Dog Ate My 12V Car Adaptor

Joined
Nov 18, 2010
Messages
37
Where is the best place and best price to get a replacement 12V adaotor.
Was in WalMart this afternoon (in Canada) and all they had was Garmin adaptors but at $49.00 I said no thank you. They said they are universal to all makes as long as the same size plug is on the end that fits into the GPS. The one he showed me did have the same plug . We even opened the package and tried it on mine but not sure if the circuitry is the same.

Heck, the whole unit only cost $119.00 complete with a new adaptor.
 
OK - here's the deal (if you don't want to order from TomTom)... There are a bunch of cigarette lighter to USB power adapters out there, all delivering 5 volts DC. However, the one that came with your unit produces about 1 amp of current. That charges your battery faster than a similar unit that produces only 500mA. Both will work - one just won't charge very fast at all. So if you can pick up one that will deliver about 1A, that's a better situation for you. You can Google them and find a ton.

They're a little harder to find with the USB mini-B that your TomTom takes already attached or included, but the cable you use to hook up to your computer is easy enough to find as well if you have to pick one up with no cable.

For example, you could get one of these:
Amazon.com: Belkin Micro USB Auto Charger 5VOLT 1A: Electronics for $9.99

and this cable
Amazon.com: AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to Mini-B Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters): Electronics for $4.22

and you'd be in business for less than $15. In fact, you'd have to find something more that you'd like to buy to get the free shipping with $25 deal.

All of the above assumes that there wasn't a little egg shaped traffic adapter dongle built into the one you had. You didn't say.
 
Thanks a bunch for your reply. Looks like you are saving me some money.
I have dealt with Amazon with good results for many years. That was where I got my GPS . Don't know why I never thought of checking them out for this item .

All of the above assumes that there wasn't a little egg shaped traffic adapter dongle built into the one you had. You didn't say.

No mine did not have that.

I went out and checked the 3 foot cord that came with my TomTom for hooking to the computer . No problem with length because of where I have my TT situated on the dash directly above the cigarrette lighter socket. I like the right angle small plug on it but I suppose the straight plug on the one from Amazon would not present a problem. .

Great price of $9.99 on that charger and at only $4.22 for the six foot cord a person might just as well get one of those too as a spare even though it is twice as long as I need. (remember the dog ? ;) )

Read reviews on Amazon and almost all were used for phones rather than GPS. Some say the charger is not compatilbe with all cars and I would hope that it would not be a problem with a 2007 Honda CR-V .
Anyone here using one of those chargers in a Honda ? ..

One person complained about the spring loaded flap over the cigarrette lighter socket and another said the flap was not a problem for their particular vehicle . I suppose the flap could be removed if need be. .

One more question. A person was complaining about it being hard to take out because it fits so flush. Would it present a problem to just leave it plugged in ? Would that shorten its lifespan considerably ? I can imagine a problem with an always live socket but mine is only live when driving the car.

Thanks again for your excellent help .
 
One more question. A person was complaining about it being hard to take out because it fits so flush. Would it present a problem to just leave it plugged in ?
From what I've read, no problem at all. I wondered about parasitic losses, but evidently the thing uses either no or minimal current when not powering something, so you could leave it in a powered socket all the time. You say that your socket is switched anyway, so not even an issue for you.
Would that shorten its lifespan considerably ?
No. Lifespan on a device like that wouldn't be impacted by being plugged in while it is providing no current to a device. It's the kind of gadget that should last just about forever anyway.
 
It's not like they're all that expensive to order from TomTom. I don't know exactly which model you have, but here's an example - they're only getting $16, I think:

USB Car Charger - Accessories - TomTom
 
It's not like they're all that expensive to order from TomTom. I don't know exactly which model you have, but here's an example - they're only getting $16, I think:

USB Car Charger - Accessories - TomTom

Thanks for that but I tried to pretend I was buying one just to find the shipping charge but they put me through hoops trying to get past their registration page where they said I am already regisred with a CA account (whatever that is) and then Internet Explorer kept sending pop-ups telling me there are problems with that site. I gave up in frustation. Tried to create a new account but said I would need a different email address and different password. :(

Mine is a XL 340-M and yes it is in that list.

I rather like the short flush design of the Amazon one and will probably go with that. Thinking of placing an order today as soon as I think of another small item to put my order over $25.00 for free shipping.

Will report back here when it arrives and say if it did or didn't work satisfactorily
 
I'm Baaaaak ;-)

Just came back to thank Canderson for the info on the Amazon parts.
I finally got around to ordering along with another small item to push the order over $25.00 for free shipping. Amazon came through with flying colors as usual ..
Parts arrived today. Plugged it into an entirely dead TomTom and it started charging and lit up the screen within a couple minutes.

My cigarette lighter socket is the style that has the spring loaded cover over it and which some in the testimonials on Amazon said would be a problem but it isn't a problem on mine.
Some also said the charger goes right inside the socket and can't even get fingernails around it to pull it out. Well, mine sticks out about 1/4" when fully inserted so no problem to remove it if necessary.
Mine is a Honda CR-V and everything works as it should. With any other make or model vehicle your mileage may vary (in more ways than one) ;).

Thanks for everyones help with this topic.
Now if only the TomTom was as easy to program and get a person faithfully to where they wanted to go. . . . . . . . . . but it is a nice play toy :D for telling you where you already know you are going as long as you ignore the off the beaten paths that it usually wants to take a person on. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Glad it worked out. Being nearly flush as it is, the adapter is much less likely to get bumped, along with the end of the USB cable. The only time the 'trap door' becomes a problem is if you've got a fairly weak connection between the A sides. Even then, there's easy ways to slow that little flap down.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

No members online now.

Latest resources

Forum statistics

Threads
28,827
Messages
194,368
Members
67,763
Latest member
Gert.Ruland

Latest Threads

Back
Top