Charging the unit in the car?

[wlepse]

Over the weekend I installed a mount for my TT1 and have been playing around with it since. But I found something that seemed a little odd to me. Even though the unit has been connected to the USB and does indicating that it is charging while the car is running it doesn't seem to charge. Today at work I went out at lunch and disconnected the USB to run off the battery and almost instantly got the low battery warning. So either it isn't charging or somehow leaving it connected to teh USB while the car is off drains the battery on the TT. Has anyone else seen anything like this?

 

[Werloc]

From the Home software, and the manual, the only way to charge is with car charger. USB does not charge the unit. I could be wrong, but this is what I read.

 

[Mike L.]

What model One do you guys own? My One NE charges via the 12v plug in the auto, or via the USB cord when attached to the PC.

ML

 

[wlepse]

I have the V2 and normally it does charge on both the computer and car USB cables. After I put a permanent mount in my car I noticed the device wasn't charged but I think I know what may be happening. It does charge while the car is on but when I shut off the car it is no longer being charged and if it is left in the circuit it may be used to power something else in the car. I am thinking it could be my portable XM unit. It doesn't go completely dead but it will be low and it shouldn't be if it were plugged in for an hour plus. Does anyone know if this is a possibility? By the way to test this I disconnected the USB yesterday while parked and the battery was 100% when I left work.

 

[Buddharay]

In my experience, whenever you leave a device plugged in (whether it be a gps, electric razor, cell phone, or whatever), it will lose charge quicker unless the plug has a current flowing through it. So if you leave the lug in, it will either be charging (when the car is on) or it will be losing charge quicker (when the car is off and the plug is still in). welpse, I'm no tech guru, but your theory on losing the charge to something else is possible. Since I always unplug the XL and lock it in my glove box when I leave the car, I've never had a problem. Fully charged I can get at least 2 hours of life out of the battery. I've never had a problem though because I always keep it plugged in.

 

[JimInMichigan]

While you have it plugged into the USB on your computer and while the computer is turned on, that is how TOMTOM recommends you put a full charge on your TOMTOM One device. If your computer is turned off, it can not charge the TOMTOM. Please note that "some" of the old computers may have a USB2 port that does not feed power. Check with your computer manufacturer. Easiest way to tell is plug it in and see if the little green light on top of the TOMTOM One is on ( next to the power button ). Check before you turn the TOMTOM One on.

Your vehicle 12volt charging adapter is for maintaining the battery. When you turn your vehicle off, make sure there is power to that 12v outlet you are using. If there is power, you will trickle charge the TOMTOM One as long as it's plugged in. There is no harm in doing so either. If the 12v outlet is not powered when the vehicle is turned off, then of course it can not provide any charging capabilities. Again, check for the little green light on top by the power button.

TOMTOM recommends that you re-charge your TOMTOM One, once a week, if you leave it unplugged for that amount of time.

Search around this forum and you will find a recommendation for an AC dapater you can use, also.

Hope this helps ya...

 

[Werloc]

How can I tell what version I have? I just bought it new from Radio Shack early this week.

 

[irwg]

Three points:
1) Tom Tom should be charged from USB2. USB1 with older computers does not provide power from computer to Tom Tom
2) Some cigarette lighters in cars have power all the time and some don't. I've used Lincoln, Mercury, Ford products to charge Tom Tom and they have power all the time, engine and ignition on or off. Don't know about other brand vehicles.
3)I also charge Tom Tom with the Home charger that is used with the Motorola Razr cell phone. The connector is the same as used by Tom Tom. The voltage is a few tenths lower but it charges as fast as it does in the car.
Using the car to charge or the Razr cell phone home charger is much faster than using the computer to charge.

 

[Bontrager]

I remember reading somewhere that there are more than 1 voltage that can go through a USB port. I read that initially, a very low amount of power is supposed to be supplied to the USB port. Once connected either the device or computer is supposed to ASK for the voltage to be increased. I read that not all devices/manufacturers respect this specification.

I'm pretty sure my cellphone (blackberry 8100 pearl) respects this specification because if I plug it in to any random computer to use it as a flash drive (1 gig mini sd card) I'm able to access the SD card just fine but the phone won't charge. Additionally, something pops up on my phone's screen saying that there is insufficent power for charging and to please install the phone driver. When I install the driver (on those computers that I want to sync my phone/backup my phone to) then it is able to charge just fine over the built-in USB ports on that computer.

I have a external POWERED USB hub so even when my home laptop's off, anything attached to it (cellphone, TT1) gets charged because they're getting 5 volts going thru the USB ports.

 

[Werloc]

It turns out that I have a Version 4, TT One.

What I said was wrong. Anyway, about the USB charging, as long as the TT is off, and the green charge light is on, it is charging. Like said above, some USB ports don't supply power. Those will not charge the unit. You can tell if unit is off, and green light is on, it "IS" charging....


Now, my question is, What about over charging? What type of battery is it?

 

[wlepse]

The unit charges just fine with USB off the computer or in the car...it was just that I noticed it lost power through the day even though it was off to teh point the battery warning came on almost immediately. The 12V source is switched in my car and it share s source with my XM MyFI, so even if the circuit to the car is closed it would still be open to the XM unit and if one has a higher battery voltage it will charge the other....or at least that is what I thik happened.