[jamodeo]

I originally had this idea to utilize the new iPhone MagSafe puck to hold my phone and charge it at the same time. Previously I had used the typical amazon magnetic vent mount where I'd put the piece of metal at the bottom of the phone in between the case and the phone and place it on the magnetic vent mount to to hold. Well when the MagSafe was announced and the puck came out I figured I could use the existing mount to hold the MagSafe puck, and then in turn the puck hold/charge the phone.

Original setup looked like this:



What I was looking to do, was this and then hardwire the cord to a switched 12v source: ... oh and if you instantly realize where my failure is going to be with this original plan, trust me when I say I was pretty frustrated after I realized my mistake



Short answer to why that didn't work: magnetic interference... The original vent mount I wanted to use to hold the puck caused magnetic interference with the MagSafe charger and iPhone power draw negotiation. Although it worked initially long enough for me to see it charge, then proceed to wire the WHOLE thing up, after about 15 seconds it would start cycling the power draw and go from charging/not charging constantly which instantly made me realize the flaws in the original design.

I was doing all of this before all of these amazon MagSafe mounts came out so I am aware you can buy one now, I just liked creating my own clean install, and I didn't have any other options before. Just getting around to documenting it now.

I took to creating the power supply utilizing a fuse piggyback and 12v Anker USB-C PD unit. I went with this option because it was noninvasive to any OEM harnesses, and would supply adequate wattage to the apple MagSafe adapter to charge the phone at the highest rate.



I have since rewired that a little cleaner but here is an original image of what I had put together to go under the passenger footwell, tapping the 12V accessory fuse so it would turn on/shut off with the car. I used the 20A fuse (top one above the other 20A and 30A fuse) next to the purple mark here:




To create the vent mount I took apart the old standard vent mount and Frankensteined them together with Gorilla Glue hot glue:



Here is the final result. It works great! Holds and charges the phone very well. The phone has only fallen off once under a full send hard launch when it was nicer out lol



If anyone has any questions I would be happy to answer them!

-Joe

[jamodeo]

Sorry if it jumps around, I had issues with the image sizing and layout, then lost all my images and formatting, then tried to put it all back together.

[Azlar]

I don't mean to be rude but WHY ?

The car has a charging pad, 2 USB sockets, Apple car play, Android app, I do not understand why you would want to fit something like this, what are you gaining ?

[jamodeo]

Originally Posted by Azlar

I don't mean to be rude but WHY ?

The car has a charging pad, 2 USB sockets, Apple car play, Android app, I do not understand why you would want to fit something like this, what are you gaining ?

Oh no worries, I utilize the wireless CarPlay almost exclusively and I've become accustomed to having the phone sitting on the previous magnetic vent mount so I figured why not charge it and hold it at the same time. I run the escort live app on on my phone sometimes too, and it's far less hassle compared to the center tray.

Wanted to share the small project but figured the most helpful part to someone will most likely be the location of that switched fuse for any other projects. I had searched a lot for this kind of solution when MagSafe was originally announced so it was something cool I wanted to do for myself.

[bloozemanAZ]

Originally Posted by jamodeo

Oh no worries, I utilize the wireless CarPlay almost exclusively and I've become accustomed to having the phone sitting on the previous magnetic vent mount so I figured why not charge it and hold it at the same time. I run the escort live app on on my phone sometimes too, and it's far less hassle compared to the center tray.

Wanted to share the small project but figured the most helpful part to someone will most likely be the location of that switched fuse for any other projects. I had searched a lot for this kind of solution when MagSafe was originally announced so it was something cool I wanted to do for myself.

Thanks for sharing as although I'm not an iPhone user I appreciate the detail on the science experiment to get a fully functioning MagSafe puck in an 8-series. There has been at least one other thread regarding MagSafe so I'm sure others out there in the iPhone world will appreciate the effort. Enjoy the drive!

[jdub765]

I did something similar as I sometimes listen to audio tapes to learn other languages on my commute and sometimes want to pause or rewind with the app that I use. The BMW wireless charger gets my phone way too hot which is bad for the battery. I use a MagSafe magnetic charger too and a MagSafe compatible case on my Samsung S22+ and it's actually able to charge my phone with Android Auto and Pandora running. I would have tucked the wire in but my wife uses the cord when she drives the car.

I used a AMPS mount with a standard 1/4" camera mount, drilled out the back of the charger I used, and epoxied it in place. I used photogrammetry to scan the dash and made a custom mount for the rest of the mount that fits into the little nook, and has a fin that wedges in between the panels to keep it in place. It was one of the most difficult things I've had to model because Fusion360 is not the best at organic shapes like the dash so it was hard to get it to do what I wanted lol. Also took quite a few prototypes before I finally printed it with Shapeways. The home 3d printed versions fit snug but the Shapeways printed model is a bit loose so I used some poster tack to snug it into place.