[Roadkill]

In my 2014 Summit, I have confirmed that my rear USB ports do not allow multimedia input. That is to say, I can plug my iPod or a USB stick into these and the iPod will charge/the stick will light up, but the 8.4AN will never recognize these as an audio source while plugged into those ports. I can plug the same devices into the forward USB port and everything works as expected (audio files play).

Is this the expected operation, or do I need to schedule service?

 

[shoestring]

that's correct, rears are charge only.

 

[yjbeach]

I have a 2012 Overland, but mine didn't come with the rear usb ports only the plug (Pic: http://media.ed.edmunds-media.com/j...jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_det_lt_21313_600.jpg )

What option had the rear usb power?

(If this was already discussed in another thread my search didn't bring it up.)

 

[jacko15]

I believe the option was the purchase of a 2014 model year or newer JGC.

 

[jbjones85]

Normal operation.


Sent from my iPhone using JeepGarage

 

[StaticFX]

I have a 2012 Overland, but mine didn't come with the rear usb ports only the plug (Pic: http://media.ed.edmunds-media.com/j...jeep_grand-cherokee-srt8_det_lt_21313_600.jpg )

What option had the rear usb power?

(If this was already discussed in another thread my search didn't bring it up.)

2014 and newer...

There is a USB in the armrest too

 

[botlfed98]

does anyone know how the USB ports get power from?

 

[Roadkill]

does anyone know how the USB ports get power from?

"A hamster running in a wheel," given my experience of having devices steadily discharge their battery while plugged into these. They only provide 500 mA whereas many devices will draw 4x as much (or more).

Do yourself a favor and get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/Aukey-CC-S1-4-8A-Dual-Charger/dp/B00M6QODH2

Almost 5x the power per port compared to the anemic built-in ports, small enough to fit in the accessory jack, and only $10. What's not to like?

As you may have guessed, we don't use the built-in ports anymore. If we need to charge more than two USB devices simultaneously (i.e. the Aukey is full) then we just plug in a regular USB wall charger into the AC inverter outlet back there. The built-in ports are worthless, given the inscrutable design decision to limit them to the late 1990's USB 1.0 current specification.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

The rear USB ports are only for charging of small devices...as Roadkill points out, they are not effective for devices that have higher power draws. An inverter is a better choice in that situation.

 

[BubbaATL]

Do all the USB ports talk to the sound system, or only some of them?

 

[Roadkill]

Do all the USB ports talk to the sound system, or only some of them?

Haha, good lord, man — I know this site has some y-y-y-yuge threads that go on for hundreds of pages, in which case people can't be expected to read every post.

But seriously: this is a one-page thread and this question (from the first post) was answered twice within the first four replies.

 

[BubbaATL]

Haha, good lord, man — I know this site has some y-y-y-yuge threads that go on for hundreds of pages, in which case people can't be expected to read every post.

But seriously: this is a one-page thread and this question (from the first post) was answered twice within the first four replies.

Yikes, you're right. That's embarrassing. And it's even worse than that because I'm pretty sure I had already read the earlier part of the thread a while back, so I already knew the answer and had forgotten it!

To atone slightly, let me ask a different but related question. What happens if you use a USB splitter on the one port that does talk to the system and attach two USB devices like, say, a phone and a thumb drive? Will the system allow you to cycle through and connect to either one, or is it limited to only one connected USB device?

 

[Jim_in_PA]

You'd have to use a USB hub for that. A passive hub is a simple device, but may interfere with some power aspects. An active hub (that gets powered from the vehicle) alleviates any power issues. Whether the system would recognize two or more devices simultaneously is a different question, albeit easy to test I would think. How the USB was implemented in the system relative to the standard, etc., matters. Note I'm speculating here. Haven't tried it and I don't use USB in my MY12 other than for past firmware updates.

 

[BubbaATL]

I guess the simple solution is to keep the music collection on an SD card rather than a USB drive.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

I guess the simple solution is to keep the music collection on an SD card rather than a USB drive.

Honestly, I agree with that. It's simple and compact.

 

[BubbaATL]

Well, no worries ... here comes the 1TB SD card.

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Check the system specifications to insure that you can use a 1tb card in that slot. You can fit about 8,000 songs on a 64GB card and the "price is right"...

 

[BubbaATL]

Probably have to format it in transFAT.

 

[Roadkill]

I advocate using an SD card for music.

The SD card port has only a single function, unlike the multifunctional USB port which can accept an iPod, a phone, a flash drive, or could provide extremely slow charging for USB devices if you and your Jeep were stranded on a desert island without a USB wall charger and somehow also lost your aukey accessory jack charger. It makes sense to use the unifunctional SD card port for its sole purpose and consequently keep your options open with the USB port.

I use a 128 GB SD card in my 2014. NTFS or FAT format work fine, though I recommend FAT for this purpose, for several reasons. I also highly recommend buying the fastest speed class SD card you can find, presuming you want to load a large (>64 GB) music collection as I have done. There seems to be much better real-world benchmark data for SD card speed vs USB flash drive performance... driven by the fact that the primary use for high speed SD cards is for high res digital photography.

 

[bill_de]

I advocate using an SD card for music.

The SD card port has only a single function, unlike the multifunctional USB port which can accept an iPod, a phone, a flash drive, or could provide extremely slow charging for USB devices if you and your Jeep were stranded on a desert island without a USB wall charger and somehow also lost your aukey accessory jack charger. It makes sense to use the unifunctional SD card port for its sole purpose and consequently keep your options open with the USB port.

I use a 128 GB SD card in my 2014. NTFS or FAT format work fine, though I recommend FAT for this purpose, for several reasons. I also highly recommend buying the fastest speed class SD card you can find, presuming you want to load a large (>64 GB) music collection as I have done. There seems to be much better real-world benchmark data for SD card speed vs USB flash drive performance... driven by the fact that the primary use for high speed SD cards is for high res digital photography.

There are two USB charging ports on the back of the center console.




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