New RDS-TMC cable from Ebay fixed my problems

[Andy_P]

Glad to hear you've got your Traffic problems sorted!

Suspect my next crisis will be changing out the internal battery, although I'm fighting by cycling through deplete/recharges now in an effort to revive some life in the current battery.

That worried me a bit.... Do you mean you are allowing the battery to run completely flat?
If so, you aren't doing it any favours! That used to work for NiCd-type rechargeables, but the Lithium Ion batteries in TomToms work very differently and don't like being flattened.

There's more info than you ever thought you wanted in an "Battery University" article HERE

 

[darussell]

Thanks for the reference on the battery situation. Yes, I'm too old, and have seen batteries evolve across time, and afraid I was "cycling" my TomTom in the hopes I'd improve its viability. Although it is typically either in the mount in my car or on my desk connected to the computer, there will be those times where I'd like to take it portable on a walk. Thanks again; traffic working so far.

 

[Terrell]

Thanks for the info

Thanks to this forum, I bought a new Traffic cable antenna from Amazon for $8.48 plus shipping, plugged it in to my Go 730, it searched for traffic for a little while, then showed me traffic.

I entered the Unix time into the Unix Time conversion site
Online Conversion - Unix time conversion
and it came back
Sat, 07 May 1988 13:16:48 GMT
for the RDSTMCExpirationDate=579014208

So... is this the date from my old Traffic antenna cable?

I'm glad to have traffic back, but thought the RDSTMC Expiration Date in the subscription.bif file would change with the new antenna.

Please enlighten me. Thanks!

 

[rajeevnarula]

I have GO 910 that does not have traffic updates. Would I be able to receive traffic updates if I use a compatible RDS-TMC cables? If yes, which cable do I use and would I need to tinker with my TT's software?

Thanks

 

[canderson]

I have GO 910 that does not have traffic updates. Would I be able to receive traffic updates if I use a compatible RDS-TMC cables? If yes, which cable do I use and would I need to tinker with my TT's software?

Thanks

I believe that the cable you need for your location (I note you're up in the Toronto area) is the TomTom model 4V00.083 that uses the 1/8" plug on the end. There are still a few of those around being sold. What I've seen in comments is that they don't really work as well as the newer models that are the inline USB flavor that we have today, but those don't play on a 910. As for your TT's software .. no, just a configuration issue done from the front panel.

I'd wait until a couple of the guys from your area pipe up and have their say on the quality of the 4V00.083 vs. the TMC signals up your way.

 

[Krellan]

The replacement cable from Ebay, which cost less than $10, sure beats having to buy the subscription renewal from TomTom (which costs $60).

And, there's software issues with the renewal, as both of us have ran into! I too had to abandon a perfectly-good paid renewal, because the TomTom software wouldn't recognize the extended expiration date that I had paid for. TomTom tech support is clueless and useless.

The workaround is simple: look for a TomTom replacement cable on Ebay. Search using the model number of your existing cable, since there are variants, both for your TomTom model and for the country you're driving in. In my case, this was 4V00.083, but that's for a TomTom 930T in USA, so your mileage may vary.

I bought an Ebay cable last year, and it has worked great, until just now this year! Now that the 1 year "free trial" has expired, time to buy another cable and restart with another 1 year "free trial"