Problem with car mount for 910

[tukatz]

I had planned an itinerary and downloaded it to my 910 and off I went. I mounted the 910 and plugged into the cigar lighter socket. When I supplied power to the socket the 910 turned on. All was well for a few hours, then the unit turned off and would not turn back on.

When I got home I plugged in the AC adapter and connected it to the CAR mount and mounted the 910. The 910 came on and then turned off several times. Then I connected the AC adapter to the home mount with the USB cable attached and mounted the 910. After an hour or so I powered on the 910 and looked at battery status. It showed charging. I powered it off and reconnected and remounted to the car adapter and powered on the 910 and looked at the battery status. It showed a weak battery and did not say charging.

My conclusion is that the car mount is faulty and is not supplying the power that would charge the battery. I would be interested to hear if any of you can offer thoughts to support my conclusion or refute it, and if any of you have had similar experiences.

Ahah, new information. I reattached to the home mount and saw the same result as with the car mount. I am now beginning to suspect either a bad battery or faulty 910. Will call support.

 

[sageuvagony]

I am thinking it may be the physical usb port on the device (tomtom.) Try moving the mini usb port on the tomtom while it is connected to the wall outlet and see if "charging" comes and goes. I have seen this happen to MANYYYYYYYYYYYYY devices where the jack/usb port come loose. I've repaired at LEAST 75 laptops with this issue (loose/falling/breaking dc jack) and about 45 cell phones with loose or breaking usb ports. Most of the failed phones were blackberrys. The mini usb port is surface mounted on the PCB.

I mention this may be your problem only because "sometimes" you see it charging, sometimes you don't.

 

[tukatz]

I am thinking it may be the physical usb port on the device (tomtom.) Try moving the mini usb port on the tomtom while it is connected to the wall outlet and see if "charging" comes and goes. I have seen this happen to MANYYYYYYYYYYYYY devices where the jack/usb port come loose. I've repaired at LEAST 75 laptops with this issue (loose/falling/breaking dc jack) and about 45 cell phones with loose or breaking usb ports. Most of the failed phones were blackberrys. The mini usb port is surface mounted on the PCB.

I mention this may be your problem only because "sometimes" you see it charging, sometimes you don't.

Thanks for your thoughts. The 910 does not have a USB port. The home docking adapter has a permanently attached USB cable. I tried wiggling the 910 on the home docking adapter, but that didn't have any effect. I'll call TomTom support today and will report back.

 

[tukatz]

The answer from TomTom support was that the unit was not sufficiently charged before being mounted in the car. They tell me that the car mount is supplying power but NOT charging the battery if the 910 is turned on while driving. Their recommendation was to plug in the home charger and let it charge for 4-5 hours. I'll try this and see what happens.

 

[GAW]

i do not know why they say it does not charge in the car. My 910 and a friends 510 do. It really sounds like the car mount.

 

[tukatz]

I left it charging in the house for over 5 hours and the battery status did not show charging and was only at about 25%. I called TomTom back and they agreed there is a problem. I was able to print my PayPal receipt to PDF and send it to them as proof of time of purchase. I am now holding for the repair department to make arrangements to send it to them for repair or replacement.

Repair says send everything in to the address on the email I will receive shortly and they will send me a 920 - an upgrade.

 

[GAW]

Good news/bad news. While you will have an updated unit, I hope you do not experience the problems I have been having with my 920 replacement for my 9!0.

My 910 was wiped clean and sold on eBay, and I got a 920 Ok from a questionable source (you should see the internet stuff on them) for less the the differential costs of one 810 map. The unit and all accessories were delivered as promised Friday.

With the map guarantee, I now have 810 maps for both North America and Western and Central Europe (needed SDHC card to fit them all on). That's the good news - the bad is I have had nothing but trouble getting wireless data and plus services set up - where I never had any with my 910.

Again - good luck

 

[tukatz]

I have never used Plus services, so that is not an issue. I see that it has an SD card slot. How big and SD card will it take?

 

[dhn]

The 920 will WRITE to 4 gigs (3.78 actually) but can READ from greater than the 4 gigs. I know of some who used a card reader to put mp3 files, etc. on a 16 gig sdhc card and the 920 unit handled things ok.

 

[GAW]

I have never used Plus services, so that is not an issue. I see that it has an SD card slot. How big and SD card will it take?

The 920 has a slot tjhat will take SDHC cards - up to 8 GB currently. For $25, you can easily find 4 GB - probably all you will need unless you have loads of MP3's that need a home.

 

[gerryc]

don't know if this is similar.

Make sure that the Tomtom is turned off. i.e. connect it to the PC
using the USB and then press the power off button.

Happens to my casio camera. In storage, it lost all charge.
Charger would not charge when I put it on the cradle. But camera
will display the photos on its screen when I press the view button.

Took me a few days to try and press the power button while photos were displayed. This time the camera turned 'officially' off, and it started charging.

 

[tukatz]

don't know if this is similar.

Make sure that the Tomtom is turned off. i.e. connect it to the PC
using the USB and then press the power off button.

Happens to my casio camera. In storage, it lost all charge.
Charger would not charge when I put it on the cradle. But camera
will display the photos on its screen when I press the view button.

Took me a few days to try and press the power button while photos were displayed. This time the camera turned 'officially' off, and it started charging.

Thanks, Gerry. I'm pretty sure this is a different issue. In any event, it is packed and will be headed back to TomTom tomorrow.