I use Navionics on my iPhone, mainly because my chartplotter is too old to be reliable and installing a new one is a big step (c.f. my posts elsewhere about being on NMEA 0183 right now.)
This has been generally fine, but my phone locks after a few minutes, which is a hassle at times. So on a long sail out the Gate, when I really wanted constant ability to look at the chart, I set my phone for 'never lock.' And it didn't. But...
--> If the phone/app is always unlocked.open, the battery runs down super fast -- empty in less than 2 hours or so*. What do those of you using an iPad do?
I thought maybe this was the screen on all the time, but Apple does not seem to have an option for having the screen time out without requiring passcode for re-enrty. I was becoming irritated, then realized I can websurf/text for a good while without running down the battery like that... so maybe it's not the screen but the processing required for the Navionics? Or maybe for the GPS received (though I can;t figure out whay that would be so energy-consuming -- old Garmin handhelds worked foerever on a couple of AA;s)
Anyway, I am interested in what those of you using iPads (or iPhones) are doing in this regard -- am I doing something wrong with my settings, or is the only way to make it work to have the device always plugged in? I don't have USB at the helm right now, but could go there. Or wire up one of those Qi-type wireless chargers I guess, if solt water isn;t conductive enough to disable them when wet. But:
--> If there are app settings (I use Navionics) or phone/iPad settings that solve this (or any other advice on the general topic) then I'd love to know.
* PS: Happily I keep some big USB-battery banks* on board which I plugged into the phone and solved the problem -- ran the phone all day, hardly depleting. I highly recommend these battery banks (about the size of a couple of packs of cigarettes, for those of us old enough to remember when people smoked tobacco rather than vape pens) -- SAR services in the national parks apparently say something like 80% of rescues involve someone with a phone with failing battery, and I bet marine rescue are similar. If it's working (reception and... battery), phone is surely better than VHF -- I hear the UCSG regularly asking boats in distress for a phone # to call them back on. Anyway, given how cheap they are on Amazon, I suggest then to any/everyone -- I have two, and had not looked at them in a year or more (oops), and yet when I needed them I found they had stayed fully charged; I love Lithium batteries! Mine have a solar panel on the side, though I expect I would have to be drifting at sea for about a week to charge one up. Not bad to have in case of a West-coast earthquake either, now that I think of it... maybe I'll order a few more for home
This has been generally fine, but my phone locks after a few minutes, which is a hassle at times. So on a long sail out the Gate, when I really wanted constant ability to look at the chart, I set my phone for 'never lock.' And it didn't. But...
--> If the phone/app is always unlocked.open, the battery runs down super fast -- empty in less than 2 hours or so*. What do those of you using an iPad do?
I thought maybe this was the screen on all the time, but Apple does not seem to have an option for having the screen time out without requiring passcode for re-enrty. I was becoming irritated, then realized I can websurf/text for a good while without running down the battery like that... so maybe it's not the screen but the processing required for the Navionics? Or maybe for the GPS received (though I can;t figure out whay that would be so energy-consuming -- old Garmin handhelds worked foerever on a couple of AA;s)
Anyway, I am interested in what those of you using iPads (or iPhones) are doing in this regard -- am I doing something wrong with my settings, or is the only way to make it work to have the device always plugged in? I don't have USB at the helm right now, but could go there. Or wire up one of those Qi-type wireless chargers I guess, if solt water isn;t conductive enough to disable them when wet. But:
--> If there are app settings (I use Navionics) or phone/iPad settings that solve this (or any other advice on the general topic) then I'd love to know.
* PS: Happily I keep some big USB-battery banks* on board which I plugged into the phone and solved the problem -- ran the phone all day, hardly depleting. I highly recommend these battery banks (about the size of a couple of packs of cigarettes, for those of us old enough to remember when people smoked tobacco rather than vape pens) -- SAR services in the national parks apparently say something like 80% of rescues involve someone with a phone with failing battery, and I bet marine rescue are similar. If it's working (reception and... battery), phone is surely better than VHF -- I hear the UCSG regularly asking boats in distress for a phone # to call them back on. Anyway, given how cheap they are on Amazon, I suggest then to any/everyone -- I have two, and had not looked at them in a year or more (oops), and yet when I needed them I found they had stayed fully charged; I love Lithium batteries! Mine have a solar panel on the side, though I expect I would have to be drifting at sea for about a week to charge one up. Not bad to have in case of a West-coast earthquake either, now that I think of it... maybe I'll order a few more for home
