TomTom 720 on charging/desktop dock - Do you see the word "charging" all the time?

[Piggie]

When I place my TomTom720 on the charging dock, and press the lower right hand area of the screen (when in normal map view)

So get a screen which shows (on the right hand side at the top) a battery full indicator which sometimes has the word "charging" underneath it.

When you place your 720 on the dock, and view this area, does the word "charging" stay on all the time under the green battery level indicator.

Or does the word "charging" only appear from time to time, or never, or what?

Would appreciate if some people could try this and tell me what their tomtom720 says in this area.

Thanks.

 

[Piggie]

Can no one try this for me?

 

[dhn]

Be patient.....someone should see this thread and report their findings.

I would have checked mine but it's with my wife in Europe.........

 

[doctormstein1]

on my unit when your unit is charged it will not show charging . It will show charging only if your unit needs chargeing and is doing it.

 

[Piggie]

on my unit when your unit is charged it will not show charging . It will show charging only if your unit needs chargeing and is doing it.

Thanks for the reply.

On my unit, when I put the TomTom720 on the base, the green light goes on, and I get the normal "do you want to connect to the PC" so I press "NO"

Then it does appear to charge, but the green bar does not really move up, and the word charging only appears for a brief second every now and again.

Possibly not for minutes and minutes.

Yet, it appears to charge but I'm not sure if it's working correctly

Sometimes I pick it off the base, put it down and the word charging pops up for a while, for a few times.

 

[Piggie]

Anyone?

Got lots of views.........

Can no one else tell me, what their TomTom says under the green battery symbol at the top right hand corner of the screen?

I went to a store (when units were on poser all the time) One had the word "charging" flashing on and off under the green battery al the time, the other had nothing.

Mine seems to have a mind of it's own, sometimes it flashes the word "charging" up below the battery, othertimes theres no sign of the word, despite the fact that I think it IS charging and it make no difference how full the battery is?

Might it be a software bug?

 

[mikealder]

In This Thread you have mentioned issues with the charge LED not illuminating all the time so I think the issue is hardware related - you need to address why the connector isn't fully mated to the PCB as this doesn't seem software related to me at all - Mike

 

[Piggie]

In This Thread you have mentioned issues with the charge LED not illuminating all the time so I think the issue is hardware related - you need to address why the connector isn't fully mated to the PCB as this doesn't seem software related to me at all - Mike

Mike....

I think I've at last managed to identify the problem here at last.

When I place the TomTom on the base station, the green LED on the bottom right front of the TomTom lights up all the time and the data connection works fine.

When I used the car charger (as you may have seen in my video clips) the LED only comes on if I press the connector back a bit, which may lead us to think it's a issue re the USB socket on the tomtom and the solder/circuit board inside.

However, after tryingto work out what the hells going on............

I just plug a normal mini USB connector into the tomtom (other end connected to my PC) and the green LED comes on fine, and if I waggle it about a bit (with a little pressure) is seems to make no difference to the connection. (which you might expect if it was a solder issue)

I was trying to work out if it was the connector (plug) on the car charger and was searching for some means of testing it.........

Finally I found my small memory card reader had the same connector, so (with fingers crossed) I plugged the TomTom car charger into the computer memory car reader, and the led on the card reader would not light up, unless I pressed the tomtom car power adaptor plug backwards a bit (like I had when plugged into the tomtom unit)

So, I think that fairly well nails the problem is with the car power adaptor USB socket. As any other USB socket seems fine.

So, I'll probably be ordering a new car charger.

The issue about the word "charging" not appearing under the green battery seems a different issue (though at the time I felt it was related)

On a side note, I will say the battery in the 720 is rubbish.

I charged my original TomTom Classic (which I've had for 4+ years) and the 720 both up with full battery and set them side by side running a route demo on 100% speed (so I got the speech)

The 720 gave up (battery warning indicator and died) after 2.5 hours of running the demo route.
My original TomTom was still showing about half battery power still left.

So much for the 5 hours!

But having read these forums it seems common knowlege the 5 hours is simply a lie

On the "change the battery" tech info I've seen. Can't you fit a bigger capacity battery when this time comes?

 

[mikealder]

A new car charger sounds like the answer and much easier than trying to solder a connector back to the PCB.
The battery life with the x20 units is typically around 2 to 2,5 hours from a full charge from what I have seen, fitting a larger capacity battery might get you the odd ten minutes extension or so but its not worth bothering IMHO. As you are getting 2,5 hours from your device on the battery I would say there is nothing much wrong with the unit at all - Mike

 

[Piggie]

A new car charger sounds like the answer and much easier than trying to solder a connector back to the PCB.
The battery life with the x20 units is typically around 2 to 2,5 hours from a full charge from what I have seen, fitting a larger capacity battery might get you the odd ten minutes extension or so but its not worth bothering IMHO. As you are getting 2,5 hours from your device on the battery I would say there is nothing much wrong with the unit at all - Mike

Yes, the new charger seems to be the answer.

It's just a shame that after 4, 5 years the latest models are lasting a lot worse than TomToms very 1st model (improvements in battery tech over that period of time)

My TomTom Classic, was the original one that came out even before it was called a Classic, as it was just called a TomTom Go, and still has the best speaker (and it appears) better battery life than models made 5 or 6 years later.

And the car mount is a solid piece of construction.

Progress ?

Still, the new ones have a nicer screen I suppose

 

[dhn]

In order to obtain a thinner profile for the Go models, TomTom implemented a phsically thinner battery with fewer ohms (I think the measurement is) than with the older 'thicker' profile models.

That fact plus the consideration that the newer app/map combinations require more processing power for interpreting IQ info, ALG etc plus the inclusion of computer voices all lead to a smaller battery life.

As Mike says, getting 2.5 hrs is something others would *kill* for to get in their units.........

 

[Piggie]

In order to obtain a thinner profile for the Go models, TomTom implemented a phsically thinner battery with fewer ohms (I think the measurement is) than with the older 'thicker' profile models.

That fact plus the consideration that the newer app/map combinations require more processing power for interpreting IQ info, ALG etc plus the inclusion of computer voices all lead to a smaller battery life.

As Mike says, getting 2.5 hrs is something others would *kill* for to get in their units.........

Well, I only got 2.5 hours with it sitting on a table running a demo route at 100% speed.
How long it would last actually acting as a satnav going along the road may be very different.

I appreciate all you say, but I still don't know how (esp in America where you can't get away with anyhting without being sued!) they can advertise it as having 5 hours battery life.

 

[dhn]

Because of those two magic words: "Up to".

 

[Piggie]

Because of those two magic words: "Up to".

Yeah, LOL

Though to be fair to the public they must be able to demonstrate that in "Some IDEAL SITUATION Way" 5 hours must be attainable.

Like in a car, they may say up to 50mpg in no wind situation on a dead straight road, with no traffic and at a certain exact held speed.

2.5 hours lucky does not exactly feel like anywhere close to 5 hours.

If I was TomTom, I think I'd also design an optional external "clip on" battery pack for the back for those who wish to take them away from a power source for a length of time.