USB and C amps out

[MLTEdge]

Did major search and came up empty. USBs in console are connected to Sync, but that's not the question. How many amps do the USB A and C put out for charging? I found video on "smart power station" which says max 2 amps, but its an older Edge, and No USB C.

 

So, on newer 2021 - 2022 with Sync 4, what are amps for each usb and watts if you know.

 

 

Thanks in Advance.

Edited December 29, 2021 by MLTEdge

[enigma-2]

I remember that USB 2.0 ports had a specification of 0.5 amps (500 ma). But this was increased with USB 3.0 and 3.1 ports to 0.9 amps (900 ma).

 

The 3.1 specification "can" use the "C" connector, but it could also use the other specification connectors (such as "A" or "B" style connectors).

 

I assume that Ford adopted the industry standard, but I never seen anything to verify that. Unless you read anything different, assume 4.5 watts max.

 

[MLTEdge]

Thank you for responding. Seems low as Ford says older smart USB is 2 amp.  Newer phones need over 2amps or more to charge properly particularly if in use, tablets even more. I ordered a 5amp accessory plug to test charging, and this should help wife with her tablet.

 

Maybe I can find an app that will give me watts and amp readings while charging.

Thanks again.

[ebank]

You could measure the power usage with this:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J3JSEG6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 

[MLTEdge]

Interesting... Thanks for the find!

[enigma-2]

The VOM complies with USB 2.0. Is Ford using 2.0 or 3.0/3.1? (Could be wrong, but I thought that you couldn't use a USB 2 device in a USB 3 port).

[MLTEdge]

USB 3.x, as far as I ever heard or experienced, is backward compatible. I have some Galaxy and Pixel wall chargers that at the latest, and if I plug an old Nexus phone in them they charge fine. I've even got usb A to C adapters and cables they work fine (USB C supports higher amp and watts - most new laptops have USB C support for charging). What I'm after though is more amps/watts for newer, larger, devices. I found a wireless charger that fits perfect in the tray where the factory device is located, and since Sync 4 has auto connect with Android Auto, I use it all the time. Trick is finding enough amps to charge phone while phone is constantly pulling amps/watts. Works perfect when plugin/hard wired on Pixel and Galaxy, but wireless charging pads typically won't allow more than 10-12watts charging (there are a handful that do, but designed for home fast charging), and when not enough amps/watts being provided, or charging stops (such as getting hot which is common on car charging pads) your battery life goes backwards. I played around with it some today and think I can get just enough juice out of the USB A in the front bay to stay just slightly ahead (as long as display off) but interestingly when I use the usb A to USB C adapter, the C didn't put out enough juice. May have been the adapter, as it worked fine if I turned Android Auto off. Now to try the passenger accessory plug with a max 5 amp usb accessory plug I found.

 

Ultimately, May already be at the best it can be, output may already be maxing out the pad. My last car had a built in charging pad, and this would sometimes happen. With Auto connect though it is sooooo convenient I'm trying to keep battery at same level or better.

 

If interested:

 

Amazon.com: Wireless Charger，POLMXS Car Wireless Charging pad 10W Fast Wireless car Charger qi Phone Charger pad for car Wireless Phone Charger for Andriod Cell Phone Charging mat Galaxy Note10/S21/S10/S9(C3) : Cell Phones & Accessories

 

Amazon.com: 2 Pack AINOPE Fast Mini Car Charger, 5.0A Metal USB Car Charger, Dual Port Car Charger Adapter Compatible with iPhone 13/12/11pro/x/7/6s se, Samsung Galaxy S21/10/9/8/7, iPad Kindle : Cell Phones & Accessories

 

 

 

[enigma-2]

On 12/30/2021 at 5:18 PM, MLTEdge said:

USB 3.x, as far as I ever heard or experienced, is backward compatible.

-------

I've even got usb A to C adapters and cables they work fine (USB C supports higher amp and watts - most new laptops have USB C support for charging). 

 

I played around with it some today and think I can get just enough juice out of the USB A in the front bay to stay just slightly ahead (as long as display off) but interestingly when I use the usb A to USB C adapter, the C didn't put out enough juice.

 

I was mistaken about being backwards compatible. I was thinking about the cables and not the ports. Ran into this a few years back. Cable worked fine in one USB port, but not the one next to it. But the port worked when I plugged a jump drive into it. Had a hell of a time figuring it out until I "read the manual" (grunt, grunt, grunt) and discovered it was a 3.1 port. Not marked.

 

(Think there's a couple of other glitches. I have a 3.0 jump drive that refuses to work in a 2.x port). But doesn't matter anyway, I usually leave some older USB 2 drives plugged in and they lower the speed to the slowest drive plugged in. 

 

As for the USB A, B or C configurations, they are referring to to the connector pin configuration,  not speed or current output (as far as I understand it.) For example, a USB 3.1 port can be a C (most common nowadays) or an A (or B). 

 

FWIT, I just use a 12 volt power adapter that came with my Samsung phone. Much faster than USB or wireless. Plus I can leave my phone plugged in and concealed inside the console when I leave the car. (Phone continues to charge.  My power points stay on when the car is off.   USB doesn't). 

 

As far as how much current your Ford USB ports are putting out, I read in the F150 forum that Ford used USB 2.0 in gen 2 (500 ma). One guy measured his ports and got 450 ma. (He also reported 650 ma on his front 12 v power point and 850 ma on his rear power point.)

 

With Sync 3, Ford included a "Smart Charging" port that can supply "up to 2 amps," depending on the device attached. For example, one tablet may charge at 2 amps max and another at 1.6 amps max. Your phone in the same port may only charge at 500 ma (or whatever the engineers desiged it to smart charge at). So its the device, not the port that determines the max current permitted. The 2 amp limit is really designed for laptops and tablets, and not cell phones (which would probably get too hot and fry the phone).

 

I read here in this forum that the ports boost the voltage from 5 volts up to 12 volts the increase the current to 2.0 amps.

 

Found it here:   

 

If you have two smart charging ports and two devices plugged in at the same time, the system will deliver whatever is needed to both ports st tbe same time.

 

For example, 2 amps to the one smart port supplying a tablet, 1.6 amps to another smart port supplying a different tablet and 500 ma to a third smart port charging a cell phone ( even though the port is capable of delivering 2 amps of current max).

[MLTEdge]

Thanks, and Happy New Year 

[ebank]

I plugged my DROC meter into the USB port of my 2019 ST, then plugged my Galaxy S21 Ultra at 80% in to the meter: 5.08V @1.47A, which is the same as from my best 65 watt wall charger.

The android auto activation put the charging amps down to 1.22A
 

I unplugged the phone and plugged a USB C portable battery into the meter and got 5.01V @ 2.16A. the wall charger hits 9.0V and 1.95A with this device.

[truerock]

My 2020 Ford Edge SEL has USB 2.0 logos next to the USB-A ports.

That means that they should output 1.5 amps and 5.5 volts which equals 8.25 watts.

If you have an iPhone 13, it is designed to charge at 20 watts.

If you own an iPhone 7, it came with a 5 watt charger - but, it will charger faster with a 12 watt charger.

 

USB 2.0 ports will not cut it in 2022.  Ford needs to get with it and upgrade to USB 3.2 with USB-C ports with 100-watts. 

I think my 2020 Ford Edge SEL with SYNC-3 has "smart charging" USB ports.  I need to study that.

 

Ford "Power Points" (i.e. 12-volt 10, 15 or 20 amp cigarette lighter ports) can provide 120 to 240 watts. 

You can purchase USB cigarette-lighter chargers that output upwards of 36 watts - but, you would need to carefully purchase one that outputs the watts you need.  There are a lot of rip-off chargers available that do not output what they are advertised to output.

Amazon Basics sells dependable products of various watt outputs (in my opinion) - just make sure you don't accidently purchase the wrong one.

Edited January 17, 2022 by truerock
correct information that was wrong

[truerock]

On 1/2/2022 at 10:43 AM, ebank said:

I plugged my DROC meter into the USB port of my 2019 ST, then plugged my Galaxy S21 Ultra at 80% in to the meter: 5.08V @1.47A, which is the same as from my best 65 watt wall charger.

The android auto activation put the charging amps down to 1.22A
 

I unplugged the phone and plugged a USB C portable battery into the meter and got 5.01V @ 2.16A. the wall charger hits 9.0V and 1.95A with this device.

 

Ebank: nice post - thanks.

 

5.08 volts looks like an outdated USB 2.0 port.  I would have thought Ford could not buy USB 2.0 ports that output a somewhat out of date 5.0 volts versus the current 5.5 volts.  Of course you have a 2019 Galaxy and Ford may have upgraded for the 2022 USB ports.

The 1.47 amps is a little lower than the expected 1.5 amps - but, very close.

Edited January 17, 2022 by truerock
change font for easier reading

[truerock]

enigma-2,

 

I think I can't reply to posts because I'm a new member?  Anyway...

 

Thanks for the information about "Smart Charging".

I have a 2020 Ford Edge with SYNC-3 and I guess I might have "Smart Charging" - but here is no way to know - correct?

My Ford Edge owner's manual says nothing about Smart Charging.

[ebank]

So there is an issue with this type of testing that may hide the true output capability.

As you can see from the photo of the Drok, it has 2 output ports. 
Port 1 is a data link port (data/charging pass thru)
Port 2 is a Charge only port.

If you plug a battery or headphones directly into the console USB ports, the sync screen will cycle and complain quite annoyingly that the device is not compatible - unplug it, so to measure the battery I used port 2. 
However for proper USB Charging above the USB 2.0 spec, the charged device communicates back to the charger to tell the charger what it can take. 
This handshake can not happen on a charge only port. 
Without this handshake, an advanced charger would set the output to max USB 2.0 levels.

So I really can't tell what the port is capable of without a device that can take full charging and is compatible with sync.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I would be interested to see what the USB-C port in the newer models is capable of and if the newer ports can be retrofitted to the 2019.

Edited January 17, 2022 by ebank

[MLTEdge]

As I mentioned in the original post, this hasn't been easy.

 

(1) USB smart charging - Bing video

 

But this is before Sync4 4.a models, which are still smart chargers, and was hoping they upgraded to 5 amp max, but through my plug and play trial and error, it doesn't appear so, which is why I bought an amazon 5 amp smart accessory plug, which puts out 5 amp to one device or reduces to 2.5 each for dual charging. My aftermarket wireless charger seems to being working ok, but barely charges, more of holding it is own, while auto connected to wireless AA. If I leave phone screen on, slowly loses charge, which kind of makes wireless AA tough for long drives.

[truerock]

Here is a YouTube video of a guy pulling the Ford USB hub out of his 2016 Ford Galaxy and replacing it with a new Ford USB hub which can do fast charging.

 

So, I guess what I want to know is which Ford USB hub is in my 2020 Ford Escape SEL and what are its specs?

 

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by truerock
add url link to YouTube video

[truerock]

I'm not trying to go off-topic from the original question.  I'm just trying to address how you would go about figuring out what USB functionality is in your Ford vehicle.

 

Still trying to figure out what my 2020 Ford Edge SEL USB is.

I found a lot of people upgrading old 2015 Ford Edge to CarPlay SYNC-3 using a new "interface module"

At least I know which USB part is in my 2020 Ford Edge SEL - I just do not know what its specs are.

 

2020 Ford Edge SEL
Interface Module
Part #: 19A387
HC3Z-19A387-B Blue
Usage: 09/06/2018, Edge 2015-, Sync III;09/06/2018, Edge 2015-, Sync Gen 3 Lite
Section: Audio Equipment - Original Fit
Most parts available next business day.
Your Price: $54.00
https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/electrical/control-modules/interface-module-14362543-1
 

https://www.amazon.com/GaofeiLTF-Interface-Module-Carplay-HC3Z-19A387-B/dp/B07WNHF928

 

Maybe HC3Z-19A387-B is just a dumb USB hub and it doesn't do anything other than act as a dumb USB plug?

 

Edited January 18, 2022 by truerock
provided context of post

[truerock]

I saw some individuals discussing purchasing Ford interface modules with blue light surrounding the USB ports and being very unhappy when they received an interface module with white light that surrounded the USB ports.

Is this the reason why?

 

• USB 1.0 and 2.0 ports and plugs can be white or black.
• USB 3.0 ports and plugs are blue.
• USB 3.1 ports and plugs are teal blue.
• USB sleep-and-charge ports are often yellow, orange, or red. These ports can charge phones or electronic devices even when the computer is switched off.