Ideas on Installing Qi Wireless Charger?

I'm sure there are other people here who have phones that are wireless charging capable. I noticed that the Toyota Avalon has an optional Qi charger build in the center console.

I would love for my Taco to have this. So I want to see if anyone has done this or has even contemplated it and what your ideas are.

I have minimal electrical experience but I was thinking we just need to add an extra powered USB port that we can plug a store bought Wireless Charging plate into. Maybe piggyback off of one of the cig lighters wiring. Then find a perfect place to integrated the charging plate into the center console and make it look like it came with the car. That 100% stock appearance!

Thanks in advance.

 

Interesting idea. I was toying around with this for my Nexus 7. I have inductive charging for my Nokia phone which charges quickly but does get kind of warm. I had read on blogs that the Nexus 7 inductive charging was fairly slow. The one thing that made me give it up was because I wanted to mount my tablet on a dash mount but in the end I would still need to power the charging station so it didn't really reduce the need for wires. Hope you get this working!

 

There are some YouTube guys that have done this. They basically buy a cheap Chinese Qi charger, open it, put some magnets in it, and then (depending on their phone/tablet) can just rely on the magnets to hold them together. You may have to put a few magnets on your phone/tablet depending on the model.

I'm probably going to do this once I have another $50 to spend on toys rather than bills.

 

For example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdA9ucWf9uk

 

I really like the idea of using magnets to hold it on place.
I just really want it to either be hidden or look completely stock like this..


I have ordered this DIY Qi charging hardware already.

 

That does look really bad ass.

 

I've got a powerbot lying around, I'm contemplating pulling out the cupholders, and double side taping it to the sloped center cubby. Then whenever I want to charge my phone, just slide it into the cubby.

I'll post any results, once I do it.

 

That's kind of where I am looking to put it.

Bought a little sticky mat so the phone won't slide around in the cubby , then I will tape or glue the wireless charging coils under the plastic.

Now how to power it....

 

...any updates?

 

Found out a couple things this evening.

1) the plastic under where op and I were talking about putting it is ribbed.
2) you need to remove all the center console stuff (there's a ton of threads on how) to pull it out to reasonably get to the ribbing. Takes like 5 minutes.
3) The ribbing is very easy to cut, I used some cheap wire strippers.
4) The powerbot Qi charger will charge my nexus 4 through the plastic. With my case on, the distance between the two is too great and it won't charge.

What i like about the powerbot, is it beeps when the phone begins charging (which would be a nice way to known it's started).

I ordered a 12v to 5v converter from Amazon to hard wire the Qi charger.

I took pics, but will upload them once I've finished the project.

 

Wired it up today. The plastic creates too much of a barrier to have a hidden Qi charger. Googling around, I found this:

http://amzn.com/B00IWG4VEA

I'm thinking I'm gonna get one of those, and hard wire it from the bottom (since I already ran the add-a-fuse and ground).

 

I wish they could put the power input in the bottom so no wires show. I'm still going to make an attempt at the qi under the plastic. The part I have is just the coil so it doesn't have a enclosure that adds space. Can you elaborate on how you wired? Just used an add a fuse with a 5v fuse?

 

Yeah, I bought a mini add-a-fuse at the local auto store, which actually doubles on an existing fuse - so I used the aux fuse, (which is 7.5A) in one slot A, and 5A, for my new run, in slot B of the add-a-fuse, and plugged the add-a-fuse into the aux slot under the steering wheel. Ran a 12g wire under the steering column and around to where the cupholder is.

You have to remove all the center console stuff to get under the sloped area of the cubby, to trim off the ribbing - in doing so, you'll see a couple obvious bolts that are current grounds, I just attached the ground to that.

I wired up the 12v to 5v converter, which has dual usb ouputs, and just plugged in. The nice thing is it's still there, and removing the cup holder is super simple, so if I ever need another usb connection it's already there.

I was planning on dismantling the cup holder thing and hard wiring it or something, instead of plugging it into the top. I still really don't want to eat up a cupholder, so I might buy one of the Qi chargers that have three rings, so as to give me a larger charging surface. (The powerbot did work, it just had to sit perfectly in one location, or it would beep like hell).

 

Thank you for the instructions on the wiring. I think I might stray away from putting the charger under that plastic after sitting on the idea for a while.

About disassembling the cup Qi charger, I was thinking about incorporating the little slot for the phone into the actual center console. I would cut out a small section right above the cup holders. After I would to take apart the Qi cup holder and cut the holder part out to transplant into the slot I cut for it. I have to see what the insides of the Qi cup holder look like to made sure I can fit it all in.

In this photo, I outlined where I would cut a rectangle out for the phone slot.


and this is where I would cut the holder out of to be placed into the truck.

 

I got it installed! Not like the post right before this but under the gear shift.
I just used one of those sticky pads from Amazon so the phone will stay there.

Here are a few photos. of the install and finished product.

 

Nice man. That area is curved. Does the stickey pad negate that? Can you use a case?

 

The sticky pad does its job pretty well keeping it stable overcoming the curve. I am thinking about putting in some small magnets next to the coil to help keep the nexus in place just like the Nexus Qi charger. I don't have a case but I have one I can borrow to try out. I feel like it might be spotty with a case on. :/

 

Android L? Qi looks good man. Stealth mode.

 

can you post a pic of the dash without the phone sitting on it?

 

It looks exactly the same as before, just with a sticky pad sitting there.