TomTom Go 1000 - How to take it apart to replace battery.

Hi,

I've been looking for a DIY guide or some sort of instructions for taking apart my TomTom Go 1000. I haven't found any yet and wanted to ask if any one in this community has.

It developed a problem, not wanting to connect to the satellites, or if it did it would drop out instantly. I followed the tech's instructions and held the power button down for 30 seconds.. There was an audible pop, and the GPS started working again.
I'm a bit sceptical, as a few days after I did that, the battery has died.

The unit is still covered under warranty. But the battery isn't. I've already sourced a battery for $20.

Since the battery is not meant to be replaced by the user and is an integral part of the unit, I'd question whoever said it isn't part of the 1-year warranty. It is a part on the unit.

Seek out a 2nd level support person till you get a RMA for the unit.

Is this any help, although if you break the device its down to what you have done to it, unless you are happy working with small screws and electronics leave the taking to bits to someone else.
Secondly you say you have a new battery is it three wire or five?

Start by peeling away the label on the base of the device to reveal two Torx head screws:



The two halves of the case are simply clipped together so its either using strong thumb nails to lever them apart or use a blunt kitchen knife to lever force in to the gap:



The two halves do come apart. once one of the clips releases the others are much less troublesome to get apart:



Once all the clips are released you need to release the screen connector, this is a huge improvement over the earlier TomTom models with something more like a true multiway PCB plug rather than the frail brown trap bar edge strip used on other units.:



And don't forget the microphone plug:



With the screen out of the way you can now see the internal main PCB, battery etc.:



Start by disconnecting the battery, note its a Live device so its got the five wire battery and connector, its about time the replacement battery manufacturers were making these available even though you can solder the old lead to the replacement battery if you really want to. Also note the green coloured tape holding a mylar PCB down to the top of the battery, this carries the signals from the on/ off/ reset switch, I didn't take this apart till later but I did release the tape:



Remove the screws securing the PCB to the case and carefully hinge it over to fully expose the battery, take care with the on/ off/ reset mylar, the battery can now be pulled off the case to which it is stuck on:



A close up shot of the main PCB screen connector:



Details of the speaker:



Details of the battery:




NOTE: Some additional notes which look useful in post number 14 - HERE

Mike -

Thanks for posting this pictorial. I've found that posts like these tend to become valued much like folklore within the DIY community, with people endlessly referring back to them, and referring others there as well. Most valuable -- and the community in general owes a big "thank you" to the intrepid soul who is willing to be first to pop open their device sans instructions. I've made good use of many such pictorials when cracking open the innards of various cellphones, Blackberrys and my old Garmin 755t.

I'm assuming this is essentially the same that I'd find with a 2535 M Live? I probably *won't* succumb to the temptation to open mine while the warranty is still in force....but you never know. Curiosity might get the better of me.

On a slight tangent: in your very top photo, it appears that there's a small card of some sort inserted into the left side of the underside of the device, and that there are a couple of indentations that would allow one to depress the card slightly into the device. I'm guessing that this would cause some springs to then eject the card. I haven't studied the picture closely enough to really gauge the size of the card -- but I'm wondering if this is a micro-SD memory card...? If so...I wonder 1) what size the card is, 2) if the device can boot and operate properly if you inserted a larger, blank formatted card, and 3) if you could then download your content, maps, etc. onto the new card?

All speculation at this point (on my part at least), but it certainly seems to raise interesting possibilities...from increasing map capacity of the device to allowing the loaded memory card to be popped into a card reader so you could back up all files locally using a file manager.

None of this would, of course, be officially blessed, and it would all most certainly, void any warranty coverage. Whoever follows this path would certainly be on his/her own (except for community support of course). But the whole thing certainly grabs my attention...

The card you can see is the SIM card there is no slot in the device for a memory card, I would expect your device will be the same in terms of taking it to bits. The main issue with the battery replacement is finding one with five wires and the correct size connector or simply solder the old wires to the new battery - Mike

Yes - certain models do have a slot for a uSD card. Some have the slot without the requisite firmware to communicate with the card as yet. Where used, the card will be for additional content (e.g., maps). It's already impossible to retain both full N.A. and full Europe maps in internal memory of a 4GB unit, and an 8GB card would handle this for those users who don't want to swap maps on/off these units.

TomTom has not kept to their schedule for enabling the functionality of the slot, but stay tuned.

But that isn't one

As Mike said above, that is the SIM card slot. It's found under the base label on all LIVE models, but on earlier models the card is MUCH deeper buried in the physical slot.

Any model with a micro SD card slot has it accessible to the user without peeling off any labels.

Not the 1000, no. But a few of these models have their uSD card hidden under a very difficult to spot little flap. I think you have the GO1535. There's one hiding there, too.

Are you sure?
On every device I've ever had with an SD or micro-SD card slot, it has always been perfectly visible, not under a flap or cover.

No, I don't have a GO1535, but I do have something similar (one recently announced to the German market, I believe )

And on that, the bottom label with the charger details and the serial number bar-code goes around the micro-SD slot but not over it, so it's easy to use (same as on the Go 940 and Go 950).
It's the SIM card slot that would be hidden by the other label.

Absolutely - have one right in front of me. The positioning is dead center, and the seams are so nicely done that unless someone would point your attention to it, you'd never notice that the flap was there. In fact, I think I surprised mvl by pointing it out in another forum.

Unfortunately, installing a card is pretty pointless - so far.