Makes sense… Now someone with a 3D printer needs to make a thinner pad and see if there are any takers here…

 

I think his idea would work just fine, cut out the plastic and leave just the rubber pad in place. I might give this a shot with mine to see. I could see a thinner piece of plastic, but if the rubber pad is going to cover it, seems like you don't want anything else in there.

 

The only thing that concerns me about cutting it completely out, is if it gets hot and the rubber pad is touching the coils (if they in turn get hot).

 

Good point. I am sure I could 3d print a really thin flat plastic sheet to put in there.

 

I wonder if a person just cut out a small oval part out of the plastic if that might work? Not remove it completely and still allow the rubber to stay separated from the coils and not overheat? That would allow the space between the rubber and the coils to avoid overheating and allow the charge to penetrate? Thanks for posting this, this is very interesting.

 

Well, that's what I was thinking at first and I say that in the video... but I tried and it didn't work. The charger is just so weak that the proximity is not close enough. Here is my attempted hack to try just what you were thinking. Too bad too. I think my next try will be to use small washers to act as standoffs on the screws of QI Coils to get them closer.

 

Do the coils actually get hot? I’m thinking maybe the rubber pad may be all you need to separate the phone from the coils, since rubber just like plastic does not conduct electricity? Is it not more of a magnetic current than actual coils that are shorted and get hot? I am definitely not an electrician, not even close. I’m just wondering if the rubber sitting on the coils would actually get hot? I’m thinking if they actually got hot, wouldn’t the plastic barrier get hot too?

 

I don't know the full details, but I believe any induction charging can get hot depending on the device, obstructions, battery, and perhaps other factors. I know there are temp sensors, but I honestly can't tell you, yet.

 

It doesn’t work well with new iphones for a couple reasons.
1: The cameras stick out too far and don’t let the phones lie flat.
2: The mag safe magnets embedded in the phone interfere with it
3: cases are too thick to allow a decent connection

 

It doesn’t work well with new iphones for a couple reasons.
1: The cameras stick out too far and don’t let the phones lie flat.
2: The mag safe magnets embedded in the phone interfere with it
3: cases are too thick to allow a decent connection

I agree about the camera's protruding, that is about the needed distance elimination to secure a working condition. If the phone was flat, it probably would work. But still.... Ford made it work ok.

 

Many places sell thin, often rubber drawer line - like for tool boxes that might be an option, even so, if the charger is not Apple certified I think the charge rate will be low, I get a full charge with the ProClip phone holder and the Mag-Safe charger with no issues.

 

Good old American ingenuity going on here. [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What you should also be monitoring is the input voltage into the device. Those design parameters could be part of the failures too. If the input voltage should be 13.7 to work properly and you only have input voltage of 12.5 at the device that would also explain why the charging is intermittent. Put a meter on there and lets see what is being supplied to it.

 

Honda needs to scrap their supplier for this charger. They probably have a gazillion of them stockpiled. The 2024 Ridgeline will have 6 charging pads scattered throughout the vehicle as a way to clear inventory and call it a Special Edition wireless charger.

 

What's crazy is even Honda can make it work. The one in my Odyssey has no issues at all charging phones. The RL one somehow just isn't clearly designed as well.

 

If the Odyssey's works... I wonder if the internals are the same. Honda maybe wouldn't produce more than one circuit board, charging core. The photo looks like the same type of module. Just mounted differently and I wonder if it is purely proximity within the internal mounting. If I had resources to swap vehicles charging pads, I would... they are simple to snap/pry out.

 

It’s a shame but it doesn’t really work with my iPhone 14. My wife’s Audi SUV’s charger works perfectly and that car also has wireless CarPlay.
Honda should come up with a working pad and retrofit it. I feel I paid for an option that ain’t there.
As to CarPlay, my concern with wired CarPlay is that I don’t want to charge the phone constantly (and it would look cleaner without the cable)

 

I cant wait for you to figure this out Nervey…i appreciate all of the info and details and know you will come up with a solution. Cannot wait to hear it!

 

Hard to believe that Honda is STILL selling vehicles with these defective wireless chargers. They could have been fixed in the 2023 models, but not!

 

Verdict: It works now, but pretty sensitive to position. If it moves off-center it stops. The phone does better if it is oriented as the top pointed toward the passenger side. I had it charging for about an hour and it stayed, but it was a very slow charge. Honda should be embarrassed, and I firmly believe they owe all of us $500 or a replacement. I'll revisit this some other time.

 

Thanks for the effort Nervey. [emoji1303]


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Thanks for the effort Nervey. [emoji1303]

Thanks... but also Seth [ @gti16vman ], he was trying the same stuff and pulled his Odyssey's module to compare. It's cool when we try to discover things. I haven't given up... just for now.

 

Tried my Pixel buds case today as it also charges on a pad or phone stand. Same result, initial contact that switches to the flashing light in a few seconds.

 

Here is my .75mm thick sheet that I put over the coils and then double sided taped the rubber pad back in place. Haven't driven it anywhere to know if it helped at all or not, but I suspect I will be in the same boat as Nervey. I can usually get it to charge with an angled positioning before, hoping this helps it charge a little faster than it had.

I really think it may be worth it to get a nice fast charger, disassemble it and put the guts in this one. The only thing I am not sure is what kind of power draw this thing has to know if it can handle what the fast charger would need. I definitely think this would work relatively well.

 

Shame on Honda! Cheap Bas___ds.
On several other issues too!

 

Has anyone tried checking the circuit to see how much power it's actually drawing? I wonder if there might be a relatively simple mod that would allow the coils to draw a bit more power might solve the issue. I don't have a RL with one of these or I might be tempted to play around with it. I suspect that swapping it with an off the shelf charger might end up being the easiest thing though.

 

No, I was just doing physical mods to improve the proximity and elimination of a thick barrier... and my test gear is at another location. We would need the schematics to make sense of it and even then, I'm not great at reverse engineering.

 

I say this, because I air pods always work.

My AirPods Pro do not charge any more reliably than my iPhone XS Max in my 2021.

 

I never had issues with mine. Huh. In the very beginning that's why I thought it was odd that people complained about the charger, I remember the phone I had at the time I bought the truck didn't do wireless charging, but my AirPods did, so I was one of those folks saying, "Hey mine works." But even though the charger latches to my iPhone 14 now it's still not charging much at all.

[The Airpods are hit or miss, and subsequent tries have not produced successful charging]

 

FWIW, one of the 2023 Pilot reviewers seemed to think that it had a pretty strong wireless charger, easily charging through a thick case.

 

You would need a higher input voltage and then you will need to know the input range the module can take before frying itself. As I said before. Measure the input voltage to it and see if the truck isn't supplying enough to make it work correctly. There's a good possibility of that.

 

Tonight driving to my son's game was the first chance I had to test my revamped one out. I will definitely agree that you have to be mindful of it moving, but it added 3% to the charge in a 10 minute drive. It only shifted enough to stop charging once in that time. Not the fastest, but seems to be a bit faster than it had when I got it to work before.

 

This forum is awesome!

Seems like just adding a simple MagSafe charger for iPhones would be a nice solution. Remove guts , Drill small hole for usb then glue mag safe charger to pad. Convert 7 pin connector to usb port and presto. My current set up in the center console but this would be cleaner .

Silly question but can I just pop off the wireless charger or do I need to take out the center console?

 

There are two "slots" on the backside of it that you can use a flathead screwdriver to pry it up. When doing so, be very careful not to damage the console when doing it. It pops out without the need to remove anything else in the center console.