USB Drive in all the time?

[PeteBerner]

I have a couple of USB thumb drives that I use to play music (about 1400 songs on each drive). I searched the manual but couldn't find out anything about leaving them in the USB port when the truck is sitting in the garage. It would be nice just to leave one in, and have it available to play right away when I'm driving, but I don't want to have the truck constantly monitoring that port and possibly running the battery down. The way the truck pops and clicks after driving, doing all its checks and telemetry makes me wonder if the thumb drive would keep the computer/electrical system constantly monitoring it. Right now, I just pop it out of the USB slot when I park the truck in the garage, but I wondered if anybody else used a thumb drive and just left it in all the time?

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[oysterville]

USB drive is a rather passive beast, unlikely to draw any more power than a plugged in phone charger. And with the radio off when the truck is off it makes power draw even less likely.

 

[Bobkath]

I have a thumb drive inserted all the time. Never had a problem. Does the sleep mode after 5 to 7 days whether the thumb drive is in or not. After three weeks in sleep mode the truck starts with no problem. 11k miles on it so far.

 

[rlhdweman]

I have had an external CD player plugged in for almost 3 years now, no problem.

 

[PeteBerner]

USB drive is a rather passive beast, unlikely to draw any more power than a plugged in phone charger. And with the radio off when the truck is off it makes power draw even less likely.

I know the thumb drive is a "dumb" piece of electronics like a phone charger cord. I just see with this particular vehicle that it spends a lot of time when you're not around doing mysterious things and I've seen a lot of people post about "deep sleep" and battery issues, and I wondered if this (or a phone charger cord, or anything else plugged in) might cause a problem. In my last vehicle, I had SiriusXM so I never messed with music on a drive, but with the XL, I'm going cheap!

 

[Fdnewbie]

On my 2024 XLT the USB-A Jack powered off right away. The 12V cigarette power port stays on for 20 minutes or whatever. I have owned the truck a little over a year. I used a usb stick for about 10 months and got tired of waiting for the radio to finish re-indexing the usb, or not starting on the usb when it was the last thing I used. I finally bought one of the wireless Apple CarPlay dongles mentioned on here. I just use CarPlay now. It works better for me.

 

[scyntaxx]

Can I get a copy of that usb? 1400 songs sounds like an amazing playlist

 

[Snowbird]

I leave mine in all the time and it does not seem to be a problem, that I know of.

 

[Dukeallen]

Can I get a copy of that usb? 1400 songs sounds like an amazing playlist

I don't know. It might be 1400 polka songs. Or the best of Yoko Ono

 

[canuckford]

I have a couple of USB thumb drives that I use to play music (about 1400 songs on each drive). I searched the manual but couldn't find out anything about leaving them in the USB port when the truck is sitting in the garage. It would be nice just to leave one in, and have it available to play right away when I'm driving, but I don't want to have the truck constantly monitoring that port and possibly running the battery down. The way the truck pops and clicks after driving, doing all its checks and telemetry makes me wonder if the thumb drive would keep the computer/electrical system constantly monitoring it. Right now, I just pop it out of the USB slot when I park the truck in the garage, but I wondered if anybody else used a thumb drive and just left it in all the time?

Leaving your USB stick plugged in is not a problem, it's basically plugged into a computer/radio, in this case the car's computer/radio. If that computer/radio is off, the USB device is not being polled.

 

[RobbieAG]

I keep my thumb drive (for music) in all the time and haven't had any problem.

 

[MetalsGeek]

If you want to know "for sure" whether your USB port is even powered up all the time, you can always get one of these digital USB power meters. They can tell you a lot.

 

[ARDU]

I have a couple of USB thumb drives that I use to play music (about 1400 songs on each drive). I searched the manual but couldn't find out anything about leaving them in the USB port when the truck is sitting in the garage. It would be nice just to leave one in, and have it available to play right away when I'm driving, but I don't want to have the truck constantly monitoring that port and possibly running the battery down. The way the truck pops and clicks after driving, doing all its checks and telemetry makes me wonder if the thumb drive would keep the computer/electrical system constantly monitoring it. Right now, I just pop it out of the USB slot when I park the truck in the garage, but I wondered if anybody else used a thumb drive and just left it in all the time?

I leave the thumb drive in all the time. No deep sleep issues. The only issue is sometimes after truck startup, then USB is not found...then just have to unplug and re-plug USB drive and picks right up where prior song was being listened to. I use a USB-A flash drive for the USB-A port.

 

[scyntaxx]

I don't know. It might be 1400 polka songs. Or the best of Yoko Ono

1400 polka songs would get deleted very quickly

 

[CroweMag55]

I leave my Android Auto adapter plugged in all the time. The ports do turn off. A bigger draw are the 2 ODBII devices I have, so I do use a Victron Blue Smart Charge when I know I'm not going to be driving the truck for a few days.. Pics of Charger installation

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