It's not charging very fast, I'm guessing as its trying to do data and power? Will it charge quicker if I get a usb to 12v adapter and stick it in the 12v socket?

When I plug my usb charger in the socket it doesn't charge at all! You're lucky. What I do is what you're suggesting is charge via the 12v socket, top tip as well turn the phone off for charging,  mine put on a mere 5% on a 40 minute journey on and 60% off

the USB port on the dash will only give out a maximum of around 500mA, probably even less than that, more likely 100mA.  so on a typical phone with a 3A battery it would take about 30 hours to fill up! :) and that's without using it, the phone is probably drawing between 80-120mA so potentially the phone might not ever charge and in fact discharge, albeit slower than normal.

Get a 12v USB adaptor, ideally a 1A or even a 2A if you can find one (watch if it has two ports tho, typically those adaptors are only 1A PER port)

It's a bit of an old topic but I have a 15 plate Focus Titanium and was wondering what this usb port in the dash is actually for. It doesn't charge my phone and it doesn't recognise any usb memory sticks, etc., it just seems to be a useless ornament. Does anyone have any information about it? Cheers.

I've only got a Fiesta so don't know of the USB port on the Focus.

If you want to get a faster charging cable then I would recommend these:

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-fast-charge-data-block-micro-usb-cable/

9 hours ago, Zico said:

I've only got a Fiesta so don't know of the USB port on the Focus.

If you want to get a faster charging cable then I would recommend these:

http://www.portablepowersupplies.co.uk/portapow-fast-charge-data-block-micro-usb-cable/

that is just a USB cable with 2 of the 4 wires removed from it

 

In this case a USB cable with thicker power wires does not solve the problem. The USB power output of the Ford APIM (SYNC) module is simply limited. USB 1.0/2.0 specifications list a power output of 500 mA. The Ford APIM modules output barely 500 mA (usually less). The USB port is designed for USB playback and not for USB charging. A better charging cable with thicker wires will not change anything to the power output of the APIM module   

Same issue until I changed to a new headunit and used that to charge my phone still not as fast as being at home but it will charge up after 3 hours while using sat nav from about 40% 

Thanks for the replies. I've taken the car in twice to the Ford dealer where I bought the car. The first time they said they'd fixed it, when all they had done was a hard reset. The second time they reckoned they had contacted Ford who said the usb port was only for charging. There must be some power from it as my mobile makes a noise when I plug it in but no charging indication or message shows and if I plug a usb stick in it's not recognised. I've tried different leads, mobiles and memory sticks but nothing works so basically it's useless!

On my mk2.5 the USB was next to useless. No good for charging, no good for anything other than a USB stick

My USB is not even good enough for a USB stick! I'm sorry I took it in to be looked at, as I've now got an annoying rattle coming from somewhere behind the dash....

On 4/30/2017 at 10:29 PM, Gitfinger said:

My USB is not even good enough for a USB stick! I'm sorry I took it in to be looked at, as I've now got an annoying rattle coming from somewhere behind the dash....

I can charge my Samsung S7 Edge off both of my USB ports in my Titanium X 2015 but if my other half is using google maps or any "power intensive" application on it it will not charge and will sit at the same percentage until the app is closed. She was using Google maps to double check directions in Colchester recently (SYNC 2 Satnav was trying to take us the wrong direction down a 1 way system!) and the phone stayed at 7% for about 2-3 hours on the USB port so the output is not very high in mA's.

Let me know what they say about the rattle behind the dash!! I have a strange rattling/buzzing sound whenever I am driving it on a country lane/not very smooth road!!

On 24/05/2017 at 11:37 AM, HunterDVJ said:

I can charge my Samsung S7 Edge off both of my USB ports in my Titanium X 2015 but if my other half is using google maps or any "power intensive" application on it it will not charge and will sit at the same percentage until the app is closed. She was using Google maps to double check directions in Colchester recently (SYNC 2 Satnav was trying to take us the wrong direction down a 1 way system!) and the phone stayed at 7% for about 2-3 hours on the USB port so the output is not very high in mA's.

Let me know what they say about the rattle behind the dash!! I have a strange rattling/buzzing sound whenever I am driving it on a country lane/not very smooth road!!

I took it back in for the third time, when I picked it up they again said it is only for charging, I took them out to the car and connected my phone, it didn't charge! They said it would have to go back in for further investigation. They also said the rattle had been fixed, as it was a known fault with some kind of connection to the Sync system. As I drove away the rattle started before I even got out of the dealers car park! Cue one rather angry phone call to the dealer and one calmer one to a Ford customer experience assistant. Back again next week..... The rattle on mine stops if you push down on the plastic trim in front of the touch screen, I'd try to fix it myself but wouldn't know where to start to get access to that area.

Just a quick question, can you play music files from a memory stick using the USB port on the dash, as my dealer is insisting you cannot? Cheers.

As has already been said. The USB port that is supplied with the car is limited by the USB1/2 specification which stipulates a maximum of 500ma. Most phones require a minimum of 1000ma to charge successfully.

No matter how many times you take it to Ford, this WILL NOT CHANGE IT. Get a proper car charger.

The USB port on the dash will play music from a memory stick yes, as will the one in the centre glove box. The centre glove box USB port will not allow play from an iPod, however the front one will.

Thanks for the reply Andy. The media hub USB port in my car charges the phone but the dash USB will not and neither will it recognise memory sticks so is unable to play music. When I tried the phone in a car at the dealers with the same spec and built less than a month after mine, the phone charged off the dash USB port. I used an app called Ampere to test both the USB ports on my car, the media hub UUSB was outputting around 480 mAh but the dash USB was outputting less than half of that, this is why the phone wouldn't charge. With this information and testing the other car the dealer has now finally admitted there is a fault with the dash USB port!