Garmin nuvi 310D GTM12 TMC problems

mabsey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 43

Guy's

I see people saying they pick up Classic FM but surely this is no good at all because Traffic Master are not Broadcasting on Classic FM and this is just the TMC service which I used to get in my BMW.

If I click on Tools and then Traffic, my Provider is RAC Live and always is regardless of arial position.

If your getting Classic FM then I can understand that some traffic is better than none, but your surely still being ripped off as you have a life time subscription to Traffic Master.

Mabsey

parbrook · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 08, 2006 Posts: 42

mabsey · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 08, 2006 Posts: 43

Well,

I did some more tests and here's some interesting results.

My wife pointed out that the cable that worked had some writing on the side, so I had a look at it was a USB 2.0 High Speed cable. The cables that are not working are all 1.1 USB leads!

Seeing as my friend had a USB 2.0 power lead, I gave that a go and low and behold, I got traffic.

Could it be that 2.0 cables have something in them that 1.1 don't, because I now have two USB 2.0 leads that give me traffic fine and 2 USB 1.1 leads that dont work at all no matter what I do.

USB 2.0 might be the answer?

Mabsey

partnervanman · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 21, 2006 Posts: 14

I have had my 310D for around 3 week now and the only time i did not receive a signal was north of Edinburgh.

Im now at home in yorkshire and canot receive anything. The only thing i have done is untangle the gharger wire and moved the nuvi from the middle of the car with the aeriel going to passanger seat to the drivers side with the ariel in various positions, I can't even get a signal when connected to a mains charger.

I thought that i noticed a trend when the battery was charging, I.e not fully charged the TMC did not work, Now it don't work at all.

Could this be a fault wit the charger gradually losing voltage output?

Its interesting reading as i was thinking about using a ferret before reading this as i thought that the coiling of the wire may have been having an effect and allowing it to work.

harri1n · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 3

The reason I guessed at Classic FM as channel 132 is if you go to the next page on the diagnostics display and touch each of the RAC entries it gives yo the frequency and the first one matched Classic FM.....

As for the ferrite choke. I put the original garmin power lead on and the choke. Got signal strength of 9. Take the choke off the cable and it dropped to 6. If i wrapped my hand round the choke it went to 10. This was done at a standstill with the engine running.

talisman2 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 26, 2006 Posts: 2

If I can add my two-pennorth to the discussion...

I have been in possession of a Nuvi 310D/GTM12 combo for abou 10 days now, and have tried it in both our cars, a Vauxhall Zafira (2001 'Y' reg) and Ford Mondeo (2005 '55' reg).

In the Zafira, the traffic alert reception is patchy to say the least. South of Weston-super-Mare on the M5 and the side 'A' roads is OK, but go towards London on the M4 and around the M25 reception was zero.

In the Mondeo, I have reception all the time, whereever I have been.

This raises the question about whether the age and/or manufacturer of the car has a bearing on whether the lighter socket provides enough power to get the GTM12 working...

Matt_Paint · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 10, 2006 Posts: 4

Had the following response from Garmin today:
"Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe.

Garmin US are currently looking into a way to improve the GTM receiver as
some customers have reported problems with them. I have attached a
troubleshooting guide for the GTM receiver, hopefully you will find this of
some use.

If you have any more questions please let me know,"

The PDF can be seen
[url http://www.adventuresport.co.uk/GTM_Troubleshooting_PDF.pdf
/url]

parbrook · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 08, 2006 Posts: 42

hawk74 · Posted: Wed Aug 30, 2006 2:55 pm Post subject:

The Webupdater does indeed give a firmware update for the GTM even if you have v2.9 installed. However, it didn't make any difference to me.

I am waiting for the temporary fix (ferrite ring for the GTM). Will report back if/when I get it.

I have also asked to be put on the permanent fix list.

Matt_Paint · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 10, 2006 Posts: 4

Hi parbrook,

I sent the email to Garmin through the Garmin UK website [url http://www.garmin.com/uk/contact
\url]

parbrook · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 08, 2006 Posts: 42

harri1n · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jun 05, 2006 Posts: 3

Just phoned Garmin.... Got through in 3 minutes 8O and they are sending me a suppression kit today. :D

Cant believe how quick they answered the phone.... and very helpful.

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

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

Matt_Paint

Thanks for posting Garmin's tips although for most of us in real life situations we just don't have the time to mess about sticking the GTM12 in place everytime and it's clearly going to be a distraction when driving.

Have requested a coverage map from Garmin and will try and scan and post this up when I receive it.

Had no problems with the GTM12 this morning heading north but this afternoon on the return journey the reception was patchy. conditions were the same (ie. battery fully charged). perhaps when it has locked onto a strong signal in an urban area (signal level 6 - 8) its easier for it to keep this signal than on the return journey starting in a rural area (where it was showing a signal level of 1 - 3)? Just a thought.

Waiting for my temporary fix to see if this improves the situation. Hopefully it will arrive before next week when I am doing the same journey so it would make a fair(ish) test.

Cheers - Nick

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

The slightly worrying thing with the advice from Garmin is that, whether true or not, it come across as they don't really have a clue as to how to fix the GTM12 issue.
The advice is essentially 'try this, if that doesn't work do this, if that doesn't work do this, failing that buy a GTM10 or wait until we come up with something more permanent, whenever that may be'

What is clear is that the whole issue is much larger than they are probably willing to admit. If it was just a few isolated cases it would be written off as individual problems with set up, etc.However as it is has been referred back to Garmin US there must have been many complaints which have shown it to be more widespread.

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