StarEcho said:
The 30 minutes is AFTER the car turns off, so after there is no power supplied (and that would be where the predetermined voltage you spoke about comes in). So with a continuous power source it will be as if the car never turns off.
Once I realized that, I put the setting back to 30 minutes so that I can always keep it in the car (unless I want to move it to the trailer) and I won't have to worry about it running the car battery down.
Cindi, there are only two active pins on the device, one for ground, and one for positive 12 volts.
Both of those pins are always active 12 volt supply on a factory OBD port. There is always power to the OBD even when the ignition of the vehicle is off. But the Mobley will not stay active at that voltage.
My assumption is that if you apply power at about 13 volts or so, when the vehicle is started and charging, (which triggers the Mobley to turn on) the Mobley powers up, and stays powered up, for as long as the vehicle is running. If that voltage drops below the threshold, say 12.9, as when you shut off the engine, the Mobley turns off.
If you remove the 12 volt positive and negative, or unplug it, the device powers down immediately , since it has no internal battery.
By knowing all of this, the only way the timeout feature CAN be triggered is when the Mobley detects the charging voltage has dropped to battery standby (not charging) and then the Mobley begins the timeout sequence. It could be triggered by the removal of all wifi activity and/or a connected device, but if that were true, it might never turn off if a phone was left on standby with wifi still active, and plugged into a car charger.
So, when powered from a steady supply of about 13 or over, it never times out....at least, mine does not.
I discovered this when I set the Mobley timeout for 30 minutes in the semi, (powered thru a 12 v power port) and it never shut off on any night I left it plugged in. We run an APU (auxiliary power unit) overnight, and it has an alternator to keep the 4 truck batteries at full charge, as well as power the air conditioner, or the heater, and the 1800 watt inverter, for what are called 'hotel loads' in trucking lingo.
So in other words, the timeout never activated, since there was/is a good steady 13.6 all night long in the truck.
BTW, when plugged into my van's OBD port, it DOES power down after the vehicle shuts off and the timer interval has expired.
OK...bottom line is: From what I can figure out with mine, the ONLY time the timeout has any effect is when I plug the Mobley into the OBD port on my van.
All of the other ways I power it, it stays on, no matter what the timeout is set for.
As always, YMMV.
