TomTom Battery.

[Wooie]

I have a TomTom GO 720 T which i have had for a few years now.

 

I am very happy with it apart from the ( Traffic Receiver ) which is useless !

 

Last year the battery life was getting shorter and shorter, so much so

that you couldn`t use it at all without it being plugged in.

 

I found a replacement battery on Ebay and bought it £3.50 delivered.

 

I also found a site to show you how to do the replacement and everything

went fine and i now have a TomTom that i can actually use on the battery

without have to plug it in, but..........

 

What i now find is that it will not keep the time for more than a couple of

days or so, the new battery holds its charge great but it keeps losing the

time and all we get is.....00.00.

 

It`s not the end of the world and only takes a moment or so to put the

present time in, but i just wondered if there was something simple that

i could do ( a setting somewhere ) that would sort it ?

 

I`m sure i`m not the only one this has happened to.

 

Regards.

 

Graham.

[Philman]

You could try a System Reset. There's often a tiny hole that you poke the end of a paper clip into and that resets it. Then you have to set up date and time again and see if it remembers it.

[Derek Uzzell]

Resetting advice is here

 

http://uk.support.tomtom.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6965/~/reset-when-frozen-or-not-starting-up

 

I don't think the loss of time relates to the sat-nav's battery. It's more likely that it's to do with the device being old. We've got a couple of elderly mobile phones and (despite being kept well charged up) they regularly need to have their date/time reset if not used for a few days.

 

Have you tried asking about this via the TomTom forum?

 

 

 

 

[BGD]

I did the same as you and replaced the battery in our Tom Tom Go720 about a year ago, by watching the "how to" video.

 

The time has been fine ever since, so I think that perhaps it maybe wasn't just the change of battery in itself that has caused yours to keep resetting its time clock to 0:00.

[Basil]

Ours is a GO720 as well and we never have to reset the time despite the fact that the battery does not hold a charge for more than ten minutes and hasn't done almost from new. The battery problem does not bother me as I never use it away from the vehicle anyway but my point is I don't believe it has anything to do with the battery or its age and you must have some other problem or configuration issue.

 

By the way I was suprised to see that you are not happy with the TMC RDS function as ours is great and has got us around many a road blockage. You must have an early one that they recalled and replaced FOC because of problems with them and they were not cured until, if I remember correctly, ones marked Ser 00013.?? or some such code on a little tag on the aerial wire.

 

 

Bas

[onecal]

Hi,

Go to TomTom home support and type in your model. It will show you how to do a re boot and reset,for clock that is not holding time,etc'

Regards,

Brendan

[Wooie]

Basil - 2012-08-26 8:13 PM

 

Ours is a GO720 as well and we never have to reset the time despite the fact that the battery does not hold a charge for more than ten minutes and hasn't done almost from new. The battery problem does not bother me as I never use it away from the vehicle anyway but my point is I don't believe it has anything to do with the battery or its age and you must have some other problem or configuration issue.

 

By the way I was suprised to see that you are not happy with the TMC RDS function as ours is great and has got us around many a road blockage. You must have an early one that they recalled and replaced FOC because of problems with them and they were not cured until, if I remember correctly, ones marked Ser 00013.?? or some such code on a little tag on the aerial wire.

 

 

Bas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Basil,

 

just had a look at the aerial and the tag has....4V00.013......on it.

 

We bought ours on the 05-05-08.

 

Never had a recall and it`s was registered from new with TomTom.

 

We gave up with the Traffic Receiver after it repeatedly gave false info.

 

Regards.

 

Graham.

 

[Derek Uzzell]

onecal - 2012-08-26 8:37 PM

 

Hi,

Go to TomTom home support and type in your model. It will show you how to do a re boot and reset,for clock that is not holding time,etc'

Regards,

Brendan

 

The method used to reset a TomTom GO 720 is as given in the link I provided above. TomTom's advice is that performing a reset will cause the device's time-zone setting to be lost.

 

However, there seems to nothing in TomTom FAQs (or on the website generally) to assist with Graham's specific problem. There are lots of clock-related questions in the FAQs, most seemingly to do with the clock providing the wrong time and not knowing how to reset it (Graham clearly knows how to reset the clock when it's showing 00.00), but I can't find anything about why the clock should lose its setting within a couple of days of being set and what, if anything, can be done to stop this happening. If you have managed to identify where this information is on the TomTom website, could you provide specific details, please?

 

In the good old days, when I used to earn my living in IT, a PC's date/time function was maintained via a small rechargeable battery on the motherboard. This battery powered that part of the PC's memory that held the date/time data during the period that the PC was not being powered from the mains. Over time the capability of the battery to hold charge diminished and, eventually, if the PC had been disconnected from mains power for quite a short period, on next booting the machine up it would be found that the date/time needed to be reset. The 'fix', of course, was to renew the rechargeable battery.

 

Nowadays I would expect a sat-nav's clock function to be held in flash memory. While I would not expect this to degrade with age, if any small electronic device that's "a few years old" starts to lose functionality, it's tempting to think that the age of the device is the underlying reason. If a device-reset, followed by a clock-reset, fails to fix Graham's problem, then (as I suggested earlier) the logical place from which to seek advice is TomTom.

 

I'm not TomTom familiar, but I doubt that Graham's sat-nav has a user-accessible function that will provide an easy cure.

[Basil]

Wooie - 2012-08-27 7:45 AM

 

Hi Basil,

 

just had a look at the aerial and the tag has....4V00.013......on it.

 

We bought ours on the 05-05-08.

 

Never had a recall and it`s was registered from new with TomTom.

 

We gave up with the Traffic Receiver after it repeatedly gave false info.

 

Regards.

 

Graham.

 

Hi Graham, yes I believe that is the corrected one, they replaced ours FOC from an earlier version that did not work at all well. However I must say that our current one has performed very well and we get information well in advance of problems on our route, sometimes with a spoken message asking if we wish to take a clearer or quicker route and we know on at least three occasions it has saved us long delays in traffic jams. This is so in Europe as well as the UK.

It is a shame that yours does not work properly as I find it invaluable. Perhaps a note to Tom Tom support may get you a working one as I am certain there must be something not right with yours.

 

Bas

[Robinhood]

Derek Uzzell - 2012-08-27 8:19 AM

 

In the good old days, when I used to earn my living in IT, a PC's date/time function was maintained via a small rechargeable battery on the motherboard.

 

I didn't know Babbage's difference engine had a CMOS battery! :-D

[tonyishuk]

FWIWorth a number of my GPS appliances get the time from the satellites and then uses a zone differential to keep the correct local time.

 

Not sure if TToms use this method.

 

Rgds

[onecal]

Hi,

If you go to TomTom home you will find a download "Ouick GPS fix" it may just put your clock back in sync, especially on start up each time,

Regards,

Brendan

[Derek Uzzell]

Graham's difficulty is that his TomTom sat-nav's clock resets itself to 00.00 after a few days. He is able to reset the time manually, but the clock's time-readout does not 'hold'. That he has asked for advice in the first place indicates that something has changed - that the sat-nav's clock used not to reset to 00.00 after a relatively short period. Basically, Graham's sat-nav is no longer working properly.

 

I've checked my own (Garmin) sat-nav and this clearly does not rely on satellite signals to set the clock. It also (as one might logically expect) does not lose the time even after an extended period of non use. It may be that Graham's battery replacement and the clock's present behaviour are coincidental - or not.

 

As I said earlier, there does not appear to be anything on the TomTom website that relates to Graham's stated problem. While poking a paper-clip into the Reset hole, or paying near-£50 for a software tweak, might cure the problem, it's surely commonsense to seek advice from the sat-nav's manufacturer to check if it's a known peculiarity.

[Wooie]

I`ve contacted TomTom support and i`m still waiting for a reply.

 

It`s not the end of the world and only takes a moment to set the

time.

 

I just wondered if there was a " Quick Fix " to save messing about.

 

I regularly update it via the web site and everything else on it

including all the extra POIs i`ve put on it work a treat.

 

I done a " Reset " and it`s just the same, so i guess i`ll put it down

to " One of lifes mysteries "

 

Thanks to all for the input and if anyone does come up with

something please do not hesitate to let me know.

 

A thread would be nice so others may benefit as well as i`m

sure i`m not the only one this has happened to.

 

Regards.

 

Graham.

 

 

[onecal]

Hi,

The replacement battery you used ,was it a Cameron Sino CS-TM730SL?. Yes this has happened to a few, sometimes disconnecting and re connecting the battery again may help also the Ouick fix download GPS does help. Especially if you downloaded new maps, Send them another e mail if you did , they should be able to send you a download fix,

Regards,

Brendan 

[Bulletguy]

I have the GO720 and must admit to being surprised at it's lack of battery power. It was brand new yet previously I had a second hand 700 and that ran on battery power only for ages before needing a charge.

 

But the display of the 720 is much better than the old 700 so keeping it plugged in during driving is not a problem. Ideally I would prefer to figure some way of having it wired in.

[Wooie]

Brendan,

 

yes that is the battery code, i regularly get the updates from

TomTom home and there is always a Quick Fix GPS in there

somewhere.

I`ve disconnected and re-connected the battery but i`ll now

have to wait to see if it`s worked or not.

Still waiting for a reply from TomTom to my e-mail.

 

Paul,

 

the battery when i first got it was fine and steadily got worse

and worse until it wouldn`t last more than a minute or so.

Whilst driving it is always plugged in and the only time i use

it on just the battery is say at lunchtime or at night when i`m

planning where we go next or looking at the POIs in the local

area.

 

This started out as a " i know I`ll pop a new battery in " idea

that hasn`t quite gone according to plan.......lol.

 

Regards

 

Graham.

 

 

[Bulletguy]

Wooie - 2012-08-29 1:31 PM

Paul,

 

the battery when i first got it was fine and steadily got worse

and worse until it wouldn`t last more than a minute or so........

 

Oooerrr.........deffo something not right there then! :-(

 

Mine lasts around two or three hours without plugging in but the old 700 much longer.

[onecal]

Hi,

Take out the battery once more and look at the board, make sure it is fully intact,you will need to use a good magnifying glass,,,off the battery ensure all wires are fully connected,some of the connections on the CS-TM703SL gives trouble, thus the need to break and re make the connections, sometimes you might just be lucky. Sadly they are very fragile, as are the boards. Had you to apply much heat to remove the old battery? Are you also using a memory card (SD) . Try the so called "Quick Fix" through TomTOM home without the card in and see will the clock work again?

Regards,

Brendan

[onecal]

 For anyone wanting to info on the following if the tomtom is not loading up the new software.Here's how to FORCE Home tomtom download a new copy of the latest software....

1. Make a full backup with Windows Explorer.  

2. With Windows Explorer, check the root directory of the TomTom. If you have very old maps (v660 or earlier) there will be one or more fileswith a name based on the map name and a .MAC or .MDS extension. This is your activation code for the map. It is especially important that this file or filesare backed up.

3. With Explorer, DELETE all the LOOSE files on onthe TT (i.e the ones that are NOT in any folders). DO NOT delete any folders! (If you have them, either leave the files mentioned in step 2 alone or you must replace them from the backup at the end).

3. Again with Explorer, DELETE the contents of the"program" folder in Home's download cache. Normally it is in"C:\Documents and Settings\iusername\MyDocuments\TomTom\HOME\Downloads\complete\program" (for Windows XP) orC:\Users\username\AppData\LocalSettings\TomTom\HOME3 (Windows 7 or Vista), but the path may be different onyour machine). 
You can check the location by looking in Homeitself on the Tools menu/ Home Preferences/Folder locations.

4. Connect TT to computer and run Home.

5. Home should automatically check for updates andprompt you to install them, if not:-

6. Click "Update my TomTom - wait to see what it offers you.

7. Select the Application update and wait for it to install.

8. Replace the map activation files mentioned instep 2 if necessary

9. Click on 'Device - Disconnect Device', wait for it to re-boot and it will ask if you want to connect to the computer, select"No" and when you see the normal navigation screen, turn off and disconnect.

10. sometimes you may need to run the up date process in Home v1.x several times and then install home v2.x and run it several times again.

Regards,

Brendan

[Wooie]

onecal - 2012-08-29 4:20 PM

 

Hi,

Take out the battery once more and look at the board, make sure it is fully intact,you will need to use a good magnifying glass,,,off the battery ensure all wires are fully connected,some of the connections on the CS-TM703SL gives trouble, thus the need to break and re make the connections, sometimes you might just be lucky. Sadly they are very fragile, as are the boards. Had you to apply much heat to remove the old battery? Are you also using a memory card (SD) . Try the so called "Quick Fix" through TomTOM home without the card in and see will the clock work again?

Regards,

Brendan

 

 

 

Hi Brendan

 

the battery wasn`t that well stuck down and came out very easily.

 

I used double sided tape to put the new one in and i was very careful

as per the advice on the " How to replace " video i watched before i

attempted it.

 

The TomTom has a " blank " inserted into the SD slot and it will

not work without it in place.

 

I`m going to wait now and see if unplugging and re-plugging the

battery and the Quick Fix has worked.

 

I need to wait for several days ( might leave it a week ) and then

turn it on and see what happens, i reset the time before i switched

it off.

 

I`ve now got EVERTHING crossed.........lol .......and roll on next week.

 

Thanks again for all the trouble you`ve gone to in finding the info.

 

Regards

 

Graham.

[onecal]

Ok,,

So you have to leave it for week or as you say several days before the clock loses time, when you re- turn it back on? If you bring your sat nav' outside and wait,you may find when it finds the sat's,the time will work again.Next time do not reset the time before shutting down , and let the Sats re sync' the time for you when you bring it outside. Also it should work without the SD blank in place?

Regards,

Brendan

[Colin Leake]

Ours also has a naff battery. Works fine when connected to the vehicle but does not hold the charge for long making it difficult to set the next destination in advance to plan travel times etc. fortunately I have a powered four way USB adaptor connected to my lap top at home. The TomTom stand is connected to this and I've found that as long as the powered unit is turned on the.TomTom will charge without the computer needing to be turned on.

[Derek Uzzell]

Although TomTom's 'official' advice is that the battery cannot be user-replaced, there are plenty of on-line suppliers marketing not-expensive replacement batteries and YouTube video-clips suggest that the task is easy enough unless one is ham-fisted.

 

This is quite fun

 

http://steve-morton.com/2011/10/23/tom-tom-customer-service/

[onecal]

Hi,

Some models are very difficult to open without doing damage unless you are used to repairing them and the boards are easily damaged if one is not very careful. But yes it can be done ,with care and patience. Always be careful not to over heat when removing battery, some do come away quite easily others I am afraid are really well stuck down, just use a piece of two side tape (not glue) on the replacement new battery and re charge new battery (2Hrs) before starting up.

Regards,

Brendan