1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

USB plug problem?

Discussion in 'Prime Technical Discussion' started by Pinova, Jul 16, 2018.

  1. Pinova

    Pinova Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2006
    5
    5
    0
    When I plug an Apple charging cable into the USB plug on my new Prius Prime, the phone itself goes nuts! The entire iPhone display flashes over and over again and no charge relationship happens to the phone.

    When I use the exact same cable in any USB power supply that plugs into the wall it works perfectly. Is there some sort of a general problem with these USB plugs in the Prius? Or is it the more common, “operator error?”
     
  2. schja01

    schja01 One of very few in Chicagoland

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2005
    1,729
    1,152
    0
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I would ...
    1) try a different cable
    If no difference ...
    2) try a different phone if possible.

    I don’t think the USB port in Toyota autos are very powerful. More to just power a device but not charge very fast.
     
    EyePrime likes this.
  3. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    10,958
    8,836
    0
    Location:
    New England
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Apple devices are known for its finickiness for cable used to connect. As suggested, try different cable and/or different phone. I have not had any problem with old ipod with 30 pins usb cord or with android or windows phones on my Prime.
     
    Mark57 likes this.
  4. EyePrime

    EyePrime Active Member

    Joined:
    Apr 7, 2018
    268
    115
    7
    Location:
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Plus
    just like schaja01 said to use a different cable and/or different phone
    Are you using a cable that comes with your phone (aka the cable that Apple charges way too much for and breaks often) of a diffrent brands cable?
     
    Roeark likes this.
  5. SteveMucc

    SteveMucc Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2017
    391
    268
    0
    Location:
    Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    sounds like the connection is intermittent and the phone is switching constantly between charging and not-charging and trying to tell you that but it's switching to quickly. likely the cord has gone/going bad. It's likely not working in the prius as the angle between the break is no longer allowing the broken ends of the connection to make contact, where in the wall it was.
     
  6. bb4srv

    bb4srv Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2018
    140
    106
    1
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Technology
    Another user recommended this specific cable: 3 feet Anker Powerline+ (red color)

    Solves the USB connection problem for me. You also may need to turn off-on the phone if you haven't done so for a while - even with the Anker Powerline+ cable.

    I suspect the cause is the Toyota usb plug is a low power plug, and even the Apple 6ft cable is enough to cause resistance to supply the necessary voltage to the phone.
     
  7. burnout8488

    burnout8488 Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2018
    124
    81
    0
    Location:
    Endwell, NY
    Vehicle:
    Other Electric Vehicle
    Model:
    N/A
    This exact problem happens on my Prime. I've used two genuine Apple cables with the same result. (One was brand new) This isn't due to bad cabling, unfortunately.

    Each time the iPhone is plugged in, it buzzes three times as if I plugged it into the charger 3 times.

    Sometimes it does it while the phone is playing music as well. Random disconnects, but will work for 30min prior without issue. Touching the phone doesn't affect it.
     
    #7 burnout8488, Jul 26, 2018
    Last edited: Jul 26, 2018
  8. schja01

    schja01 One of very few in Chicagoland

    Joined:
    Apr 22, 2005
    1,729
    1,152
    0
    Location:
    Chicagoland
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Try cleaning the lightning port. A small piece of microfiber and a toothpick works well.
     
  9. bb4srv

    bb4srv Active Member

    Joined:
    Mar 5, 2018
    140
    106
    1
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Technology
    Trust me it's the cabling. I have the exact problem until I used the cable I previously specified.
     
    Roeark likes this.
  10. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    11,696
    11,317
    0
    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    The USB port is not meant for charging a phone. It is designed for usb sticks and other audio input devices. Use a 12 volt plug adapter for charging a phone.
     
  11. goinskiing

    goinskiing Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 13, 2014
    202
    187
    0
    Location:
    Meridian, ID, USA
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    I know what you're trying to say, but this is the kind of thought that allows Toyota keep pushing this kind of garbage out, that's fine that it isn't meant for charging, if that were the case I would expect the problem to be just that you couldn't charge your phone quickly(which it can't), but causing the screen to reboot, causing USB errors, and general infotainment instability? It's simply unacceptable.
     
  12. jb in NE

    jb in NE Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2018
    2,233
    1,595
    0
    Location:
    Nebraska
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    I would swap cables. My iPhone 7+ charges fine on the center console USB port, but this is with a known good cable. A dodgy cable may work well on high power and not as well on the lower power of the USB port in the car.
     
  13. SteveMucc

    SteveMucc Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 3, 2017
    391
    268
    0
    Location:
    Kentucky
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    my daughters old iPhone 7 caused repeated reboots with a specific cable. the moment that cable was switched to a different one reboots went away.

    I'm not saying that *this* is your problem, but it certainly can be a cause. That said, a faulty external connection should never keep the car from rebooting. That's just p**s poor software design (and before I moved to wall street I was a principal engineer at Qualcomm so I know a little bit about this). If the infotainment is rebooting due to faulty signaling their QA people (or the management who signed off on it) should be fired (it's been sufficiently long for them to find and fix what should be a trivial problem to diagnose with the fairly high reproducibility). I don't care what the cause, you can debounce interrupts and shut them off if they exceed a limit, you can check for valid id strings, etc. it's just really bad that it can cause a reboot.