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USB plug problem?

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

  1. Pinova

    Pinova Junior Member

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    Try cleaning the lightning port. A small piece of microfiber and a toothpick works well.
     
  9. bb4srv

    bb4srv Active Member

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    Trust me it's the cabling. I have the exact problem until I used the cable I previously specified.
     
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  10. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace 2025 Camry XLE FWD

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    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

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    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

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    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

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    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.