Could a bad battery cause screen dimness

[jocko123]

Hello All,
I have a 930T which had been behaving fine until recently. I had noticed for a little while that the battery would not retain a charge for long but worked fine as long as power was connected. However now the unit will turn on and operate but the screen is so dim that it is almost impossible to see anything in daylight conditions. I checked the brightness settings and they are set correctly, night colors are not enabled etc. So I guess my questions is, could a bad battery cause the screen to dim even when power is connected?
If not is it likely to be the screen itself?
The unit is out of warranty :-(

Thanks in advance for any help with this

David

 

[canderson]

Before we get to the ugly part, there's one last configuration option you didn't mention: "Dim screen between instructions". Not selected, is it?

Change preferences
...Right arrow a few times to
Battery saving preferences

 

[jocko123]

Thanks for the reply I wasn't aware of that option, sadly it was set to "never dim screen"

 

[Andy_P]

Oh dear... As canderson says, it starts to get ugly now....

Sounds like the backlight has gone on the screen.

Whre are you based?
There are some repairers in the UK, but they seem very hard to find in the US apparently.

New backlights are available on eBay, but I believe it is much easier (and not much more expensive) to replace the whole screen (again from eBay)

 

[canderson]

Whre are you based?
There are some repairers in the UK, but they seem very hard to find in the US apparently.

No such luck. IP address puts the user on the west coast of the U.S.

It is indeed easier for many people to simply replace the entire display.

I often wonder why no one in the U.S. has taken up the task of repair.

AH - I forgot to mention ... I did contact SHARC the other day, and they do NOT repair TomTom models (yet).

 

[jocko123]

I am indeed here in sunny california and there does seem to be a couple of places where the unit could be repaired. However the price of repair is tantamount to robbery
Being a Canny Scotsman exiled here in the US I am more prone to attempt to fix this myself. It seems most of the screens available from ebay are from Hong Kong and are around $50, is this about the right price for a replacement?

 

[canderson]

Would be curious to know who is quoting repairs in the U.S., even at silly prices.

As long as you're getting the full TomTom display package, and it's a 4.3" unit, you should be good. I've seen prices around $50 for a while. While we can't make any assurances about a particular vendor, if you'd supply a link to your choice(s) on eBay, we could at least look to see if it appears to be the correct part.

 

[dhn]

This place says they do TomTom repairs:
Audio&Video Service Stop

 

[jocko123]

This was one of the repair places

TomTom Repair and Parts Service Center for your Tom Tom Gps Device

And this was one of the ebay vendors listings

LCD Display+Touch Screen For Tomtom Go 930 930T/U | eBay

 

[canderson]

Strange. Same seller, same part (I'm certain that the 720/730 uses the same 4.3" screen), but better price.

LCD Display+Touch Screen For Tomtom Go 730 730T | eBay

 

[canderson]

This was one of the repair places

TomTom Repair and Parts Service Center for your Tom Tom Gps Devicehttp://cgi.ebay.com/LCD-Display-Tou...120?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb6d7d230

Yikes! $120 for just the parts? That's out of line - I can see why that wasn't your first choice!

 

[canderson]

This place says they do TomTom repairs:
Audio&Video Service Stop

Hmm.. they must include TomTom as a "hand held". $97 repair + $10 return shipping + shipping to them. Figure $120 total. Leaves out any of the lower end models for sure. The $97 appears to be a flat rate price, though. I wonder how or if they manage board replacements and serial numbers?

 

[jocko123]

Strange. Same seller, same part (I'm certain that the 720/730 uses the same 4.3" screen), but better price.

LCD Display+Touch Screen For Tomtom Go 730 730T | eBay

Interesting the photo used by that seller for the 730 vs the 930 is exactly the same

Does the link I posted look like the correct part. They have a best offer so maybe I can try a cheaper price

 

[canderson]

Interesting the photo used by that seller for the 730 vs the 930 is exactly the same

No reason not to .. same part.

Does the link I posted look like the correct part. They have a best offer so maybe I can try a cheaper price

Yes, it does, but as I noted, you're money ahead if you order it as a 720/730 part instead. Why? It's a mystery. Perhaps the seller thinks an owner of the somewhat more expensive 920/930 will be willing to part with more money to keep it running?