TOMTOM START 1EX00 charging problem

[85GrimReaper]

Good day all.

I have the above mentioned GPS, from South Africa. (out of warranty)

The unit does not charge with car charger or USB cable.

When I plug the unit into the car charger the green light that is normally on all the time on the charger, switches off. I have another working START and this charges fine with the same car charger and the light stays on while charging.

When I plug the GPS into the PC via USB cable, my USB modem disconnects from the PC (shows no device) and the GPS still does not charge. When I plug the GPS out of the PC the modem gets detected again and connects. This is very strange to me.

I have tried the reset method as well, pushing the little reset button in for more than 15 seconds but this did nothing as the GPS had no power.

I switched out the battery from the 'working' GPS with this one, and then it powers up and works fine. Still does not charge. I then followed the reset procedure again and the device did reset and showed the black boot up like screen but still does not charge.

I put the drained battery from the 'non working' GPS into the 'working' GPS and it charges fine and switches on. So is seems it is not a battery problem.

I opened up the GPS to look at the charging port itself but this still seems intact and all the soldering connections are still firmly attached and soldered on.

I do not know what to check next. Please assist if you can.

 

[dhn]

There is no IEX00 model as such. Provide the first 2 characters of the serial number in this link to show precisely the model you have:
http://us.support.tomtom.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9521/c/2355

I'm not entirely clear what you are describing when you say this:

When I plug the GPS into the PC via USB cable, my USB modem disconnects from the PC (shows no device) and the GPS still does not charge. When I plug the GPS out of the PC the modem gets detected again and connects. This is very strange to me.

What are you referring to as a 'usb modem' ??

 

[canderson]

The fact that your one Start unit is taking down both your car charger (evidenced by light shutting off on the charger) and your USB modem (evidenced by disconnect from the PC) indicates that you have one very sick Start unit there, or a short in the cable/connector. There are a couple of possible causes, but all will be internal and related to the electronics of the Start or its cable. It is simply pulling WAY too much current from both the car charger and USB modem, acting like a dead short or something near it.

BRIEFLY try using another comparable cable (perhaps from your other Start unit) to see if the suspect Start unit takes down your car charger again (LED goes off). IF IT DOES, I would not recommend that you connect this device to either your charger or USB outlets again on the chance that either of these are not adequately protected against dead shorts (or at a minimum, excessive current draw). No point in damaging anything else. If the cable swap does not solve the problem, I'm afraid your one Start is toast.

 

[85GrimReaper]

Hi

The link states its a Start 1GB. Serial number beginning with XC.

I have a wireless HSUPA modem that I use to connect to the internet. its connected to the front usb. When the GPS is plugged in the modem acts like it was unplugged.

 

[85GrimReaper]

The fact that your one Start unit is taking down both your car charger (evidenced by light shutting off on the charger) and your USB modem (evidenced by disconnect from the PC) indicates that you have one very sick Start unit there, or a short in the cable/connector. There are a couple of possible causes, but all will be internal and related to the electronics of the Start or its cable. It is simply pulling WAY too much current from both the car charger and USB modem, acting like a dead short or something near it.

BRIEFLY try using another comparable cable (perhaps from your other Start unit) to see if the suspect Start unit takes down your car charger again (LED goes off). IF IT DOES, I would not recommend that you connect this device to either your charger or USB outlets again on the chance that either of these are not adequately protected against dead shorts (or at a minimum, excessive current draw). No point in damaging anything else. If the cable swap does not solve the problem, I'm afraid your one Start is toast.

I used the same cable and charger on both devices. The one acts like above and the other charges and connects fine so i believe that its not the cable OR charger, both devices would not have charged then.

 

[canderson]

If you swapped cables and the problem followed the unit, then the problem will be the unit. Not good. In absence of any obvious faults on the board in the area of the USB connector, it sounds like you have a bad charging circuit on the board of the offending Start unit. Bad news if it's out of warranty.

 

[85GrimReaper]

Hi, is there a way to connect the charger directly to the battery or device, bypassing the circuitry? Or is the circuitry essential?

 

[canderson]

The charging circuitry is ESSENTIAL. Hooking 5V to a 3.7V lithium ion battery will get you smoke .. and that's if you're lucky! The charging circuit is there to control the voltage and current applied to the 3.7V battery, and the unit runs from that.