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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 12:10 pm Post subject: i3 crashing
One of the things that has come to really annoy me is the tendency for my i3 to become decidedly flakey once it's had a set of batteries installed for a few weeks.
I run it of ciggy power in the car, so the batteries aren't really use that much - just to speed up acquisition, really. I use NiMH batteries in it, and it's set to NiMH batteries in settings.
I don't recall it happening with older firmware versions - but I've noticed it quite a lot recently on v3.20.
It's quite annoying, because the battery level meter doesn't show the batteries on their last legs - which they shouldn't be really, because they are hardly ever used in anger.
Currently my i3 has the battery meter on 3 out of 4 bars on the battery meter, and it crashed this morning, not long after starting my journey.
It's an incredibly annoying thing because it tends to happen quite soon into the journey, so your driving but it's locked-up / crashed, and the only thing that tends to get it to respond is to unplug the power cable, and slip off the battery cover for a second or two.
Problem is, that by the time it's obviously locked-up / crashed, I can be on the motorway.
And it's definitely the batteries doing this, because as soon as I put in a freshly charged set, it's crash-free for a good few weeks. But it's not as if you can look at the battery meter to warn you - as I said, 3 out of 4 bars, currently - now whilst that would make me think to charge them up soon, I wouldn't normally rush to do so.
So the first warning you tend to get is it crashing / locking-up.
Doubly annoying is that it does so when it's actually being powered by the ciggy adaptor.
Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 1417 Location: swindon uk
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:10 pm Post subject:
hello lester, when i had my i3 i never had batteries in it ..it would acquire sats almost straight away and would never crash..i used firmware v2.70 with the maps on the card... _________________ ***************************
hello lester, when i had my i3 i never had batteries in it ..it would acquire sats almost straight away and would never crash..i used firmware v2.70 with the maps on the card...
Interesting you say that, I'm wondering about the sense of having the batteries in.
The line has always been that in doing so, makes acquisition times quicker - so presumably there's some powered memory storing them.
However, when mine crashes / locks-up, sometimes the only way to get it to respond, is to unplug power, and take off the battery cover - so removing all power.
Now I accept that that's only done briefly - but unless whatever powered memory has some sort of capacitor supplying it, surely when the battery power is removed - however briefly - then anything stored by having battery power is lost - therefore no advantage.
And accepting all that, when I have taken off the battery cover to properly power it off, then powered up again, it doesn't take much time at all to acquire, and the route / journey continues from where I am.
Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 1417 Location: swindon uk
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:54 pm Post subject:
could it be as simple as maybe loose battery connections inside the i3 vibrating and then causing the i3 to crash.. _________________ ***************************
could it be as simple as maybe loose battery connections inside the i3 vibrating and then causing the i3 to crash..
I don't think so - for two reasons, really: new batteries stop it from happening; it's on ciggy adaptor power.
And I realise the latter contradicts the former - but it's definitely observable - when it's started crashing / locking-up, it will do so reasonably regularly, now, until I either charge the batteries, or swap them for another set of charged batteries.
But when it's on ciggy power, it shouldn't be using or needing the power.
maybe its a sign from above to let you know its time to get a tomtom..
Well yeah - you're probably right! ;-)
It has been doing it for some time, though (probably, at a guess, firmware versions post 2.70) - I probably haven't always recognised it for what it was, though.
I think I may give it a go with no batteries in - and see how that goes for a while.
I had the same problem today,but i was only using batterys.The unit switched off,would not navigate,but battery warning was on 3 bars.I use nimh batterys and when i put a fully charged set in, it worked as normal.It must be a problem caused by filmware 3.20.
Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 1417 Location: swindon uk
Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2007 5:45 pm Post subject:
mars.1 wrote:
I had the same problem today,but i was only using batterys.The unit switched off,would not navigate,but battery warning was on 3 bars.I use nimh batterys and when i put a fully charged set in, it worked as normal.It must be a problem caused by filmware 3.20.
the voice navigation takes a fare whack of power from the batterys and if they are a bit low the unit will shut down... the battery indicator isnt that accurate so if it shows 3 bars it might not be.. _________________ ***************************
hello lester, when i had my i3 i never had batteries in it ..it would acquire sats almost straight away and would never crash..i used firmware v2.70 with the maps on the card...
Used it this morning, took batteries out and just ran it of the ciggy adaptor.
Took longer to aquire - perhaps around 30 seconds, with batteries in, but perhaps somewhere around 3-5 mintues with them gone.
But that's fine - that get's me to just getting onto the motorway locally - clearly I don't need any help navigating to that point - and that can often be around the timing when my i3 (with used batteries in) would freeze / crash.
I also used to have to be very careful about not really being moving when it was initially calculating the route - because it tended to freeze / crash there, with used batteries in.
I can live with longer acquisition times - if running it without batteries and so not having to worry about it getting flakey, once the batteries charge isn't pristine (but not exhausted) means it's stable and crash / freeze-free, that'll do me.
Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:41 am Post subject: Re: Try Using Ordinary Batteries
swanson2 wrote:
Hi Lester_Burnham,
I have never had the problem you describe and my batteries have been in both my i3's for about 8 months.
Well I have heard other comments, here, about people having issues when running on adaptor power, but with batteries that have non-pristine charge - so I don't think it's just a one-off.
swanson2 wrote:
Like you I am using firmware 3.20 and my i3's are the ones with the data storage in internal memory and were not supplied with micro SD cards.
Mine has mapping on a transflash card.
swanson2 wrote:
I use Duracell "AAA" non rechargeable batteries
I'm rather hoping that's a typo and you mean "AA"?
swanson2 wrote:
and was wondering if the slightly higher voltage output makes a difference.
Well I guess it's a possibility - but that's what the menu setting regarding battery type is supposed to be telling the i3 about.
swanson2 wrote:
It would be interesting if you could give non rechargeable batteries a try and let us know if it sorts your problem.
To be honest, I'm not interested in trying non-rechargable batteries - because even if it did solve the problem, I wouldn't want to use them anyways.
If I'm going to use any kind of batteries in a device like this, I'm not paying for non-rechargable batteries.
Joined: Oct 10, 2006 Posts: 71 Location: Manchester, UK
Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:44 am Post subject:
When it "crashes", do you get the 30 second power-off countdown? You should get this if running on 12v (with batteries in as well), and you then lose power (usually because you switch the ignition off). If you don't, it might not be running on car power when you think it is (duff lead, connections etc) - but you should get the "low battery" warning. Sounds like a faulty contact in the battery compartment.
I use hi capacity NiMH rechargeables, with car adapter as emergency standby - just 15 min-1 hour recharge before an important journey, with no problems. _________________ Garmin I3 October 2006
Garmin 1310 December 2009
(Firmware 3.2-2.7-3.4-2.7)
Renault Scenic with inbuilt Carminat Tom-Tom April 2013
Renault Clio
Mazda MX5 2010
When it "crashes", do you get the 30 second power-off countdown?
Nope - what tends to happen is that the screen will simply stop responding. If it's calculating or re-calculating, the progress percentage number will just freeze. Otherwise, the map view will simply freeze.
Buttons may make the beep, or may not. Power button rarely works in this situation. Pulling out the power cord doesn't do anything, because the batteries are still working fine.
What I tend to have to do is remove the power, and take off the battery flap so all power is removed.
When I apply power again, through the adaptor, it will come up - and realise a route is in progress. Sometimes it takes a couple of crashes before it stabilises. Once through crashing once, or a couple of times, though, it will be fine for the rest of the journey.
philai3 wrote:
You should get this if running on 12v (with batteries in as well), and you then lose power (usually because you switch the ignition off). If you don't, it might not be running on car power when you think it is (duff lead, connections etc) - but you should get the "low battery" warning. Sounds like a faulty contact in the battery compartment.
It doesn't do that, because it's not acting like there's an interruption in power.
philai3 wrote:
I use hi capacity NiMH rechargeables, with car adapter as emergency standby - just 15 min-1 hour recharge before an important journey, with no problems.
I don't run on batteries, I've only ever used them to keep power to it for almanac / acquisition times.
But I'd rather have longer acquisition times, than have to play the lottery of having to recharge / replace batteries simply because of instability problems.
Seriously - other people have reported issues with running on adaptor power, when charge in the batteries isn't pristine - not exhausted, just not freshly charged.
I don't think it's a break in power - because as you point out, I'm not getting any countdowns, suggesting that the adaptor power has been interrupted.
And if there was an intermittent battery contact problem, it shouldn't have any bearing if running on adaptor power.
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