USB Device - safe to leave plugged in all the time?

[revitus]

I have a 2017 Ford Edge Titanium with 301A (Sync 3).

 

Is it a bad idea to keep a USB device (such as Sandisk Clip Sport MP3 Player) plugged in to the USB port always?

I worry about the low current draw on my car battery - should I be concerned about this?

 

Also, is it bad to leave a USB Flash Drive with audio files on it plugged into the USB port always (it's not a chargeable device)?

 

When I get out of the car and leave the MP3 Player plugged in, each time I open the door, or any time accessory power comes on, it turns the USB device on and then relies on it's Timeout feature to turn it back off (currently set to 10 minutes). I'm just worried about my car battery and device battery as I prefer to fully cycle the MP3 battery each time between charges instead of constantly providing a charge to it while driving. For this reason, I tried getting a Bluetooth version of the MP3 player, but I'm having different issues (connectivity) with that (different post on this forum).

 

Thanks for your knowledge on these battery-related questions.

On a side note, it just seems like an inherently bad idea to keep a USB device plugged in to the port always, as I worry about slow current draw on my car battery - should I be concerned about this? The reason I ask is that I also have a non-Bluetooth Sandisk Clip Sport that I can plug in through USB, and everything functions perfectly with full playback control through the infotainment and steering wheel controls. But when I get out of the car and leave the MP3 Player plugged in, each time I open the door, or any time accessory power comes on, it turns the USB device on and relies on it's Timeout feature to turn it back off after 10 minutes - I'm just worried about my car battery and device battery as I prefer to fully cycle the MP3 battery each time between charges, which is why I wanted to switch to Bluetooth connectivity.

[akirby]

If it's not playing it shouldn't be drawing much power so leaving it on for a few minutes until the usb power times out shouldn't be a huge issue.

[marksandbothe]

I have a 128GB USB loaded with over 10000 songs that I kept plugged into my 2015 Ford Fusion all the time. I left it at the airport for over a week once and didn't have any issues with the battery being discharged. The convenience of having that much music accessible without having to worry about streaming or logging into account is game changing. I compared it to having a back seat full of CD wallets

[Nick Halstead]

I have a 1TB drive plugged into mine...zero issues caused by it

[revitus]

Sweet! Thanks for your responses guys. I appreciate you sharing your experiences with me.

 

I will follow suit and load up a USB flash drive with music and get away from the MP3 player in the car altogether.

 

Cheers.

[revitus]

I got a 64 GB USB drive, threw 3.5 GB of music on to test, and it works beautifully! Will the infotainment system recognize playlists on the USB device? If so, what format should they be? I'd like to have a "clean" playlist to shuffle while my son is in the car, and another playlist or a few for when I'm riding with adults only.

[akirby]

Yes. I use freeware called "itunes export" to create the playlist files (from itunes obviously) so I'm not 100% sure of the format, but you should be able to google it.