USB Port Died a death by iPhone

I was quoting research done by @18wrprice on this forum, but if it works for you and your iPhone - great. For those who have struggled with the Prius manuals, they do state that the USB socket is not intended for charging devices, but merely connecting your device to the Entune unit enabling your music etc to play over the car's speakers. Hope that's easier for you to understand.

 

I just did a search in the 2016 manual for USB and found nothing that said you cannot charge a device, and many of us know from experience that you can. What it's current is, I am not sure but I believe 1 A from how fast the iPhone charges,. And I was responding to your claim that the USB does not support Apple "proprietary tech" - i.e. iPhones and iPods. It certainly does.

The fact that it is USB 2.0 probably means it can support 1A at least.

 

Hi everyone, I see I was quoted here despite there's no 18 in my username.

That info was generic regarding USB, which is actually a bit more complicated than most people think given the simplicity and ubiquity of its connectors. To the points raised in this thread:

The Prius connector is USB type "A". There's a newer variant called Type C, which has different specs when it comes to power transfer, among other things.

If the repair manual says the Prius has USB 2.0 then it should be capable of negotiated power transfer at higher amperage. Whether it actually does or not depends on the software in the headend AND the connected device.

As for the rest, it's a mostly irrelevant history of the ways USB has been, to a degree, abused to become a rather successful charging mechanism.

 

Thanks for coming back on this. I appreciate your wisdom even if (as I seem to have) got your handle wrong, sorry.

 

No worries. Cheers!

 

Thank you for your post. My wife has the same car as you. The USB port failed last week and after some haggeling over cords our dealer agreed the problem is not one of her cords and replaced the part you identified above on Monday. Same part number.
She was told a short was found.
The port functioned for but one day, failing on Tuesday. She met resistance from the dealers service rep when she called in reporting the failure.
Its under warranty. Do you have any insights to add beyond what you wrote above about a cause upstream such as one of the cables or the head unit?
Also is the head unit a large expensive part, do you know?
Thanks

 

Not really. If there was a short circuit found in the vehicle wiring, and the problem has returned, it would seem to me that the trouble may again be with the vehicle—or perhaps a faulty repair—not with your USB device or the cable assembly connecting it to the socket.

For the cost of a head unit, see the second-to-last paragraph of my posting of May 22, 2017. The cost to the dealer (or to Toyota, who reimburses dealers for warranty parts and labor) would be much lower than the price of a new part, however, since the head unit from your car would be exchanged, if necessary, for a refurbished one, as allowed by the warranty terms.

 

Correct, the iPhone charges with 1 A, same as the small charger. It is false to say that the USB in the car won't charge the phone.

 

Hmm - I have the same issue at the moment. I have a USB stick which I used to use on my Gen3 which has music on it. When I connect it to the Gen 4 there's nothing. It isn't detected by the head unit as being plugged in (USB remain greyed out), and when I tried to charge something from it, it appears there is no power going to it either. It'll be due for it's first annual service in December so I'll mention it then (not worth the time to do it separately!).

 

I have a Nissan Frontier that had a similar problem... The 5V needed to power your USB device/stick comes directly from your head unit. If the device you connect is drawing (or attempting to draw) more current than the head unit can provide, it will eventually overheat something in the power supply circuit (and result in failure)...

Since it is the 5V power source that is not working (can be confirmed with a meter, I was able to build a small 5V supply and splice it into the cable (not feeding 5V back into the head unit) and get everything working again without replacing the head unit. I would think the same could be done on the Prius.

You might be able to make a "splitter" cable to break out power and data to accomplish the same thing, without having to modify any vehicle wiring.

 

This cable may be a "quick fix"...

Search Amazon for: HIGHROCK 30cm USB 2.0 a Power Enhancer Y

 

I found the charging ports to work only intermittently in my Prius. Had the fuse checked and it was not blown. So, I have gone to using the QI charging pad exclusively for my iPhone 8. It's nice not to have a tethered phone and the charger works well enough to gain charge - slowly, but steadily.