TomTom ONE V3 (TMC) connection to external car aerial

davawt

Hi there
Can any one help with this problem.
I have a TomTom one v3 with TMC but I want to connect it to my car aerial rather than use as is, cus the reception is poor.
I should think someone has already done this and I am asking what has been answered, but I cant find the message that answers my question.
Thanks for any help I am a novice at TMC and GPS.
_________________
davawt.

TomTom: One V3
App: v7.166
RDS-TMC Receiver: (4V00.013)

mikealder · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 12:22 pm Post subject:

It is possible to do but it will void any waranty on the RDS device, first of all what car is it and do you know if the radio uses the coax cable as a power supply to the aerial, some do and you have to be rather carefull to block the DC voltage otherwise you will damage the kit.

There are a number of posts made about doing this including some with detailed photos I will dig out some links later when I get back to the PC. Site member 'Vicky' made one of the first such posts around 18 months ago IIRC with a 910 as the nav unit.

Another couple of questions first though, do you have the latest receiver, look at the white flag near the connector and it should end with the numbers .013 also as RDS reception is a postcode lottery where in the country are you located - Mike

davawt · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:04 pm Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject:

The thread I was thinking about earlier containes this:

davawt · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:06 pm Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:14 pm Post subject:

You could solder a BNC socket to the end of the shoestring aerial then connect that to a magmount aerial such as the mini-scan from Maplins, this works very well and avoids messing around with the car radio, details for the aerial can be found Here and the BNC socket required to connect to it is one of These - Mike

davawt · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 3:53 pm Post subject:

mikealder · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 4:03 pm Post subject:

The aerial does stick to the roof using its own magnetic base, you can then run the coax cable through the door seal without too much trouble, I have both the mini-scan and larger Sky-Scan aerials on the car for feeding RDS receivers, they are easy to remove, the mini-scan is a neat compact aerial the sky-scan tends to attract attention to the car as it is a strange looking multi element aerial, but it does offer slightly better performance - Mike

davawt · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject:

AndyVaughan · Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject:

One thing of note on the 4v00.013 TMC unit is the wire is screened coax up until the first bit of plastic, then it is just the central core from there until the end to act as an antenna.

If you just connect a BNC connector to the end and then an external antenna to that you will get loads of interference and IMO a worse signal than with the shoestring as it is.

I cracked open the egg, desoldered the coax from it (the original soldering was awful on this) and resoldered a short bit of coax with a socket on it to the pads on the PCB.

Hope this helps.

Andy

davawt · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:45 am Post subject:

AndyVaughan · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 10:51 am Post subject:

I put the egg in a vice and gave a very gentle squeeze and it cracked open perfectly on the seam - if I need to put it back together a couple of blobs of superglue and no one will be any the wiser.

On the previous models I took them apart with a knife and it marks the plastic so it is obvious that it has been opened.

Andy

davawt

Hi guys, (Mike and Andy)
Well here is the update, I received the Aerial and bnc connector today (Saturday 12-04-08) and spent all day working on it.
I have included some photos, they say a thousand words.

I hope this lot helps anyone trying it out, main thing be careful.
I took nearly all day double checking what Mike and Andy had said incase I messed up, but I think it's easier doing the wire mod than taking the egg apart. And when I am ready I can simply add a bnc to the cut off wire and connect it back as it was (well nearly)
Let me know if this link works? I have not tried photobucket like this. If it works the photos are much clearier....
http://s177.photobucket.com/albums/w213/davawt/
[/url]
_________________
davawt.

TomTom: One V3
App: v7.166
RDS-TMC Receiver: (4V00.013)

mikealder · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:59 pm Post subject:

Neat job well done, and with the connector in place it remains easy to move from one car to another, I see you went for the mini-scan rather than the strange looking Sky-Scan and it is far less obtrusive on the car, look at this little lot:

And there is at least one missing at the moment!

Furthest fwd is the mini-scan, next one back is the Sky-Scan, the three mouse like pods are Garmin GPS receivers and rear center is the Hirschmann combi GPS/FM/AM/GSM aerial - I did mention about drawing attention to the vehicle by fitting the Sky-Scan, but with that lot on top it sort of "blends in" - Mike

AndyVaughan · Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:09 pm Post subject:

Nice job.

The only reason I did it the way I did and not how you have done it is because I can resolder the original shoestring back on and glue the egg back together and I am back to the original receiver if I ever need to.

Andy

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