Defective Battery???

[Gerhard]

I received a new TT Go730 Christmas 2008. It failed May 2009. Was replaced with a "Refurbished " unit in July 2009. Now when I use it (in dock, in car, or free hand), after less than a minute a Battery warning synbol comes up and the unit shuts down. Normally the unit is in the dock connected to a PC USB port and the charging light is on (so it should be fully charged). When I check the battery level (before it shuts down) the battery shows about 50% charged.
Is the battery kaputt and needs to be replaced? Could it be something else? Since the replacement unit is less than a year old should I contact TT? Does TT do battery replacement? Or do I have a piece of junk and put it in the category of lessons learned

I am NOT a technical wizzard.

Gerhard

 

[dhn]

The fact you mention that the symbol is coming up both with a car charger and when docked (if the computer is always on and therefore sending power to the dock) leads me to think there just might be a bit of crud in the usb opening on the unit that is preventing a solid contact with both the charger and the dock.

Take a look and, if so, see if a blast (short) of compressed air may clean it out.

 

[Gerhard]

Thanks for the response.
Tried it and did not work.
Also tried the TT troubleshooting hint to reset device, no change

Gerhard

 

[spook45]

Your original unit had a 1 year warranty. The refurbished unit assumes any leftover warranty. So the refurbished unit should be under warranty until July 2010. I suggest you call TT T/S and let them know that you would like to have this unit with the defective battery swapped out.

When I had my 730 swapped out the first thing I did was fully charge it and them time the usage. Mine lasted a little over an hour which is acceptable to me. I don't think they test the returned units for battery life.

Just my $.02 worth.

edit----
just re-read the post and realized that your full warranty on your original unit would have been over by Christmas 2009. Sorry for jumping the gun.

 

[GarCor]

I had a similuar problem I had to return a refirbished unit that I had just bought. The unit TT replaced it with was another refurbished one and that was fine however the battery would only last about 45 min after it was charged.
I bought a new battery and after I installed it & give it a full charge
I now get just over 3 hrs on a full charge.

That is longer than the brand new 920 that I bought two years and that was just over two hrs.

This is something you will carefully do your self if you are interested.
TT does not do battery replacement.

Battery replacement instruction

I bought my Battery from here

 

[Gerhard]

Thank you for the responses. It is really appreciated.
My TT shuts down after only a short time operating in the dock, plugged into the PC, the charging light on, and all functions appear to work ok.
I used the normal dock, a different PC, the power adapter in the car, and my USB to camera power cable (same USB configuration as the TT car adapter. I used the TT with the separate cable and separate PC. Same results.
Just looking at the information, I appears to me the battery is bad and does not ake or hold a charge. I was hoping for some other suggestions. I know the TT is out of warranty.
I am willing to entertain any idea before buying and replacing the battery.

Gerhard

PS: Anybody have a P/N other than the Chinese 1697461 which I heard is poor quality.

 

[Gerhard]

Update
For reasons unknown, the system works now with the car charger adapter. Had it on for about 30 minutes with no shutdown. Now leaving unit connected to car to see if it charges the battery.

I still have my suspicions about the TT battery being defective. Don't know why it works in the car and not when connected to a PC with the proper dock or different cable. When connected to the pC, everything works properly, including "HOME' interface but after a while it shuts down.

Gerhard

PS: Thanks to "rob" for the inputs.

 

[canderson]

PS: Anybody have a P/N other than the Chinese 1697461 which I heard is poor quality.

That's the only one I've seen available for retail purchase. Got one of those from batteryship.com when I replaced mine, and it's working fine.

 

[Gerhard]

Close out

Replaced the battery following the instructions presented in this forum. Went thru the various chargin cycles for the battery and now the TT works just fine.
Many thanks to the people that provided suggestions and help.

 

[Gerhard]

How can I "close" a thread?

 

[canderson]

That's something the moderators do, but we don't typically close a thread here. You never know what kinds of questions other users might have as follow-up.

 

[Gerhard]

TT No Repair.

As a point of interest, when I started with my problem I suspected the battery fairly quick. I contacted TT to see if the battery can be replaced. After 2 1/2 weeks their response is "The battery on your GO 730 can not be replaced" Just to let you know, after the warranty, this forum is the only hope...or the trash bin.

gerhard