One 3rd Edition not working with combined traffic/receiver charger

[superdave123]

Hi

I own a Tomtom One 3rd edition.

I bought a TMC-RDS combined charger/receiver which goes into the USB slot underneath the unit. This worked fine, but one day the bottom of the charger/receiver disintegrated (the end bits fell off) and unfortunately I didn't notice until too late and lost the bits that fell off.

I got another charger/receiver which then worked fine as a charger but was not recognised as a traffic receiver. I got another one - same problem.

So either I'm getting dud charger/receivers (seems unlikely) or there is a software or hardware problem with my unit. I have tried removing the software and reinstalling, plus "soft" and "hard" resets of the unit - incidentally this fixed the problem of the unit being very slow to find satellites.

However still no joy with the charger/receiver. I am aware that there could be a problem with the USB socket but the unit still connects ok to my laptop via a cable.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions for how to fix this or work out what the problem might be?

Many thanks in advance

 

[- et -]

I got another charger/receiver which then worked fine as a charger but was not recognised as a traffic receiver. I got another one - same problem.

Did you get your cable from TomTom, from eBay, or from ???

The reason that I am asking is that it is my understanding that the combination cables have an "expiration" date encoded in the receiver. They are designed to be sold either with a "lifetime" subscription or with a subscription up to an encoded date, after which the subscription has to be renewed or the receiver will stop working.

If you got your cable from a third-party such as an eBay seller, it is possible that the encoded date is in the past. I can see that happening if the cable was made by someone who just copied an original cable in every detail, and the expiration date has passed for that original cable.

If you got the cable from TomTom, a ready explanation does not come to mind at first blush.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

 

[canderson]

@-et-
We can check the Unix date of the cable for the OP to see if the expiry will be a problem. It gets recorded on the unit itself when connected.

@superdave123
Please connect your unit to your PC, and in the root of your GPS find a folder "rdstmc" within which will be a file "subscription.bif". Open the file with any text editor and there is a single line with something similar to this

RDSTMCExpirationDate=2356875071

Please send us the content of that line.

 

[mvl]

The combo charger/receiver requires application 9.x to recognize it.

The One 3rd editions latest software was 8.0, so it not compatible with the combo receiver.

 

[- et -]

The combo charger/receiver requires application 9.x to recognize it.

The One 3rd editions latest software was 8.0, so it not compatible with the combo receiver.

Are you sure? His first post said that his charger/receiver originally worked well until it physically broke, and his problem has been getting a replacement that receives.

- Tom -

 

[canderson]

If we're talking about the 'current' version that is a single cable from charger to unit with the 'egg' in the middle, that's going to require 9.XXX code.

 

[superdave123]

Hi there

Many thanks for everyone's time in coming back to me on this

To answer all the questions:

@-et-
Yes the chargers were all from the same Ebay seller, although it seems odd that the first one worked and then the next one didn't, I suppose from what you're saying the expiration date could have passed in that intervening period

@canderson
sorry if I'm missing something straightforward, but when I look through My Computer onto my TomTom (which shows up as the F drive) then I don't have the "rdstmc" folder, neither is there a file called subscription.bif anywhere on it

There are however three files with "tmc" in the name, which are:
- TMCConfig.tlv in the partial_updates folder
- TmcEApi.so in the gns folder
- tmccodes.dat in the United_Kingdom_and_Republic_of_Ireland folder

When I look at the manual, I get the impression that the traffic service is acquired just by buying the accessory, not by signing up for an additional service. Maybe this varies by model?

@mvl
I've checked and I've got version 8.010 on my TomTom, however I definitely wasn't imagining it when the first traffic receiver/charger worked correctly - there was a traffic bar and it picked up traffic updates, recalculating routes and helping me dodge big queues

@canderson
Both the one that worked and the one that didn't are single cables from charger to unit with an "egg" in the middle

Seems like this is a bit of a mystery, hopefully it's not a hardware problem as I would prefer not to have to part with even more money to get it fixed.

Can anyone think of any way I can investigate this further?

Thanks very much

Cheers
Gavin

-

 

[canderson]

Odd. If there has been a cable attached that worked, I would have expected that folder and file when the device registered on the unit itself.

I am also at a loss as to explain how a 'current version' cable as described would have worked with the 8.010 code.

 

[superdave123]

Thanks @canderson

The ebay seller's listing is here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tomtom-RD...7?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item3a6fe6a71f

The official Tomtom listing for what appears to be the same product is here:
http://www.tomtom.com/en_us/products/accessories/chargers-connect-cables/usb-lt-traffic-receiver/

So the Ebay seller claims compatibility with the One 3rd Edition but Tomtom does not, and their first device worked fine but not their second. Doesn't seem likely that the Ebay seller would have had the wrong list of compatible units from day one - can't be that hard to copy the list from Tomtom and they would be setting themselves up for loads of needless complaints and disputes.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Maybe they were somehow engineering their own combined charger/receiver based on a receiver that was compatible with the One 3rd Edition and now they're reselling the Tomtom combined unit (or have copied it somehow) and it's therefore no longer compatible.

Any further comments or any other ways for me to investigate on the device would be very gratefully received

Many thanks

 

[Mrcmrsn]

Good evening. I nave the same problem. The odd thing is that tmc is recognised and working if I leave the car under the sun for all the day. In the morning no chance...
Any suggestion?

 

[dhn]

Weird.....Try a drum reset on the unit by holding the power button about 20 seconds till you hear the drum sounds unless your model has a dedicated reset hole. No guarantees.

 

[Mrcmrsn]

Done several times, without results. Is there any further check on software to do? Thks

 

[Mrcmrsn]

Have you some suggestion? May I have to install previous configuration file?the seller does not believe me about this issue... Can be a cold joint?

 

[dhn]

I don't know. You can try customer support:
Italia
0245281004

lunedì-venerdì:
ore 09:00-17:30 CET

 

[Mrcmrsn]

I will do... But I feel no answer from their side. Anyway, it is really strange. What can I check on sw configuration?

 

[Mrcmrsn]

No answer from tt side, only notification that there is no support for old gps as mine, and I received a suggestion to buy a new tt... Any other suggestion in order to solve issue?