Car charger: cigarette lighter vs USB speeds.

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biggles

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I hope this is the right place for this question. Did not see a forum on cartech.

Am I correct in assuming an Android smartphone would charge much faster through the cigarette lighter vs a usb port in the car.

Vehicle is 2017 Mazda 3.
 
Well, assuming you could plug your phone directly into the cigarette lighter, yes. Those usually allow up to 10A of current, but that's an unregulated 12VDC and I haven't seen a phone that plugs into straight 12V in a really really long time. Usually you plug in a USB dongle, and almost every modern phone charges via USB

Most car audio USB are just going to be very basic, not really meant for charging - that may allow for up to 0.5A. Most of your basic USB/Cigarette lighter adapters will be this 0.5A limit as well.

A USB port specifically for charging can supply more current - 1.5A for regular USB, and up to 3A for USB Type C 3.1. So significantly more power -- IF, and only if, you get the right charging adapter.
 
I have a car charger previously used in a 2007 Nissan Altima. After doing more research on this it appears the usb is more useful for storing music on a flash drive to be played through the car stereo. Shoot, I might have to read the f*ing manual! RTFM!
 
If you got a modern smartphone like the Galaxy S7 that support fast chargers you can buy USB adapters for car lighter plugs that support fast charging.

The USB port on my car does charge but only at the standard 500ma for USB, so it's pretty slow (but more than sufficient for my old iPhone4 that I use as an iPod).

On my Samsung S6 my standard USB car charger (leftover from my Blackberry) cannot keep up with GPS, navigation, and bluetooth all at the same time.
 
The USB port on most cars will be very basic and not well thought out. Doesn't matter how new the car is automakers don't even think about this stuff.

With a cigarette lighter adapter you can choose from thousands of options and some of those include models that can do fast charging or have intelligent switching between different modes for different phones such as apple or android / fast vs slow. So yes, buy a good adapter and stick it in the cigarette lighter.

If you are lucky you might even have a normal outlet plug in your car then you can plug in the appropriate wall charger for the fastest charging your phone is capable of.
 
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