TomTom 140 and USB RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver (US version) connectivity problems

[andydrew]

I am having troubles where every 3 - 4 times that I power up my TomTom One 140 with the USB RDS-TMC Traffic Receiver the TomTom 140 does not see the traffic receiver connected. No message on the screen saying that the traffic receiver is connected, no traffic bar. The only way to get it working again is to reset the GPS unit which wastes a lot of time when I am trying to get on my way with traffic data.

I have been working with TomTom support on this. Have exchanged GPS units twice and the traffic receiver once. In addition TomTom support has had me doing hard resets, removing and reloading the GPS application, etc. Neither new hardware or these other steps have resolved the issue.

Is anyone else having this issue with a TomTom One 140, 140s, 340, or 340s? I have the latest GPS application running. I understand not many people have purchased the traffic receiver - but I find the traffic receiver very valuable here in Southern California. The TMC traffic data is quite good, all of the freeways have speed sensors in the road, and this really helps in avoiding traffic accidents and slow downs. IQRoutes is good - but the traffic receiver is needed to really help with traffic avoidance.

I believe this is a problem with the current GPS application. TomTom support can't acknowledge this nor let me know when this issue may be resolved. Certainly switching out equipment and reloading the application is of no help.

 

[spod]

i am getting the same problem with RDS-TMC and my tomtom go 930

randomly connects and sometimes does not.

sometimes soft reset works and sometimes not

this is driving me crazy

spod

 

[andydrew]

Mine has been doing better lately, but I changed the way I have been plugging/unplugging the traffic receiver. If I stop driving for the day and leave the traffic receiver and power adapter connected most of the time I the traffic receiver connects upon next power up.

The biggest problem I was having was when I would power off the GPS and disconnect the traffic receiver. I would return to my vehicle, connect the traffic receiver, and power up the TomTom 140s. It seemed like maybe 1 time out of 3 the traffic receiver would not connect without reseting the TomTom.

The procedure that seems to be working better is as follows:

BEFORE powering off, disconnect the traffic receiver
Wait until the message appears on the screen that the traffic receiver is disconnected (1 or 2 seconds)
Power off the TomTom
When returning to the vehicle
Power on the TomTom FIRST
Wait until the power up sequence is done (a few seconds)
Then connect the traffic receiver

Try this out and see if it helps. There has got to be a software bug that is causing this problem. I don't think it has anything to do with the physical connectivity and has been a problem for me with 3 traffic receivers, 2 TomTom 140s models and my current TomTom 140 model. I have gone through multiple iterations of software removals, reinstalls, running the clearflash tool etc. The process above is the only thing that made any difference for me.

Good luck.