MagSafe FTW

With the Jeep now sporting a spiffy wireless CarPlay display, my phone was floating more than it used to. I hate that. I also wasn’t wild about constantly hooking up a Lightning cable to charge it. (I’ve been using a 12V USB-C to Lightning setup).

I’ve been adopting wireless charging more and more over time:

• At the office I have a wireless charging stand like this.
• At home in my living room, a RAVPower Fast Wireless Charging Pad (5W for the iPhone) (man, RAVPower fell from grace fast, there’s no trace left on Amazon).
• My home work station uses a Vaydeer USB3.0 Wireless Charging Aluminum Monitor Stand Riser.
  
• On my night stand I’ve cycled through:
• An iHome wireless charging alarm clock. Impossible to read from bed, and charging my watch meant the clutter of a USB cord hanging off the back of the radio.
• A COLSUR Desk Lamp with Wireless Charger. I tried really hard to make this work. It feels (and looks a bit) cheap, but it checked the boxes. But the light flickers. The watch charger kept connecting and disconnecting (probably an issue with the USB charger), and the compartment in the back that’s supposed to hide the USB cable always pops open. The clock is too bright (I cover it). But it does charge the phone...
  

Car charging. So naturally I’d been contemplating a wireless charging setup for the Jeep, likely with a cradle. But I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for (ideally, a RAM solution that worked with a name brand charging module). Instead, there are a lot of no-name products out there, and some name brand stuff, but it all seemed to rely on suction cups to the window (which don’t really work with the Wrangler’s vertical windshield, and my dash is getting pretty crowded as it is already), or ... Couldn’t find what I wanted.

Tackform MagSafe Mount

So I built it. Back to Tackform for the pieces:

• TF-HL-128-25    MagSafe Wireless Charger Holder With 1" / 25mm / B-Sized Ball
• TF-BS-86    Table Clamp Mount | 1"/25mm/B-Sized Ball Connection
• TF-AR-55    Arm | 7.5" Long | Dual 1"/25mm/B-Sized Sockets | Expandable Elbow Joint
• Apple MagSafe Charger
  

The setup rocks. I’m feeding it with the UGREEN adapter and it charges at least as fast as it did with the Lightning connector. With the phone screen off, connected to the CarPlay display and running GPS, streaming music, etc., it’s easily able to not only power all of that, but to charge the phone as well. The magnetic aspect works well, it grips the phone securely even with the Jeep’s medieval suspension. I have it hanging off the center console, alongside the gear shift lever, and it just works.

Nightstand. Impressed by that solution, I switched my nightstand over to a Belkin 3-in-1 (I found a “used – like new” version for $55). Available in white or black. I would have preferred the black, but the deal on the white was too good to pass up. It clamps onto my phone like you’d expect, and similarly grabs and charges the Apple Watch. (The phone charges at 15W.) Unlike many cheap kits, it has its own MagSafe chargers built in, including for the watch. I’m seriously impressed and glad I found it. (So now the COLSUR gets rotated out, and I’m back to using my old dimmable halogen lamp (swapped to an LED T3, doesn’t dim as well and the light’s a cooler color temperature, but at least you won’t burn yourself on the housing).

On the go. I’ve been using a FuelRod or other small battery with a Lightning connector to charge my phone on the go, but that’s less than ideal. Bouncing around in my pocket puts unnecessary stress on the cable and, worse, the Lightning port on the phone. So, emboldened by my positive experiences with the MagSafe solutions I found for the car and at home, I picked up Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack. It charges at 7.5W (which is not quite enough to charge it while using it, and if you wait too long you’ll bounce through 20% and 10% low power warnings constantly. But with a little anticipation, it’s not that bad. I considered the significantly cheaper Anker 622 (love the kickstand; 7.5W and will bring the battery up about 80%) or the Belkin unit (5W and will only bump the phone 25%, but, cheap), but ultimately the tight Apple integration (e.g., things like pausing charging when the phone is running too hot) tipped the scale towards the manufacturer’s solution. So far I’ve used it for a day at Knott’s Berry Farm and at SoFi for the Rams-Broncos blow-out, and it extended my battery life well enough.

However ... Trying to find definitive numbers for the MagSafe is harder than it should be. Apple’s site states only: “If connected to a 20W or higher power source, your MagSafe Battery Pack can charge your iPhone with up to 15W of power.” (They also note: “Using an adapter that isn't 20W or higher will result in a slower charge.”) The little “Safety and Handling” booklet that comes in the box specifies:

Recommended Power Adapter Specifications

• ... Output Voltage/Current: 5VDC/3A or 9VDC/2.22A
• Minimum Power Output: 15W
• Output Port: USB-C

But, at least one article claims Apple states: “The MagSafe Charger will ... function with power adapters that provide a minimum 12W (5V/2.4A) of power,” and my experience with a USB charger delivering approximately 11.7W is that it can charge the MagSafe pack fully - but not necessarily reliably.