The cigarette-lighter port on my car is defunct, so I’ve been depending on home-charged battery life in my elderly Tom Tom Satnav for navigation assistance.
Being a bit slow, it’s only just occurred to me that I might be able to power the TomTom from the USB port on the Sony radio wotsit in my car . I don’t want to just plug it in and see in case I blow the data in the Tom Tom, so any advice as to compatibility would be gratefully received.
Thanks.
No problem at all. USB are all the same voltage. 5v I think. I’ve used mine that way for years now. I’ve also hard wired a sat nav connector in behind a radio in a London Taxi. It’s permanently live while the ignition is on. They’re available on eBay and amazon complete with the transformer built in for less than £10. Installation takes about half an hour.
Sat navs do tend to burn out lighter sockets, but they are easily replaced. Try using them with a USB adapter and theyll last a lot longer.
Yes USB ports should all provide a 5 volt supply but the amount of current available may or may not be sufficient to power the TomTom. These require enough current to light the display and power the computer inside.
It won’t hurt to try though.
Thanks both.
I used the USB successfully last night - no problems . But I now feel a proper chump for all that time I wasted charging the TomTom at home!!
Sat navs are built to run from a 5v USB socket. You’ll have problems with the current being too high.
Sorry TaxiDriver - but this seems to contradict your first post ???
I’ve run my TomTom from a USB adapter in the cigarette lighter of a number of cars for years. Never had a problem with any of them.
It depends on whether the port puts out enough power or not.
Unless a port on the stereo is listed as a charging port, or USB 3, chances are it will only output 500ma at best. Depending on the size of your satnav screen, the amount of power it draws and even the quality of the USB cable, the connection from a car stereo may be enough - but don’t be surprised if the battery still drains albeit much slower.
A USB adapter in a car lighter socket is designed for charging, and will usually put out ample juice (1.5-2 amps).
Keep an eye on the battery, let it run down a bit then if it charges and the thing functions at the same time you are golden.
The USB standard specifies the voltage and current that the device (hub) must be able to supply to anything connected to it, without going back to my files I believe it’s 5V at 500 milli amp as a minimum for USB 1. It used to be that to put the USB symbol on your device you had to test this as part of the certification and I would expect something from a reputable manufacturer would meet this. USB ports are supposed to have current limits built in so even shorting it out should not damage the port, all USB interface IC’s I’ve used have had this protection enabled.
I doubt a Sat Nav would take more than 500 millamp when running, (I know my Garmin does not) but it’s close to the limit and can take a long while to charge if you’re using it at the same time.
Sorry. Meant to say ‘you’ll have NO problems with the current being too high’
one finger-typing on an iPad mini with 53 year old eyes often goes wrong
No probs TaxiDriver! We’ve all been there.
Thanks very much all. I’ll keep using the USB port and see how the battery gets on. As mine is a small-screen older unit, I suppose it won’t be drawing a lot of power, but I’ll keep an eye on it.
Anyway, I’m very grateful for the reassurance that I won’t be doing any serious damage to my TomTom or ICE.