Garmin nuvi 310D GTM12 TMC problems

n4nick · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 30, 2006 Posts: 136

Hi

Interesting to hear about the red/green light. Mine only stays red too and I have also been experiencing problems with charging the battery. The battery indicator shows the thunderbolt (charging) symbol and after say a two hour journey the battery indicator shows 4 bars, however when I try to use the nuvi later in the day without external power it won't power up and when it's reconnected to the external power it shows only 1 bar. No problems charging via USB though.

Received traffic info with no problems last night however it was out of date (the same info as appeared when I used the nuvi in the morning) and then there was no info at all. Turning the nuvi off and then on again seemed to solve this though.

Nick

Trafficman · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 3:06 pm Post subject:

My traffic reception has been more reliable since I updated the firmware to the latest Beta version 2.52, however there are a couple of bugs in this firmware, namely when switching on the unit you have to press power again briefly for the unit to boot up and when selecting phonebook from the phone menu the unit will sometimes freeze. However, in all other respects I have not found a problem. Garmin stated in an email to me that they should be releasing an update this week to address these issues.

n4nick · Regular Visitor Joined: Jun 30, 2006 Posts: 136

Hi

Updating the firmware solved some of the ridiculous routes the nuvi was sending me on in my local area. The "double tap" turn on is annoying but apart from this I have had no other (touch wood) problems with the update.

Nick

Kennyh · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 6:00 pm Post subject:

Guys

I've just acquired a GTM12 for my 360. I've read through the thread here re powering the back, and connecting the GTM to the side USB port.

It get recognised, but it just wont pick up a signal either in my car or in my house or outside!

Are we all getting a shoddy service here from TrafficMaster/Garmin, or am I doing something wrong?

Kenny

deesoft · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:18 pm Post subject: Traffic

Before I get going, I must start with I believe ( that my facts re true).

Trafficmaster pass their data on to a consortium which includes the RAC whichy run 'RAC Live' this is broadcast by a number of commercial radio stations which include Classic FM. The question is, where is the problem, I would think it is with the transmission. I haven't had much success with Garmin, their suggestion to me was a) use the antenna horizontally and then b) was I in a weak signal area. Well I know that I am in a strong signal area as I am 'line of site' to Winter Hill Transmitter.
Unfortuantely there do not seem to be any telephone contact numbers.

David
_________________
Ipaq hx2750, TTN5, Globalsat 338 GPS, Garmin Nuvi 310D and GTM12, TomTom GO910 and now GO540

God gave us the Integer, the rest was devised by man.

swing · Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:36 pm Post subject: Re: Traffic

lansobun · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 16, 2006 Posts: 5

OK, I've cracked this.

I used a USB Cig Lighter power supply that I had from a previous bit of kit to replace the Garmin Cig lighter power supply.

TMC in 30 seconds in the car - perfect traffic news for 250 miles of London to West Wales travel (aprt from the last bit, but that's out of coverage).

So it looks to me that Garmin may have a huge number of Cig Lighter supplies to replace as mine for one does not provide enough power to run the GTM12 & TMC, despite the nuvi saying otherwise.

And by the way :-

It didn't matter what I did with the aerial - vertical - horizontal - rolled up in the glove box - I still get TMC signals!

So either the correct power makes it perform well or as suggested previously in this thread - the USB acts as an additional aerial - not sure how to test this, but never mind, my nuvi now does what it says on the box!

The only thing left to worry about now is some really dodgy navigation advice - I have so far been sent down a bollarded of alley and through an impassable ford and rubble track suitable only for tractors.

swing · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:51 am Post subject: Re: USB experiment in car

Kennyh · Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 4:34 pm Post subject:

Iansobun,

On your other (working) cig-plug, did you get a Red LED or a Green LED (assuming it had one) to show power output??

As an aside, I've opened the plug up and there is a bit of circuitry in there (probably a regulator) along with a fuse. So perhaps its not outputting sufficient current. I'll stick a multimeter on it and let you know what it says.

In the meantime, as swing says, it would be great it you contacted Garmin so we can all sort this out!

Cheers
Kenny

pandamedic · Occasional Visitor Joined: Oct 25, 2004 Posts: 50

just been and sat in my car and tried it to make sure it was fine...plugged the cig power adpator in with the engine not running, just the accessories so the cig lighter worked..the led is red (didn't know these changed to a different colour thought they stayed red to say there was power to it!)

plugged the GM12 TMC into it and then put the 310d into the cradle, auto powered on and the traffic symbol in the cornor became active. pressed it and it worked showing me the lastest traffic delays....all the time the LED on the cig adapoter stayed red.

RDS · Regular Visitor Joined: Jul 09, 2006 Posts: 242

This morning I spent sometime talking to Garmin technical support regarding the problem of intermitent reception for the GM12 TMC receiver.

Firstly, it wasn't a great surprise to learn that they are aware of the widely reported problem and are currently looking at ways to resolve it.

The inconsistent reception is believed to be caused by the quality of the grounding of the aerial and that when a laptop is used to provide power it provides a better grounding than via a 12v car cigarette lighter socket.
Garmin have said that the solution could be a simple software update or something that might involve replacing parts. Either way although no date could be given their website would provide further update news. Also all existing owners would be retrospectively covered as well.

Until then as a DIY solution it was suggested I try stripping some of the aerial cover and winding the bare wire around the car aerial lead. Given the cost of the GM12 stripping wire and doing DIY repairs is something I said I wasn't prepared to do.I expect £150 pieces of kit to work satisfactorily from the box without the need for dodgy modification.

Also, apparently the LED on the cigarette power lead turning from red to green is an indicator of when the Nuvi internal battery is being charged. Red LED means its being charged, Green LED means the battery is fully charged and the power lead is just powering the GPS. Although my LED has always remained red even after hours of being connected to my Nuvi 310 I was told that this shouldn't have anything to with the TMC issue and that it could just be a faulty LED. Still after further querying this Garmin are sending me a replacement 12V power lead.

Finally, as Garmin have acknowledged there is an issue with the GM12 and Nuvi the operator I spoke to said that those who'd prefer it should be entitled to a refund from the place of purchase.For the majority this will probably be Halfords where they bought their Nuvi and GM12 as part of the 310D exlusive package. Before returning to the store it may be worth phoning Halfords head office customer service to explain the situation to them.

Personally as I really like the Nuvi and its portability I'm going to wait to see what Garmin come up with. If it's not resolved satisfactorily within a few weeks I'll then probably be seeking a refund.

swing · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:31 pm Post subject:

Jonseph · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 26, 2006 Posts: 1

Hi - felt I should put something back as this thread's been very useful to me.
After weeks of reading reviews and collecting user comments I went for the Halfords Nuvi 310D deal. There seemed to be a lot of problems with the TT910 and I had to have European coverage.
What a great deal - Halfords (or my local one at least) threw in a spare suction mount, mains charger unit and a 256Mb SD card free.
The traffic unit is also in the box (one Halfords 'advisor' told me he thought the traffic worked through your mobile phone - it doesn't).
The European maps on the included DVD download fine. The card's enough for one large country like France.
I initially had a problem with the TMC as it wasn't picking up a signal. However once I downloaded the latest updates using the Garmin automatic update software it worked a treat - it spent a while upgrading the TMC when I first plugged it in so it looks like some improvements have been made.
All in all a great unit - the sat lock is really quick and re-routing is almost instant. So far very impressed. If you can live without it speaking street names, it's a great unit.

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