RDS-TMC Connector Broke Off

[carl76]

I have 2 TomTom GO 730's, and use the traffic antenna which goes into the RDS-TMC slot on the bottom of the device. There is a plastic ring in the socket that holds the antenna in place.

Both plastic rings have fallen off, and I cannot locate them in the car. Is there any way I can buy the part and pop them back in? To be clear, it is the ring on the GPS that has fallen off, the actual antenna's are fine.

For the first one, it continued to work for a while, but then stopped working.

Since these are out of warranty, TomTom does not provide support to fix them.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.
Carl

 

[mikealder]

I have never seen the connector available for sale anywhere, its a rather strange six pole plug/ socket that doubles as an iPod control socket as well as RDS.

Have a look if the plastic ring is stuck in the RDS receiver plug, if not you could go for the newer RDS receiver that uses the mini USB socket as the connection point if RDS Traffic is vital to you - Mike

 

[carl76]

Thank you Mike, that's a good workaround for the problem. I was hoping to make the ring work as I purchased a few additional antenna's, each good for 1 year worth off traffic service in the US. But no matter, the combo power/attenna is the only option now. I live in NY and travel much for business so the traffic antenna is a necessity.

I tried the Garmin 765T, but found the TomTom routing around traffic to be superior.

 

[carl76]

It sort of works on one, but not the other, I'll explain.

For the older 730, purchased in 2008, the traffic signal is not acknowledged. There is no reaction of the GPS to attaching the antenna. Did the early 730's not have the capability of receiving traffic signals through the USB power port?

For the newer one purchased in 2009-2010, the traffic signal is received, but I receive a message that the RDS-TMC receiver is not compatible with the map. I understand it means I received the EU traffic receiver. I'll have to return it.

Thanks.
Carl