.

I then stuck some Velcro onto the side of it (fuzzy side) so it didn't scratch anything and it looked good. This also added some "squishable" width to the metal strip, so it will stay in place and hold everything securely. The "L" bracket then wedges between the removable part of the cup holder, and the drawer. Basically pull out the cup holder, put in the "L" bracket, and rather forcefully push the cup holder back down into the drawer.

I've never had the mount come loose, and it is held in place quite securely by just the cup holder. The cord (it comes with) is a micro USB to USB, and that just runs out the back of the cradle, and I ran it under the little felt mat that comes in the Prius console. Monoprice also has a nice small 2amp inexpensive 12 charger adapter, that I use (part 8858 $4.91) that works great with the phone and battery case.

The USB port in the prius does not like the battery case, and reports that it is pulling too much power. There is a fix for that. At my local computer shop, I picked up a cable that is designed for portable hard drives. It comes with 2 usb ports (one for data, one for power) and ends with a mini usb port. I then got an adapter to convert the mini usb, to the micro usb that the phone case / cradle needs. The whole cable setup cost about $10. This allows the phone to charge via the adapter, and still work with the Prius direct USB entune system. (cable picture below)



Interestingly, for whatever reason, I found that when using this cable, you can plug it directly into the Prius USB port, and it will charge the phone, and communicate with the iphone, WITHOUT needing the extra charger. I don't know what is different about this cable, vs. others. Regardless, I ended up preferring to use the blutooth connection for music, and the adapter to charge the phone. On semi-rare occasions, when you hit bumps in the road, it will briefly break the charging connection between the phone and the USB port, and I didn't want to deal with the music stopping for that.

It's really nice to be able to get in the car and have a place to just set down the phone that will charge it, without having to actually plug anything into the phone. Plus, since I'm using the cup holder, the position of the mount/phone is adjustable depending on how far you slide in or out the cup holder.

It makes no permanent modification to the car, does not damage anything, and the cupholder is still 100% usable. The best part is, you get to have a phone that never runs out of battery, and the entire thing costs less than $35 if you use the cable the cradle comes with.

Let me know if anything wasn't clear, of if there are questions.

Enjoy!

-Jason W

 

I've tried a number of different battery cases. None were worth anything. It's ironic that the least expensive one, worked the best. I've had pretty good results with MonoPrice products. Generally it's all import stuff, but whoever their product sourcing guy is, must go through a lot of junk to pick out the good stuff.

The case offers good protection for the phone, but the screen is more or less flush with the edge of the case... so if it falls face down, it will offer little protection. I've used this case for well over a year now, and had no problems though.

As far as staying in the cradle, it does pretty well. If you hit some significant bumps, the phone will sometimes make the "Tweedum" sound as the connection is briefly interrupted, and every once in a while I may need to reseat the phone in the dock. But this is rare. (On a recent 13hr trip, it happened maybe 3-4 times) on normal trips around, it might need to be reseated once every 2 or 3 trips.

The phone will sync through the dock and through the microUSB port on the case. So the USB connection through to the car works as well. I prefer not to use it that way though, as I will pick up the phone from time to time, and don't want to break the USB connection. Aside from the browse function built into the car touch screen, the audio and functionality is the same as far as I can tell (USB vs. Bluetooth).

Having to plug in the phone when you get in the car is kind of a hassle, I really like just setting it down in it's holder, and driving away.