GO510 Died?

[RBJordan]

I own a TT Go510. Yesterday while driving home from a "job site", my TT showed the "Low battery" signal on the bottom right side of it's screen. Within a few minutes of that, it shut down. I usually take trips of under 2-3 hours and, since I "charge it" at home in it's cradle, I have never experienced this before.

Why would it show a "low battery" signal and shut down if it was plugged into my cars cigarette lighter the entire time? I thought that as long as it was plugged into my cigarette lighter that it ran off my cars battery rather than its internal battery. Am I not doing something that I should?

I have an extended trip coming up, (aprox 8 hours of non stop driving time), and am concerned that my TT Go510 is just going to die and leave me stranded somewhere without directions.

Help
Bob

 

[jrjr]

Was the green light on when connected to the car mount?

 

[RBJordan]

Was the green light on when connected to the car mount?

Yes,....the green light was on the entire time.

I noted that after the TT remained shut down for a few minutes, the TT would come back on for a minute or so and then shut down again.

The green light is ALWAYS definitely on...

Thanks
Bob

 

[Pedro2NR]

Hello Bob and welcome.
How long have you had your unit?
Have you driven with the charger for some time now and this suddenly happened?

 

[JimT]

dead 510

Bob-you may want to try to clean the contacts. I have a 510 and the same thing happened to me. You hit a pothole or bump and this can alter the connection. Actually I have have noticed taht my plug is much looser than when new. you may have seen the green light on at one point but it may have gone off or may not have been on continuously. Try cleaning the contact on the plug w/ a little rubbing alcohol. there may be enough resistance to cause problems-best of luck!!!

 

[RBJordan]

Hi All..

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to my original post.

I have had my GO510 for about 2 1/2 months now. I had planned an extended trip to visit my daughter and was eager to let TomTom show me the way to her door. So......The night before we left, I put my GO510 on its "Home Charger" where I let it sit over night to make sure it was good and charged in preparation of the trip.

NOT........

About an hour into the trip I noticed the "low battery" indicator. I ignored it as I was confident that as long as the "green" light was on I had nothing to worry about. Within 20 minutes of seeing it, my GO510 shut down!. ...No bumps....No old windshield dock.

I have since called TT tech support and found out that I was my own worst enemy! They told me that leaving the GO510 on "charge" for more than 4 hours will cause the battery to be drained of any charge that it held, and suggested that I "Recharge" my GO510.....However, this time I should not let it charge for more than 4 hours and all will be OK.

I did as they suggested........and.......Everything is indeed OK now!


----Hey Pedro.....You might want to consider making this post a "sticky". I noted that quite a number of TomTom users have experienced a similar problem. The cause....and it's solution is so very simple! ----

Thanks
Bob

 

[Locotuss]

never heard of a charging battery discharging after a certain number of hours, like we have time to sit around and unplug it after 3:59.59 hours.

Wonder why, cell phones, pocket pc, walkie talkies PC Mice, PC Keyboards etc, all hold the charge when complete.

 

[wrtmac]

Power

I had the same problem and assumed that because I had the 12v car charger plugged in that all was well. Nope - I also talked to TT support (they're nice to talk to) and got the same message. You need to charge it on the home charger about every 3 to 4 weeks and not to exceed 4 hours.
I agree, all the other electronic toys can be plugged into their chargers without worry but not TT.
Bill

 

[spaners]

yesterday i did over 700 miles in 11 hours & my 910 never gave me eney trouble
i have had my 910 about 8 months & never had to use home charger

ps i use my tomtom every day for work.

I had the same problem and assumed that because I had the 12v car charger plugged in that all was well. Nope - I also talked to TT support (they're nice to talk to) and got the same message. You need to charge it on the home charger about every 3 to 4 weeks and not to exceed 4 hours.
I agree, all the other electronic toys can be plugged into their chargers without worry but not TT.
Bill

 

[drunkslayer]

I've noticed on the 510 the little green light on, so no worries until the dead battery icon pops up, while its on the motorcycle or in the car. A little pressure on the lower unit and occasionally I would get it to charge. First I would go to the screen that displays the small green battery icon in the upper right corner and press on the lower front portion of the unit until the word "charging" pops up. Otherwise one would never know if its actually charging. I've been fussing with this for some months now and was reading the post when someone mention putting a peice of paper or tape between the mount and the TT. So I started tinkering and figured that if I put a little J B Weld into upper section of the two small square port holes on the mount this would cause the TT to mount a little tighter to the mount, with a little extra pressure against the contacts. I cleaned the contacts and checked the pins for uniformity. They're all good. The JB resin was mixed and placed in and up against the upper square hole boarder only, so that only approximately 1mm or maybe 1.5 mm thickness was added. This would cause the two pins inside the TT to seat lower and would cause added pressure to the contacts. The surface of the resin was formed with a flat screw driver to make it flat and to ensure the resin did not protrude past the TT body. The following day after the resin had hardened, I mounted the TomTom onto the mount and it immediately felt snugger and immediately began charging with out any fussing. So either the hole sizes are enlarging from soft plastic wearing or the two inside plastic pins are bending over time. Hope this helps another frustrated GPS user.

 

[fasterem]

I am going to threw the same thing, what you have to do is while its plugged in to car, hit the sat signal strenth, that will also bring up a battery, does it say charging under the battery?? if not this is what I had to do, get a piece of paper fold it up and put it between your TT and the suction cup mount, you may have to fiddle with it for a little bit, do the same thing on your home mount, for me it was easier to figure it out on the home charger, all I had to do is put a little preasure on the top of the TT and the charging came up right away, what I would suggest if you havn't figured it out already, put the TT on the home charger for 4 hours the way it is then turn it on see if it says "charging" if it doesn't and put a little pressure on the top of unit, now if the unit is showing a full battery it will not say charging you will have to use some of the battery to have it accually say charging
hope that helps

 

[ernst46]

go 510 died?

at first excuse my bad english i am german

i had the same problem with my go 910. there was two pins of the connector broken. so the 910 is only charging if you press it on the docking station. check also the solder joint, may be it?s not ko. mostly the first or second pin opposite the aerial input are not ok.

 

[dhn]

Welcome to TTF! There is nothing to apologize for concerning your use of English. It is fine. and thanks for the tip.