Surface 3 powers on when plugged in

[arnaro]

I'm a member of a volunteer search and rescue team. We have Surface tablets in all our vehicles for maps and getting assignments.

I recently installed a Surface 3 into a vehicle. When the car is started the usb power supply starts powering the tablet. When this happens the tablet turns on. Is there a way to turn this off ?

Since the people using the car didn't turn the tablet on, they rarely remember to turn it off leading to the tablet being always out of battery.

I've googled a bit but haven't found anything about this.
checked the bios but there aren't any settings for this.

 

[hughlle]

Welcome to the forum arnaro.

First question, are you sure that the device is actually powered off when this happens, and not simply in sleep/hibernation? From my experience all of my mobile devices (phones, tablets, surfaces etc) will power up from sleep when the power cord is plugged in. Never when they are actually turned off though.

 

[arnaro]

Yes it's doing it when it's turned off.

I was driving the car the other day. It turned on when I left the base, I selected shut down from the menu. When I started the car again for the return trip it started up again

 

[Plantje]

That's really strange. Never seen it!

From a personal interest I would like to know how you mount the tablet in the car. Do you have pictures of it?

 

[arnaro]

I'll take some pictures when I go to the base tonight.

we're using holders from brodit, the holder is then attached to ram B ball which is connected by a ram arm to another Ram B ball on the dash.
Passive holder with tilt swivel Reinforced, tougher side supports for extra secure fit. Microsoft Surface 3 511916 | Brodit

It's a pretty robust and inexpensive solution.

So far I'm liking the Surface Pro more for this application. I've also been having the charging issue on the Surface 3 and the LTE module is pretty flaky, I sometimes need to restart to get it working again and I prefer the magnetic power connector to the usb one. The integrated GPS is good though.

We're getting a new vehicle soon which is getting a Surface Pro 4 with the surface dock so there will only be one cable to the tablet.