Time running on battery / resetting

[oldie67]

TT IQ Live

I've just had my first continental trip with my TT - albeit on a coach trip to Brittany.

Every night I charged the TT from the mains using an adaptor. Sometimes the battery symbol would change from a lightning flash to a green battery, but usually it didn't - voltage too low, possibly?

In either event, I'd follow parts of the route on the coach next day; I was able to do this for about a maximum of an hour in total, before I got the "battery low" message,

Is this normal - a full battery won't last even an hour?

I'd switch the TT off on the long motorway sections, switching it on in cities. However, usually it wouldn't be able to find the new position. Eventually it would reset itself - screen went blank, TT screen and music note (I had sound off), and it would then show my "home" area. After a few minutes, it would go to the actual position.

Is this the sort of behaviour you'd expect?

The unit behaved very well apart from that, though obviously the coach sometimes went a different route, whereupon the TT would smoothly and quickly replan.

 

[canderson]

Lots of things subtract little bits from the battery life. Being only a year or so into production, your battery should still be in good shape, though.

Unlike models with Bluetooth and the like, there isn't really anything you can "turn off" to save battery life. Your unit does include a SIM card that maintains contact with local cell sites even when you're not using Live services, and I don't know any way of turning that off. Turning off Live traffic (if you have it) will certainly keep the transmit frequency down a bit.

Best you can do is to drop the backlight level down as far as possible to conserve battery that way. If you take a "dock" with you, you can get one of those little USB "power extenders" that they sell for iPods and the like to increase your battery time. Something on this order can help a lot:

Amazon.com: Apc Universal Battery, 10WH: Electronics (expensive, but with a boatload of power)

or you can get any number of lesser models with less capacity. Poke around for things of this sort and you'll be able to run far longer. These automotive GPS units really aren't designed for long battery life operation, unlike most of the handheld units.

As for finding a new position after being off for a while, that may be normal depending upon how far you've moved since your last satellite fix. Your unit picks up current satellite conditions when turned on. If you shut it down for a extended period or move a fair distance before the next power-on, it has to go looking for satellites again.

 

[oldie67]

Thanks for the reply, canderson. As you say, I could have turned the brightness down a bit, but that's about all. I had a look at Amazon UK; they have a number of "portable batteries", mostly aimed at the ipod market. However a couple of mini-usb types look useful - one in particular, if it has the right connections, would save us taking two different phone chargers on holiday.

I did submit a query to the TT help desk about the battery, The reply was obviously a cut and paste effort, as though my problem was "my unit won''t switch on - the battery's dead".

Regarding losing the satellites, it would have been a hundred miles or so with the unit switched off, so that may have been enough for it to have difficulty finding its current location.

 

[mikealder]

Have a dig around for the U2O portable power pack as they do one rated at 5400mAHr so its good for a few days use off a single charge and is no larger than a Mars Bar - Mike

 

[Imhotep]

I had a similar problem with my tom-tom with the reset.

https://www.tomtomforums.com/tomtom-one-start-ease-xl-xxl/23017-xl340tm-live.html

Except I didn't travel as far but see if this link helps. I ended up trading it in (I purchased a PSP) twice. Now I am on the third one and it has only reset once in two weeks. I can live with that. I don't believe trying to find the satellites and your position will cause a reset/restart. It may take a good 30 seconds upon a reset. Mine has found my position and satellites, no matter where I turned it off and on, in under 5 seconds after power up (not from reset).

 

[oldie67]

Mike

Thanks, I've had a quick look, and it's in stock in a few places....none I've heard of , unfortunately. I'll have a look this week when I'm near PC World, John Lewis, etc.

Imhotep

Could be something to do with not clearing the route, since I just switched the unit off once I'd had a few "battery low" warnings. Certainly, once it did reset itself, it didn't take long to find its position.