MrRick

Hi there,
Sorry for all the recent questions, but I'm a newbie. Acura convert and very glad for that. 5 days as a Lexus owner.
If I leave my iPod connected via USB all the time, car on or off, is it safe? I'm assuming if the car is not running or on accessory position, that there is no battery drain at all. True?

mjeds

the accessory is off if the car is off, so no power, the ipod will not charge and will drain its own battery if left on.

jkeller

True, usb does not work with the ignition off. I have an iPod nano in the armrest as my music player. Some folks have had playability issues with older "click wheel" type iPods. Those type iPods last software OS update was around 2009-2010.

MrRick

OK. If I stop the car with the iPod playing, do I also have to hit stop on the iPod itself for the iPod battery doesn't drain or dies the iPod stop playing as well?

mjeds

depends on the ipod, but gen 5 (wheel type) and any ipod touch will stop playing when the car power is cut if you are using the ipod usb cable, if you are using one of those mp3 headphone jack cables you will have to manually stop it.


the gen 5 and newer also have a setting to go into standby after XX minutes of no activity.


so if you are using the ipod usb cable it will:

stop when the car turns off
turn off after the timeout period expires.

so you won't see any ipod battery drain over the course of a day, but you will over several days depending on the condition of the battery in the ipod because it is not off, but in standby.


oh and when you restart the car, the ipod should start back up playing where it left off, but I have noticed with my iphone (works the same as the ipod touch) that I have to actually press "play" on the car's media screen to start the music again after a restart of the car, but I suspect that is an iphone issue because it knows I disconnected and removed it from the car.

jkeller

It stops playing, turns off and when you restart the car resumes playing the song.

MrRick

Thanks. That helps. I have a 5th gen iPod 160gb click wheel iPod, so it should stop. But, I will check for sure in the morning.

jkeller

Old iPhones also work well as a Lexus music player. I have an iPhone 4 that gets used occasionally as car music player.

fuddyduddy

No problems with iPod nano.