Auto-Start / Auto-On feature?

[pdxman1]

Thanks for the confirmation. I figured that it would have been posted somewhere here if the feature had been added, but I wanted to be sure, since other than that, the XXL 550-T seems to mostly have what I want at a good price.

 

[bworth]

Auto Power-On for TomTom devices

I guess that I am thinking that upon the application of input power should be possible to replicate the action of the On/Off button, by some sort of trivial electronic circuit.

At its simplest, a single diode, might suffice, to bridge the input voltage to the "I'm Awake" part of the circuit board, but then the shut down part of the process might never occur. (And so it might not remember the 'current user settings'?)

More complicated solutions a Transistor/SCR and RC circuit might require a timed 'short' of the on/off switch (for 2-3 secs?), every time that external power is applied.

[I just tried holding the button of my XXL 540 down 'forever', (ext power applied) and booted ok, but then flashed green, and went into some sort of diagnostic/info screen when power was removed, and the button was still held down.]

Any thoughts out there from those who have both a knowledge of the TT device, and an electrical brain??

Best Wishes,

Peter

 

[canderson]

I've done a couple of auto-on/off designs for in-vehicle (or in one case, in the B-1B) electronics that also contained a battery system.

While not trivial in some cases (timing decisions and battery switching make it a little uglier when power can be intermittent for any reason), it's certainly a known problem with a couple of different solutions, but as you indicate in your post, all such solutions DO require hardware. TomTom units that do not employ that hardware cannot be turned into "auto-on" units through firmware.

If what I've read is true, I believe that TT used to have a couple of models that were capable of this quite some years back. Users have been hollering steadily for it ever since. I wouldn't be surprised to see that feature return in their line-up some day soon.

 

[bworth]

Thanks for Reply...

Thanks, it strikes me that it should be easy enough to simulate a button press when the unit is off, (not when it is on), it almost looks like a do it yourself project for one of the "Electonics Hobbyist" magazines!

Thanks again,

Peter

 

[mikealder]

The x10 range was the last to support Auto on and off, the feature was removed to stop the device from switching off all the time due to the device bouncing on the contact strip as you drove down the road. Rather than fix the mount/ device interconnect it was a botch job to remove the auto on/ off thus covering up the poor mount connection issue.

Since the auto on/ off was dropped it has never been put back on any newer device even though the crap mount of the x10 series is long since gone - Mike

 

[canderson]

? Auto-off has been around all along, hasn't it? The x20 series had it right after the x10 series. It was the auto-on that they dropped. Didn't realize the mount for the x10 series was such a pain. I really DO like the mount for the x40 series. Good and solid, but SO easy to mount and dismount the unit from the dock, and I haven't heard any reliability problems here. They learned something about that over the years I guess.

 

[Andy_P]

I have seen someone's design for an "auto-on" hardware mod somewhere. I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Andy_P]

This is the best I can find...
Auto Switch On - yourTomTom Forum | About your TomTom GO, XL, ONE and RIDER!

See posts #8 and #13 for links to some pictures and videos (still working today).

Unfortunately, the detailed instructions and parts lists never happened, so this is more of a "teaser".

But it might give someone with the necessary knowledge and skills some inspiration to do it!

 

[wheels59300]

hi no on switch on the back of my tomtom its a xl335.s any idears

 

[dhn]

It's on the top on that unit, I think.

 

[homernukem]

ok ok

I see the pictures of that guy who rewired his tom tom. Can anyone explain to me where he soldered to and what things it took to do it?

 

[Alatel]

Hi

I too was pleasantly surprised when I updated my GO750 to navcore 9.061 to find that auto on worked, I haven't found a menu item to select if it is operational or not.

When I did my last update, it changed the navcore to 9.401 and Auto On was not operational anymore.

Luckily I always do a manual backup before I update so I backed up the latest navcore 9.401 upgrade then deleted it from the 750 and reloaded the backup copy of 9.061.

I then copied the New_Zealand folder and the Maps folder from the backup of the 9.401 navcore update to my micro SD card and told the unit to use other map (the maps on the SD card).

I am now operating with Auto On / OFF and the latest maps.

I would like to run the navcore 9.401 update but I really like the Auto On / Off operation so will stick with 9.061

Cheers
Alan

 

[Andy_P]

Hi

I too was pleasantly surprised when I updated my GO750 to navcore 9.061 to find that auto on worked, I haven't found a menu item to select if it is operational or not.

You're right. On v9.061 there is no user preference for it.
Auto-on is ALWAYS enabled.

 

[Turto]

I did a firmware update on my go750 about two months ago, maybe July 2012. Before the update I enjoyed the auto ON and OFF when I started and turned off my car. I would like to know what genius decided to remove the auto ON feature!!! And to top off, my 750 wont bluetooth properly with my iPhone 5... Anyway, does anyone out there have a copy of the firmware that has auto START? It's an essential convenience dont ya think!!

 

[Andy_P]

Here's the cab archive for v9.061 for a Go750 LIVE

So long as your update to a later version did not update your Bootloader version as well, then you should be able to return to this one.

This one DID include a bootloader update, so if you don't want to use it (it may stop you going back any further than that version) then you need to copy everything to the TomTom EXCEPT the "system" file.

Do anything at your own risk, make sure you have a backup of your entire system before you do anything else.

 

[Turto]

Thanx for that. I don't spoze you might have a forum link that details how to instal v9.061 I'd prefer not to guess my way through the process??

 

[dhn]

After making the Explorer backup (https://www.tomtomforums.com/t17864-how-backup-contents-your-unit-computer-how-restore.html) then use WinRar to extract the contents of the 9.061 cab file to the unit, overwriting as necessary.

Remember Andy's warning to do this at your own risk.......

 

[Andy_P]

I don't use WinRar often enough to remember how to direct it's output files to a specific place, so I just save the CAB file to somewhere on my PC and then let WinRar extract the files to the same place.
Then I can see what I've got and manually copy/paste them on to the TomTom.

Edit:
Also... if you want to avoid updating the bootloader, you'll want to NOT paste the "system" file onto the TomTom, so I reckon it's definitely safer to extract the files to the PC first in this case.

 

[Turto]

Thx, I will have a go at making the changes in a mo. Tomtom people contacted me this am and told me they're working on a fix for iPhone 5 compatibility, and as far as the autostart feature is concerned.... that apperently was a bug in the previous firmware update. Hence current update has fixed the bug and no more auto start..I want that bug back!!!!

 

[Andy_P]

I suspect the only "bug" about it was that some one enabled auto on without thinking, but then realised if NAV2 DIDN'T have it, it was one thing that might make people want to update to a new NAV3 model.