[ndpitch]

The other day, I shut off the car, and before I got out I was putting something into the center storage box. I always have my phone charger connected to the power outlet in there to make it easy to charge my phone if I ever need to. I noticed that the big blue AT&T light on the charger was on, as if it were still draining power from the car battery even with the engine and accessories off. I thought it might shut off after I got out of the car and locked the doors, but it didn't.

Do you think this is a potential problem for battery drain, especially if I go a while without driving the car? Or, is the amount of power being used by the charger so insignificant that it won't really matter?

 

[alphadog]

IT depends how much power the accessory draws. Leaving your trunk open long enough will kill a battery, so it is possible for a small accessory to drain a battery over a long time.

One option is to use the other power port which does turn off when the car is off.

Another option is to find a car charger that does not have a light.

I would think that leaving it for a few hours would be OK - but I would not leave it a week plugged in.

 

[Scooby]

Like mentioned above, it isn't gonna hurt anything over night but I wouldn't leave it plugged in if you say park it at the airport for a week. Chances are it still would be fine, but no sense testing the theory.

 

[glacasse]

Have a look at this thread

Swapping power ports

I haven't done it yet but I want to do it soon.

 

[ndpitch]

Swapping power ports

I haven't done it yet but I want to do it soon.

Nice info. Thanks. Although I probably won't be doing any re-wiring. I'll probably use a different charger, or just unplug my car charger and plug it back in when I need it.

 

[Andy]

My Audi's armrest power port was like this as well. I like it because you can charge something while the car is off. My phone ran out of battery so I left it in the car charging while eating dinner. I would say this is a nice feature compared to other cars. Better to have one switched outlet and one unswitched outlet than 2 switched outlets! So many features in a $20,000 car...