TomTom GO Failures - Was (TT Go gone phut)

g0lgj · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 25, 2004 Posts: 1

Hi on my 3rd GO Sad

this ones seems ok both previous units ejected smoke. Seems to be related to the car charger. I run amateur radio equip from the car and it seems to be effected from some freqs that I transmit on ! and I can only assume it effects the car charger cct in some way, using my TX equipment with out car charger connected GO works fine. However on 1st occasion noticed GO was emitting smoke after changing frequency (24.9mhz). Sent unit back and new unit installed, ran without car charger when using Radio equipment. However forgot !!! left car charger connected and again 24MHz smoke emitted. From early posts it seems there is no over voltage protection in car charger or internal to GO. Also if GO is effected in this way it is not very EMC compliant !

In the mean time changed cars !! Cit C5 with "screened" windowscreen although found pos near rear view mirror GO works perfectly !
So no Radio at the mo but will do some testing with charger and RF and overvoltage etc.
Mark

DavidW · Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2004 4:45 pm Post subject:

Whilst you mention EMC, the field strengths from your radio, especially if you're running something like 20dBW antenna input power, will probably be well in excess of EMC test standards.

I'm not familiar with the EMC standards that apply to in-car electronics. It sounds like there may be a strong correlation between keying up on 12m and your Go emitting that awful 'magic smoke' (that special smoke that stays inside and makes electronic gadgets work - if it escapes they never work properly again).

Off the top of my head, I wonder if the RF is overloading something in a switch mode power supply - though I don't know whether Go uses such a circuit. If you've got an oscilloscope, it might be interesting to monitor the output of the Go car charger - especially in the presence of 12m RF.

As a matter of interest, what sort of radio and antenna are you using - and is it resonant on 12m? (If you haven't guessed, I'm a radio amateur too - though not a Go owner).

David

WATSON · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 2:43 pm Post subject:

I will be getting my new TTG soon - hopefully in the next couple of days. It's a while since I used a multimeter so I was wondering if someone could tell me the best way of testing the car charger.

I seem to recall that to test voltage I should connect it in parallel; how am I best doing this in practice? Question

Toby.

Old_Phil · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 3:01 pm Post subject:

Your recollection is right.

Plug the car charger into the cigar lighter socket. Set your multimeter to a suitable range, DC voltage; on mine I'd use the 0-20v range. If yours is a digital meter then it won't matter which way round you connect the two probes - place one inside the central "hole" on the end connector and hold the other against the silver barrel, close to the moulded black housing.

If you are using an analogue meter, the +ve lead needs to be inside the barrel and the negative lead is the one you hold outside.

In practice, my test probe will not fit inside the barel to make the +ve connection. So, I took a piece of scrap wire and wrapped it tightly around the meter's +ve test probe leaving about an inch free and then inserted the straight free end into the plug barrel.

You want to see a reading close to 5 volts. If it reads 12 volts it's duff and you do not want to connect up to your GO. If it reads 0 volts you have either not made a good connection with your meter probes, or your car is one where the ignition must be switched on before power is supplied to the cigar lighter.

The chances of you having a faulty charger are very remote.

WATSON · Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2004 4:07 pm Post subject:

Old_Phil - thanks for a very useful rundown! Smile

Hopefully the charger will be OK - I would guess from reading this thread that only a small number are affected. However, with all the driving to be done over Christmas I wouldn't want to be without the TTG! Smile

Thanks again,

Toby.

Stormin · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 31, 2004 Posts: 29

Got my TT go for xmas, took it out of box worked fine, took jane for a spin at sea side on new years day, she enjoyed her Fish and Chips at Whitby. Great. however on way back battery indicator started to flash. pluged in car charger no problems. till i went under a over head electric cable and i lost the picture. Switched it on she was working fine again. Just tried to load speed camera's etc. Took me a long time as thick. whilst attempting Go plugged into mains as instructed, yet the battery warning light has started to flash when disconnected. Over charged?
By the speed camera's work Brill, indicated all 21 camera's from my house into Leeds A65 Confused

doublehard · Posted: Fri Apr 01, 2005 8:26 am Post subject:

I'm on my secound, my first died within a day of getting it Crying or Very sad

, I plugged mine into the car charger and smoke starter coming out the back 8O , I'm not sure if its anything to do with it but it was very dificult to get the tomtom into the car cradle. When putting it in sometimes the power conection wouldn't be there and you would really have to force it in.
The new one I've got clips staight in without any probs (fingers crossed).

_Dom_ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 4

Placed my TTG in the cradle and switched it on, noticed burning smell, switch it off, tried again and nothing happens.
Not happy - spent around 400 quid on this, tried contacting cust services only to get an answerphone, tried contacting them via email, no reply.
I wouldn't recommend one to anyone - you don't pay this sort of money and expect this to happen r this level of cust service - think I've had it just over a year which I imagine means i will have to pay for a repair.

sgould · Frequent Visitor Joined: Oct 05, 2004 Posts: 1320

Keep phoning. When you get through you should be able to get it sorted. Two or three others have had free replacement for a GO that is out of warranty. Check your small print - some came wih a two year warranty.

Sale of Goods Act should mean a free replacement anyway as it is a known manufacturing fault.
_________________
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_Dom_ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 4

checked my invoice and get this - it runs out on 12th Nov 2005 and I finally managed to get thru to cust support on 11th Nov ! So its still in warranty ! :-D
Must admit thought - their repair instructions are a bit hard to understand - they make good Sat Nav products but their website leaves a lot to be desired ! I will now do a search on the forum to try and look for an idiots guide to returning the tomtom back to support as I dont know which parts of the UPS docs i am supposed to send - i guess if in doubt send the lot !

_Dom_ · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 18, 2004 Posts: 4

I got my repaired TTG back, charged it up fine using the internal power lead, tried it in my mate's car and immediately a burning smell occured and its knackered AGAIN. This is the SECOND time I have had to send this back - its totally unacceptable - this time I sent the cigarette adapter, the docking shoe and the fried unit back. They have just received it in the Netherlands. I had a "pink fuse" type cigarette adapter - I seen a thread somewhere that these are dodgy. I emailed Tomtom to see if I could have a new Tomtom One replacement instead and they said "it is not possible". We are stuck with our TTG units now anyway as you cannot use the Tomtom traffic with them whereas the Tomtom One is out and you can (and it is cheaper than what I originally paid for my dodgy TTG !) Doh !

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