TomTom Battery Life

[suew]

Does anyone else find that their tomtom battery is rubbish. We have to keep our charging either from the motorhome or on the mains all the time. Off power it packs up within a couple of minutes.

 

[maggyd.]

My O.H says it should last for about 3 hours,but we always have ours plugged in when travelling.

 

[TonyJones]

The battery on ours runs out very quickly. We've occasionally tried using it for walking routes in cities, but it packs upfar too quickly.
Also, when it's not used for a while it drains anyway (I think it switches itself on randomly, because if sound was on last time it was used, it sometimes shouts at us suddenly from the glove box!)
We've resigned ourselves to keeping it plugged in when we need to use it.

 

[nrdonnelly]

Is it a few years old? They definitely get to a stage where they pack up.

That said, my first sat-nav didn't have a battery at all and in our old Sherpa with a Reimo conversion, if you went over a bump, the power socket would lose the connection and you'd lose your route immediately. Very inconvenient when bouncing down the motorway!

Incidentally, YouTube can help - you can see videos on how to replace batteries in various TomTom models which is much cheaper than buying a new one!

[video]http://www.youtube.com/v/NcbebExQmx8[/video]

 

[TonyJones]

Could be worth a try, but ours has never had much battery life from new (it's nearly 4 yrs old now). I'll have a look for our "TT One XL" on the Tubes.
Does anyone else's switch itself on in the glovebox & suddenly shout random directions at you?

 

[Brum1]

Does anyone else's switch itself on in the glovebox & suddenly shout random directions at you?

No...But the one on the passenger seat does.

 

[TonyJones]

Ah, that could explain it - maybe OH has learnt a bit of ventriloquism!

 

[nrdonnelly]

ho ho!

 

[brum43]

Hi all, My second hand TomTom bought off EBay never lasted more than a few minutes when unplugged from the car. I bought and fitted a new battery which did the same. So it seems that old TomToms at least use power even when switched off. So I bought an adapter that holds eight AA rechargable batteries from Maplins along with a 12volt "flying" socket. The socket was glued to the adapter with glue from a heat gun. Now when I need the sat nav away from the van I plug it into the adapter and can get about six hours use. The AA batteries need to be 2450mAH to get this long but lower rating will do.Hope this helps. B43

 

[twooks]

I been told that the UK only version is fine, it's EU rules & regs that causes the problem 😉

 

[CourtJester]

Hello All,
My Garmin dezl 560 has a poor battery life too. It only lasts 20 to 30 minutes before it needs charging.

 

[MrsBroholmer]

My Garmin packed up after 4 years. I went back to Halfords and he said I was lucky it had lasted that long! The lithium batteries cant be changed. He said even if you dont use the sat nav, every month you should leave it on charge for 16 hrs to fully charge then leave it turned on to fully discharge and repeat, this is the ONLY way to keep the battery life working properly. We have purchased a Snooper and we are now following his instructions, if you dont the battery life is not under warranty!

 

[gjh]

Hmmm. Seems to me like the Halfords employee might have been in the business of dispensing bovine guano. I have a Garmin of similar age and there is absolutely nothing in any of the user manuals (I've just double checked on-line) about charging the battery in the manner described. Indeed, the maximum charge time required is given as 4 hours.
Neither the battery nor any other part of the unit will be guaranteed beyond the initial warranty period but if any manufacturer were to wish to rely on a particular charging regime to maintain a warranty they would have to spell it out in the user instructions.
On the more general point of changing the battery. It is described as Non-user-replaceable (as opposed to not replaceable at all), the reason being that damage to the unit might occur if an amateur were to attempt the job and/or inappropriate tools were used. It is, though, possible for most batteries to be replaced - though whether that is economically desirable might be questionable

Graham