BT-GPS stopped working

plodders · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 24, 2006 Posts: 4

I have an Orange SPV M600 running TT6 + BT-GPS connected by blue tooth.
The system has worked fine both here in the UK and on recent trip to Austria and Germany.
On a recent UK trip i set the unit for home (mainly for radar locations and petrol station POI as I knew the route) and after about 10 miles the map froze. Both the GPS detector and the SPV were on the dashboard in the sun and being simultaneusly charged
I continued the journey and waited until I arrived home - on checking the SD card I could not read it in the SPV or in the card reader in my laptop.

I had a spare 2GB SD card so reloaded the software and POI's on to the card - I had real trouble in the set up procedure and tried both com 6 and 7 - the GPS display in the GPS status menu would sometimes show my position but always in a grey/blue display mode and with "no GPS device" - occassionally it shows on the map page your location again with "no GPS device" in the blue /grey mode and then freezes.
I have noticed that the green light on the device sometimes flashes and sometimes is on permanantly.
Any suggestions?

Doghead · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:23 am Post subject:

Doghead · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 5:58 am Post subject:

Oh yeah.... and on many occasions when I was trying to get one of the devices working... the bluetooth light would still be come on (until it failed entirely for power - but now mended), but no gps green light, flashing or otherwise... or only very occasionally green at switch on for a moment - which is sort of like the symptoms you described.

It was only after I fortuitously discovered the battery wasn't being held as tight as it should be against the gps power pins (it looked fine at first).. and fixed it with a wedge, that it now gets signal and works as new again.

To determine if it could be same issue for you, if you can open access to your battery comparment, you could maybe do what I did at first and use your thumbs to press the battery firmly against the power pins and see if you can then get a fix - green light ect.

plodders · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 24, 2006 Posts: 4

I tried a nimber of things and almost packed the unit ready for returning under warranty - as a last resort I hard reset the PDA and reloaded the TT software - and it worked!

Doghead · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:08 pm Post subject:

It's my suspicion that some of the old (sealed) socket and emtac units which failed to get/acquire green light, (with attempts at 24 hour discharge malarky), might have actually been affected by the battery not getting a firm connection to the pins inside. It can be a less than perfect fit even with the all the feet in position.

This unit initially refused to get green light (acquire a fix), had flashing yellow light when trying to charge, and then seemingly entirely lost power with no lights. I was ready to throw it in the bin - until wedging the battery and it working like new again. The match ends just give an extra push to the back of the battery and hold it tightly in position, firmly against the connection pins.

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Doghead · Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 7:36 pm Post subject:

Doghead · Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 5:12 pm Post subject:

I contacted Socket about this and they replied on the lines of that they had identified the same issue and introduced a spacer towards the end of the unit's manufacture.

They no longer make gps units - or so they told me.

A few weeks ago I removed my match-stick solution from both my gps units, and instead cut a slight spacer from an orange plastic blade guard of a cheap razer. Just a little bit removed from one thin side of the blade guard.

When you open up the Socket battery compartment, there is a backing plate at the back centre (non terminal connection side).. left and right being open space. This is what keeps the battery in position.. but not firmly enough it seems in some units.

I simply taped my makeshift spacer on to the battery to align with the backing plate, and that makes the battery fit nice and snug in the unit, and a more sightly appearance than matchsticks as well. Not had a problem with either GPS unit since.

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