740 will not charge in car!

[Alina]

This is a weird one! My 740 charges just fine when connected to a pc, but it does not charge when plugged in the car. I've bought a brand new Tomtom original window mount, tried it in several cars, yet nothing! The connecting cable shows a green light, but not the unit. Did call Tomtom support and their answers were, well, I'll be nice. They weren't even able to give me the address of a service place where I can take the unit! I presume Tomtom GPS' are intended to be... disposable and, therefore, cannot be repaired.

Any idea how I can have this issue solved?

Your help is highly appreciated!

Alina

 

[Andy_P]

So lets see if I've got this straight.

You have got:
1. a desktop dock (with TomTom multi pin connector)
with a fixed cable and USB plug,

2. A windscreen dock (with multi pin connector)
with a mini-USB socket on the back

3. A car charger (it's not just a "connecting" cable!)
with a fixed cable and mini-USB plug

#1 works when connected to a computer USB o/p

#2+3 do not work together in the car

So....
1. Do you have a USB to mini-USB cable available, so you could try connecting the windscreen dock to your computer?
This would check that the windscreen dock is working OK.

2. As far as I can tell, you have not tried replacing the car charger yet?
It looks like that is faulty - Just because there is a green light on it, doesn't mean it is doing it's job of converting the 12Volt car power down to 5Volts .
Nor does it guarantee the cable itself isn't broken so the power is not reaching the mini-USB plug at the end. is faulty.

 

[Alina]

Aha! That's one thing I did not do: I did not try a different Tomtom charger. I assumed that is just a connecting cable and, consequently, I've used the "lighter to mini usb" cable that came with my smart phone(s).

So, should I try buying a Tomtom original, in which case, where can I find the actual model number, or should I buy a generic one, in which case what should I look for?

Thank you so much for your help! BTW, why is the Tomtom "support" team so lame???

Once again, thank you!

Alina

 

[Andy_P]

The plot thickens!

Your "Lighter to mini USB cable" for your smartphone must ALSO be a charger,

All equipment that can be powered or charged via it's USB socket MUST receive 5 Volts, but the voltage on the car lighter socket is 12 Volts and that would instantly fry anything connected via USB.

So any ready made "cable" has some electronics in the lighter plug.

So at first reading, your smartphone cable SHOULD be able to power the TomTom, unless it's seriously under powered and the TT battery is very empty, as the TT charger is quite a bit more powerful than some phone ones.

A Generic car lighter to USB supply should be OK, if you don't want to fork out for a genuine TT one, but look for one that can supply about 1.5 Amps at 5Volts.

Why are TT customer support so bad? Who knows! Outsourcing it to Asia and giving the staff minimal training and a basic script to work from doesn't help!