Leave it plugged in all the time!
Seems it's a common problem for anyone that leaves their TT plugged in to a switched ignition feed all the time, one day it'll just refuse to turn on.
Turns out it's fairly easily fixed though, open it up, disconnect the battery, reconnect and hey presto!
Pain in the backside that, i'd like to leave mine wired up (hidden away in a cubby with a power feed). Ah well.
Kind of glad it was fixable, satnavs haven't really advanced in any game changing ways from my ancient one. Someone needs to give the satnav manufacturers a kick up the backside. Get some innovation in that space.
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You could fix it properly, and change the battery?
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I thought about putting a switch in line with the battery, drill a hole in the back, turning it into a Franken-GPS i can reset quickly if it ever dies again. If it happens again i'll do that.
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With most smart phones having sat nav (often free options for this) and many cars now starting to come with included sat nav.... I do wonder what the likes of TomTom, Garmin etc will do longer term.
Like Z says, swapping the battery for a new one when it was open might have been worthwhile too. Mine rarely charges fully anymore which isn't too much of a problem because when used it's plugged in.
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Just a thought but is it maybe getting too hot in its hidey hole? I have a now museum piece TT700 which is also on most of the time the engine is but it is mounted on a bracket down by the gearlever and so gets air around it. Never been any bother.
You know, I was only thinking the other day, I paid about £550 for that when they first came out. It seems huge now, well deep anyway by comparison to the modern stuff. Looks like a shrunken CRT telly. Works fine though. Updated the maps a couple of years ago and it still finds obscure places in any western European country with the notable exception of Eire for some reason where it gets confused outside of Dublin..
Last edited by: Humph D'Bout on Sat 16 Apr 11 at 22:21
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My TomTom 720 was about £200 and I think I got it early 2008 (or late 2007) so getting on a bit. But it still works fine and I updated the maps a while back to have later maps but also so I had Greece.
Will be using it in Italy in a few weeks. But my next car has sat nav built in as standard (the RNS 315 from VW) so the TomTom will be rarely used after that. But you cannot do custom POI with warnings on the RNS 315, e.g. speed cameras... I'm sure someone will figure it out though.
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>> Just a thought but is it maybe getting too hot in its hidey hole?
Good shout Humph, sits just above the ducting for the vents too, although my heating controls rarely leave freeze position. Not a lover of being too warm. Will pay attention in case this is it.
>> RNS 315 from VW
Have you seen what the thieving scum do to dashboards to steal the RNS 510's ? :-( Not as if they're hard or time consuming to remove (4x screws) but they just tear the dashboard apart instead.
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But the car comes with the RNS 315 - so if that happens then I'll have to deal with it. Only other option is the RNS 510.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Sat 16 Apr 11 at 22:55
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Wonder if the same thing happened to my Garmin.
It's only connected when i'm working, as it has traffic i use it every day and obviously a lot of hours.
Switched it back on after unloading and...nothing, absolutely dead, drat and double drat.
Assumed it might be the power lead as the plug wasn't warm but red led was on.
Nothing for the next several hours, but the following morn it fired up and has been fine every since.
Thinking about it, was a very hot day....i'll tuck it out the way whilst unloading in future.
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I bought the detailed "Alps" map before I went to to Italy 3 years ago. It certainly helped me as I was staying in a hotel on a road that didn't show on the main Europe map and I was trying to find the place late at night. You might judge it not to be worth £45 or thereabouts! Shall I send it to you on a memory card?
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The BMW badged Garmin 650 on the bike packed up when it was a few months old. BMW replaced it free of charge - I had to wait weeks for it "none in the country". When I asked whether this was due to a common failure it was denied - however some Googling bought overheating to light......maybe a bigger problem than we think.
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I have to commend the NavFree App for iPhone - saved me a lot of hassle this last week. Maybe apps are the future.
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I find the pages of my Michelin road atlas get tatty in no time at all - sometimes as little as two or three years. It does get used a lot of course...
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Don't even think about Michelin paper maps then! They split in the folds within a week of steady use.
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I have a navman s90 - I quite like it, but in the last few months it had developed a habit of resetting itself for no reson half way through a journey. Its 5 or so years old so not sure if it has just reached the end of its life.
Been usueful in Spain and France on hols, although in Spain it did try to take us down some unsuitable roads, but a quick tweek in the preferences fixed that.
Like the traffic feature to - has guided me around hold ups a few times
Whats the current view on a european maping sat nav now - any better than others or are they all much the same? Most people appear to favour tom tom, but I am not one to follow the crowd for the sake of it (unless they are all right!)
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...however some Googling bought overheating to light......maybe a bigger problem than we think...
No computer gadgets like heat, so it makes sense to operate them in a well-ventilated environment if possible.
The Mac got quite warm just ripping a few CDs, so I propped it up at the back to allow some air underneath.
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I wonder if the voltage spike when you turn the engine on might also have something to do with unreliability after a while? I have a terrible record with killing smartphones, mysterious as while I use them hard, I'm extremely careful with them.
After my iPhone died within three months, and having had a succession of Windows phones rarely last more than a year before dying in one way or another, I had a thought. I use the phone as satnav all the time, but I'm now very careful never to have the phone attached to the car when I start the engine. It's only six months so far, but no hint of a problem. Hardly proof, but hopefully...
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Well talk about coincidence.
Nicoles TomTom1 has just given up the ghost. Wont turn on. Luckily I have a weeny tiny torx set that undid the screw under the sticky identity label. Take it apart, unplug the battery, and bingo it works again.
The battery is 950mah Samsung unit, replacement cost about 15 quid. I might leave it working on USB power only, lets see how she gets on.
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Delete the second tom and then tell me how I can apply it to the one which uses our garden as a toilet!
Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 21 Apr 11 at 18:36
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>> Delete the second tom
Know how you feel there, we had one determined blighter and despite me throwing all sorts at it he'd still pee up everything in sight.
Once we got the hound said cat is nowhere to be seen.
Maybe invite some friends with a good cat-hating dog down for the weekend, unless you already have a mutt, in which case starve it for a while and aim it at the tom.
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How to kill a tom tom - Zero
