720/730 920/930 Battery Replacement Tutorial - Discussion

[GarCor]

Well I followed the step-by-step instructions and carefully removed the battery (as carefully as a bear cub with boxing gloves on can be)
It really wasn?t that bad. I haven?t ordered the battery yet but I will do that on Monday.
I thought what the heck just give it a try and then I put it back together again hoping it might work without the battery but with Car or home charger but no luck. I guess it needs the battery to complete the circut.

I will wait now till I get new battery before taking it apart again but here is hopping that it will solve my problem if not I will need to get another unit.

 

[spaceman]

Find at the link specified a full, gory and detailed explanation of where you can procure a battery for your 720/730 920/930 unit, and how to disassemble the unit and install the new battery.

If you find anything unclear about it, or have questions, feel free to ask here or PM me. Sorry about the quality of a couple of the photos -- I wasn't working with much light, so the depth of field wasn't what it could have been on some of the tight shots.

Since the owners of TTForums limit the size of *.doc files to 19.5K, and this file is 4.1M in size, I've tried to link to an offline storage site. Please advise if there are ever any problems with that link.

Click here -> TomTom GO x20.doc

Hey, followed your instructions. Great by the way.

Unfortunately, I broke the little plastic clip that holds the flex cable. Any idea how to get a new one? I hate that a penny piece of plastic renders my expensive electronics useless.

Thanks

 

[PSJ]

I just used canderson's instructions and easily and quickly replaced the battery in my 930.

I used a hot glue gun and two small drops of glue to attach the new battery.

I purchased the new battery from batteryship.com

They include a small tool kit with the purchase and shipping only took 3 days.

Thanks again to canderson for the instructions.



.

 

[docpeterj]

Great tutorial - just replaced the battery on my 930 bought from batteryship.com (included the tools necessary). You're right about prying the battery free - I used a plastic wedge to minimize potential damage under the battery. Instead of using silicon to re-secure the battery, I unwrapped the black sticky "envelope" from around the defective Sony original battery and re-used it to wrap the replacement. There seemed to be plenty of residual adhesive left. Thanks again!

 

[mikealder]

One other little tip I can add to this excellent guide is for removing the battery a small amount of Duck Oil or WD40 works wonders to release the adhesive securing the battery to the PCB, only a small amount applied to one edge of the battery left for around 15 to 20 minutes and the glue goes to a sticky mess but doesn't hold the battery anything it does prior to the soak.
Once the battery is removed clean the PCB with electrical contact cleaner then fit the new battery using Silicon sealant or similar - Mike

 

[steveNJ]

Flex problems

i have been in electronics for many years, and i am having problems getting the flex and bar under it to seat properly. driving me crazy. anyone have ideas? i think that i have the clip (under it) in the right position, and the flex seated, but it doesn't lock. i am following the great instructions downloaded per this thread. thanks for any ideas. Solved the flex problem after about ten tries, and it seems to be seated ok, now the unit will power up, and updates can be made, but when it boots, it freezes at the startup screen, and can't be turned off. i loaded the latest updates before replacing the battery. now the only way to turn it off is the reset button, after it freezes. seems to be a bootup issue. i do get the first screen where the bar shows it loading, then it freezes at the tomtom screen. i will take it apart and reseat everything, maybe that will help. i hope the new battery needs no resetting/initializing after it it installed, etc. dont think that should matter though.

 

[mikealder]

Steve, connect the device to your PC and switch it on, use Windows Explorer to locate the drive letter associated with your TomTom and open it to view the contents. Open your map folder North_American_2GB or Western_Europe etc you are looking for the file "MapSettings.cfg" delete it.

Disconnect from the PC and let the unit boot up, it should be fine now, note the device will create a new empty MapSettings.cfg file in the correct format so the new Navcore can read it - Mike

 

[J@n]

A big thank you to Canderson for his excellent tutorial. My Go 720 was showing signs of battery exhaustion after only 1.5 years of service. After reading about several people's bad experience with Tomtom's (lack of) customer service I decided not to bother and just replace the battery battery myself. I mail-ordered my battery from a local Dutch supplier named Mobilesupplies.nl for just 19.95 Euros. Using the tutorial made the replacement job a whole lot easier. My unit had Torx screws rather than Phillips screws. A few remarks for potential DIY battery replacers: As clearly pointed out in Canderson's tutorial the original battery is extremely well stuck to the Circuit Board, making it difficult to remove. I used an X-acto chisel blade to create some leverage while at the same time cutting through the adhesive bit by bit. This worked fine. Whatever method you use however , it is extremely important to avoid excessive bending of the circuit board as this may cause damage to other areas, i.e. solder joints. Instead of silicone adhesive I used an MS-polymer adhesive called Poly Max. Reinserting the flex circuit into its connector proved difficult due to lack of self-alignment in the Z-axis; I placed a small piece of plastic sheet approx. 0.5mm thick in front of the connector entry which made the flex slide in a lot easier. Make sure you remove this plastic sheet before pressing the levers.

Good luck!

 

[waltwagner]

Many thanks, Canderson!

I followed Canderson's absolutely great tutorial yesterday. Thanks for your generosity in taking the time to do this!

I used the plastic tool supplied with the (BatteryShip supplied) battery, and just kept gently prying through the glue while lifting up on the old battery. Just keep working around the battery, not forgetting to go easy on bending the board.

When finished, I gave the new battery an initial overnight charge, and I've had my 720 running on it for a couple of hours so far, with no sign of petering out!

Happy!

Walt

 

[Ace McD]

I, too, thank Canderson for his exceptionally clear tutorial. I also stole a trick from docpeterj and unwrapped the old battery rather than try to pry it out. I also didn't read far enough ahead & had the thing in pieces before realizing two things - I didn't have anything appropriate to pry the old battery off, and didn't have any adhesive to attach the new one - DOH!

I haven't turned it on yet since the battery came with clear instructions to fully charge before use, and I'm going to do that since my original battery now sucked and only lasted about 5 minutes before dying. At least the charging light works so far - fingers crossed.

 

[Riverjamie2]

Can you tell me how long is your replacement battery lasting?

Thank you for posting the replacement procedure, very well done. I have a question if you don't mind. When I ordered from Batteryship.com they told me that the battery you listed was not for the 720 and to order 1697461 which is a CS-TM730SL 3.7 1300mah Lithium Polymer. It seems that it's rated the same as yours. Anyhow I installed it with no problems. Before installing the 720 would last only about 30-40 minutes when on battery only. Now it lasts 1.25 to 1.5 hrs with no voice and just sitting still in one position. So my question is how long does yours last now that you have replaced the battery? My reason for asking this questions is that I'm using it for Geocaching in town.

Thanks again
riverjamie

Find at the link specified a full, gory and detailed explanation of where you can procure a battery for your 720/730 920/930 unit, and how to disassemble the unit and install the new battery.

If you find anything unclear about it, or have questions, feel free to ask here or PM me. Sorry about the quality of a couple of the photos -- I wasn't working with much light, so the depth of field wasn't what it could have been on some of the tight shots.

Since the owners of TTForums limit the size of *.doc files to 19.5K, and this file is 4.1M in size, I've tried to link to an offline storage site. Please advise if there are ever any problems with that link.

Click here -> TomTom GO x20.doc

 

[dhn]

How long did you charge your new battery before first use? At least 2-3 hours, I hope.

 

[Riverjamie2]

I charged it overnight so 10-12hrs. I've recharged twice since with same results. 1.25-1.5hrs max. Just still no voice. When I spoke to TomTom that said maybe 3hrs?

 

[dhn]

A brand new battery should get at least 2 hours. What happens when you try to choose a voice? Have you done a pin reset on the unit?

 

[Riverjamie2]

No have not done a pin reset recently. Have done in the past for other issues. Have you replaced your battery yet with the same type like I purchased?

Thanks

 

[dhn]

No, I have not replaced mine (though it is on its last legs.......)

 

[Riverjamie2]

thank you for replying. If I do a reset will I loose any setup's like Favorites or Phone book? Will it increase the battery life?

 

[dhn]

A pin reset will probably cause just a loss of the correct time. Nothing else. It may allow for a longer battery life.....doubt it but worth a shot ..........

 

[sundowni]

I replaced the battery on my TT730 and had the same problem until I found an obscure reference on the tomtom support site after searching for boot problem I had to go in and delete a file and just like magic my machine worked again! Here is a link to the site :
TomTom, portable GPS car navigation systems - Support home - Select your product

 

[bobdell]

Great Job! Many thanks
bobdell