Having the Y-cable with which to connect my iPhone to my MINI (augmented by a ProClip pass-through holder) usually adds awesome experience to my driving. Being able to stream Slacker is probably #1 on my hit parade right now.

But now that I've upgraded to an iPhone 6 Plus, I'm finding that the power that the Y-cable supplies sometimes has trouble "keeping up." Most of the time it's not an issue. It can keep up with all the streaming apps I use. But on a recent road trip, I found that it can't, it just can't, when I use Waze.

Yes, I know that Waze is a battery-sucking vampire of an app. But having experienced some particularly nasty construction backups on a recent trip between the Bay Area and Vegas, I wanted to give Waze an opportunity to direct me to the fastest route (it gave me a pleasant surprise on the westbound/northbound leg out of Bakersfield).

But on my first leg, a 4-hour jaunt from work to Bakersfield, my battery ended up at around 70 percent, running both Waze and Slacker the whole way. (I'd hate to think where the battery would be if it wasn't connected to a source of power.) So I have 2 questions:

What is the amount of power that the Y-cable provides?
Can that be in any way increased?

 

Keep in mind, the Y-cable has nothing to do with the power output. The USB port has a set output that cannot be changed. You can use whatever cable you want, but that port will not put out any more power.

The USB port only puts out about 700-800mA (1A at most), which is not enough to really keep up with the newer phones and their big batteries.

It's not so much power output is decreased with the 6+, it's that the 6+ has a much bigger battery and it takes longer to charge.

My recommendation is to get a separate car charger (or USB charger) that puts out 2A. This will not only keep up with whatever you have the phone doing, but it will recharge it back to full much quicker too.

 

It's not the size of the battery but the current required to charge it. If the phone is idle it WILL charge on the 1A output from the USB connection. If you start running apps, it won't. You may have better luck with a USB y-cable with one end in the OEM USB connection to maintain control from the OEM radio and the other to give you more charging capacity. Or you can do what I'd do and use a PND. Well, I have the OEM nav and for some trips I'll use it, but for longer trips, I ALWAYS use my TomTom. It kicks the holy hell out of Apple and Google maps, and has a much better POI listing. If I didn't have the OEM navi it would never come off of my windshield.

 

That's a pretty reasonable workaround if I can find a USB Y-cable that will combine power from the 2 sources.

Otherwise, is there nothing in the car's internal software that would increase the USB port's amperage? (Not that MINI would have any interest or incentive to make such a software change were there one possible.)

Yeah, I agree that dedicated nav devices are better, but Apple and Waze meet my needs for the rare times I use nav.

 

You USB connection is limited by the wiring and the fusing. For it to be software-limited there would have to be a much more sophisticated system in the car.

 

My experience with an iPhone 6+ is that the battery drains steadily and quickly when using Waze (or any other nav app) and connected to the MINI's y-cable.

 

Which is why I usually use a USB car charger instead on longer trips (otherwise I leave it unplugged - the battery lasts FOREVER on this! ). Of course, I also have Bluetooth audio to fall back on and don't need the Y-cable.

 

A standard USB 2.0 port is limited to 500 mA. Based on how slow my 2012 Mini charges my phone I'm assuming that's all it will output.

Your best bet is to buy an iPhone compatible USB cigarette lighter adapter and use that instead. I got one on Amazon for $7 that will output up to 2.1A (which is the max rate the iPhone 6 will charge)

 

Thanks. That's exactly the direction I'm going. Got the little plug for the car outlet, an Aukey 4.8A dul USB charger that should sit close to flush to the outlet, and I'm just waiting on the Y USB cable.