I noticed in the last week or so that my phone is barely charging in the car. In a half hour drive, it MAYBE goes up 3%. This is a huge change. It usually charges a LOT more.
It's not just me and my phone. My teenagers and husband noticed the same thing with their phones.
Thinking it was the charger, I replaced it with the same charger and new charging cables. Still slow charging.
I had my husband change the fuse in both power outlets and no change. I bought DIFFERENT charger and tried different wires and same thing.
It's not Android Auto draining it because as I stated, my husband is having the same issue and he never connects to Android Auto. It's not our Galaxy phones (S22 Ultra and S23+) as this is happening to my kids' iPhones as well.
2018 Hyundai Tucson limited
NEW car battery in April.
NOTHING else in the car is acting weird.
There is NO debris in either outlet, I cleaned them out just in case.
I am at a total loss as to what it could be. Before I spend money that I don't have and bring the car in, is there anything else we can check or do? I feel like it's probably a simple solution. Any help or ideas would greatly be appreciated.
Kia/ Hyundai is notorious for making poor quality parts; that's why their cars are cheap. With a vehicle that new, it's very likely computer-related. I would suspect that the Body Control Module is the cause. My wife's 2017 Mustang won't charge my phone when the car is off, have the key, and I get out of it. In the old days, (my 1999 Ranger does this) the cigarette lighter wire will stay hot when they key is out of the vehicle. You'd press the cigarette lighter in to complete the circuit, a resistor heats to red-hot and it pops back out, allowing you to light a smoke.
If there's corrosion in the socket, the resistance is going to increase. which might be a cause.
Making sure everyone's phones are fully charged before heading out is a solution, albeit probably not the solution you're looking for.
One solution might be to get one of those gizmos that plugs into the cigarette lighter and gives you USB power ports. There are various types available with Type A and/or Type C charging ports.
https://www.amazon.com/Charging-Cigarette-Accessories-Voltmeter-Universal/dp/B0CY5HJQRH
@chucktobias that's what I have.
@squirrelgirl If you're already using one of those gadgets for charging the phones rather than built-in car USB ports and it's not working right, chances are the gadget needs to be replaced. That's assuming there is full voltage available at the ciggy lighter.
Maybe I missed it, but are you talking about a power outlet that you plug in a standard wall charger to?
I am with @chucktobias on using a cigarette lighter plug charger, if that is not what you are using, surely the car has a couple at least?
@nlord yes, the cigarette lighter. I think my manual calls it a power outlet. 🤷🏼♀️
@squirrelgirl so with a cigarette lighter outlet, you changed the charger like @chucktobias showed, along with the charger cables, and still it didn't charge much?
@nlord It's not clear to me whether she's been using the cigarette lighter gadget all along or if she tried that when charging failed with the car's built-in USB ports.
@chucktobias I used the "cigarette lighter" while I was trying to charge my phone a few months ago and it still shut off when I would open the door to my wife's Mustang. I don't think the always hot feature exists anymore with new cars. They don't have true cigarette lighters in modern cars now.
I would get a volt meter and test the power outlet with the car running, should be around 14 volts...
@thdesha ok thanks. I'll try that. My husband has one somewhere.
it should also be noted that a lot of those cheap Chinese chargers claim to be fast chargers with high power but they fail quickly. Get a real Apple or Samsung charger and see how it does.
Cigarette lighter. I use the cigarette lighter for the car charger. NOT the USB port.