How to properly charge a new navigator. Why is the navigator not charging? Antenna and satellite signal reception

Welcome to . For many car devices, the weak point is the battery. I think if you have at least a car navigator, then you know that even the most “pumped up” and expensive models cannot hold a charge with battery life for more than 2 hours. And why, in fact, should gadget manufacturers spend money on developing a powerful battery, because that’s what a car device is for, to work, for the most part, from the cigarette lighter. 95 percent of all gadgets use charging from the cigarette lighter, but as soon as you turn off the device, another gadget quickly begins to “shrink.”

Imagine a situation where you urgently needed to disconnect the navigator from the cigarette lighter and use it in your hands. Just take me. I really like to relax in nature, I have one interesting hobby - searching with a metal detector. I travel through abandoned places, going deep into the wilderness in search of untouched places. And I just need a navigator. I can get to my destination using a navigator connected to the cigarette lighter, but it will be difficult for me to use the navigator further. So I googled and found a solution - I bought a portable power source to which I connect my car navigator and it can work autonomously for at least 12 hours, charging from this unit. Is the solution easy? Of course)) In addition to car gadgets, you can charge cell phones and other devices.

The navigator is connected to a portable power supply via a USB connector, which is very convenient - you can use a cord to connect the navigator to your computer. It turns out this thing - I hold the navigator in my hand or it’s in my pocket, sometimes I look at the screen, it’s always on. the gadget is connected via a wire to a mini power source; it is even smaller in size than a navigator, something like a portable hard drive.

So, the model I chose was XPB20. This is a fairly powerful power supply, it has an amazing battery capacity - 4 Ampere/hour, which is a lot. For example, a screwdriver has an average battery capacity of 1.3 Ah. This high capacity is made possible thanks to the lithium ion battery.

How to use this portable power source (essentially, it is a spare battery for many devices - you can connect car navigators, DVRs, tablets, laptops and other devices). In general, the thing is irreplaceable. Before you start using it, you must first charge it. To do this, connect the power supply to your laptop or computer via USB. When it charges, all the diodes will light up simultaneously. This is a signal that the XPB20 power supply can be disconnected from the computer and it is ready for use.

GPS navigators are, as everyone knows, electronic devices that serve as assistants in spatial orientation. They are especially useful for drivers who want to avoid traffic jams (which are not uncommon in big cities) or want to find a short or alternative route. And yet, navigators, like any other electronic device, often fail for various reasons. If your GPS device has been damaged and caused The Navitel navigator does not charge from the cigarette lighter, Do not try to fix the problem yourself - it would be wiser to seek help from the experienced technicians of our service center. At gsmmoscow service we provide high-quality repairs of GPS navigators in the shortest possible time. Navitel all models at more than low prices.

Perhaps one of the most important advantages of our service center is that we provide the longest warranty period for original spare parts, namely one year. Repairs of GPS navigators and other devices in our service center are carried out by professional technicians who have significant experience in troubleshooting breakdowns of any level of complexity and experience in carrying out all types of repair work. In addition, we cooperate directly with manufacturers of original components and spare parts, and this, in turn, has a positive effect on the quality of the repair work we carry out. In addition, it is also worth noting that thanks to this, the prices for repair services provided by our service center ZhSMMOSK are more than acceptable.

Reasons why the Navitel navigator does not charge.

Navitel GPS navigator does not charge– this is one of the most common problems; it occurs for a variety of reasons. Below we list some of the most common reasons:

1. Most often it does not charge GPS as a result of failure of the power connector: this usually happens as a result of mechanical influences, such as a shock - in this case the power connector will need to be replaced;

2. This problem can also occur if the power connector is loose or in an unstable position - this means that the power connector is most likely disconnected from the circuit board, and the circuit board will have to be repaired;

3. Another common reason is Why Your GPS device is not charging, the power microcircuit may be damaged: the microcircuit may fail as a result of liquids or shock - the problem can only be solved by replacing the microcircuit;

4. In case of other malfunctions, it is necessary to diagnose the device to determine the nature of the problems.

How long will it take to fix the problem if the Navitel navigator does not charge:

1. If a breakdown occurs with your GPS navigator (for example, if Navitel reboots without permission, freezes periodically, does not charge, or generally does not work correctly), and you have no idea, what to do in this case, then you simply need to contact a specialized service center. Here your device will be tested for possible problems. Diagnostics usually takes thirty minutes, after which the nature of the problem and the approximate duration of the repair are determined;

2. In order to replace individual spare parts, such as microcircuits, controllers, etc., it will take up to two hours; The duration of replacing spare parts depends on the GPS model, as well as the complexity of disassembly.

If you find any problems with your GPS device, please contact our service center. We will provide high-quality navigator repairs Navitel and provide an optimal price-quality ratio.

Don’t forget, the length of uninterrupted operation of your Navitel navigator (and any other device) depends on whether you follow the basic operating rules.

If you have never used a navigator before, you may think that, like many other devices, it requires some special skills from its owner and it is easy to learn how to use it. However, this is not at all true. Installing, and then setting up and working with the navigator is quite simple; in addition, the device always comes with instructions for use, and if not in paper form, then certainly in electronic form! So, before you start working with a GPS navigator and go on your first trip with this equipment, you need to install it.

How to learn to use a navigator in a car?

So, if you purchase a car navigator, a stand and bracket are always included with it. The bracket in a car is usually installed on the front panel of the car or on the windshield. However, there are other placements for equipment, but glass and panel are the most common. The terms of use state that the GPS navigator cannot be placed where it will interfere with the control of the car or where it will block the view. In addition, the equipment does not need to be mounted where the airbags are located.

Very often the device goes on sale with a dead battery, so it is impossible to use it. In this case, it must be charged either using a charger from the mains or via a USB cable (it all depends on the configuration). If it is a car navigator, then it can also be charged via a car charger.

Each GPS navigator model displays marked points, the trajectory of the path traveled, the geographic coordinates of the point where you and, accordingly, your device are located, as well as your current position. Also, each device has several pages that display various information: a map with traveled paths and points, the position of satellites in the sky, a page with search and access to various settings, a navigation page, as well as a trip computer page where speed can be displayed movements, distance traveled, and so on.

Using a GPS navigator also includes this function. As a rule, to do this, it is enough to press and then hold down the button specially designated for this for a short time. The same function can also be performed through the navigator menu.

Instructions (rules) for searching for a point that you “remembered”

In order to find a point, you must first select it from the list of existing ones, and then click the “Go” button. An arrow will appear on the page called “navigation”, which will show you in which direction you need to move.

What are routes and paths and how to use them correctly?

A track or path is a trail that has already been passed by you. Thanks to the factory settings, it is written into the device’s memory by default. However, this feature can be disabled if you do not need it.

A route or route is a path that has been previously marked with points. In navigation mode, the device can guide you both along the track (Track back) and along the route. You can also first build a route on your computer and then enter it into the device. But you can also build on the navigator itself.

Track back function - instructions for use

This function is a mode in which your navigator takes you back exactly along the path that was taken. The arrow on the “navigation” page shows turns.

How to use a barometric altimeter correctly?

All GPS navigators determine vertical coordinates. In this case, the elevation above the geometric theoretical figure of the earth is determined. In order to determine the exact altitude above any surface (including above sea level), it is necessary to use a barometric altimeter. It should be remembered that fishermen do not need height, but a pressure change graph in the navigator.

Video about using navigators

The GPS navigator does not turn on in the car either autonomously, from the built-in battery, or when external power is supplied to it from the cigarette lighter. Why might this happen? If the navigator's power button is working properly, then the reason may be a malfunction of one of the elements of the charging circuit. It is likely that the navigator does not want to turn on because its battery is discharged and is not charging. If there is no charge, then it will not turn on. For example, the charging connector of the navigator is faulty. In this case, the navigator does not charge and does not turn on, because it does not receive current from an external power source (from the car's on-board power supply, through the cigarette lighter). Obviously, in such a situation, the navigator charging connector needs to be replaced. It doesn’t matter what GPS navigator you have: Garmin, Explay, Prestigio or any other. This is the simplest and most common reason why the navigator does not charge or turn on. It is possible that the connector itself is working, but the contact tracks to which it should be connected are damaged. In other words, the connector is partially or completely torn off from the printed circuit board. The next element in the navigator charging circuit is the power controller; it can also fail. For example, due to a voltage surge when starting the engine with the navigator turned on through the cigarette lighter. Sometimes the navigator does not turn on due to deep discharge or complete exhaustion of the built-in battery. Car navigators usually use lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries, which are contraindicated for full/deep discharge, high and low temperatures. These factors lead to a significant reduction in capacity and even complete failure of the battery.

Now let's return to the power button. Sometimes it also fails - not often, but it happens. The power button may stop working as a result of mechanical damage (impact or strong pressure) or due to moisture getting into the navigator. Moisture can lead to corrosion, oxidation and failure of the navigator's internal electronic components responsible for supplying power.

Let's summarize. Briefly, the list of elements of the navigator charge circuit, if they fail, it will not turn on, looks like this:

Charging connector.
Power controller.
Battery.
Power button.
Other elements, such as PCB traces.

In addition to the listed elements of the navigator itself, do not forget about the charger (power cable from the cigarette lighter). Maybe it's him or his contact with the cigarette lighter. It happens that you changed your car, turned on the navigator in the cigarette lighter, but it does not charge. In such a situation, you can try to twist the cable in the cigarette lighter socket to achieve reliable contact of the cable plug with the vehicle ground. The fact is that usually on a navigator cable, of the two side (negative) contacts on the plug, only one is working. The navigator may not receive external power also because the depth of the cigarette lighter socket may be deeper than the length of the power cable plug. What to do? Find another cable with a plug of suitable length.

A few words for those who like dangerous experiments with their navigator, for example, trying to change the firmware themselves. This is another reason why a fully operational navigator (before “violence” is committed against it) becomes “dead” and does not react in any way to attempts to turn it on. There is only one way out here - to hand him over for rescue into the hands of “doctors”, or rather “resuscitators” from the service center.

So, we have looked at all the most common reasons why the navigator does not charge. Obviously, it is difficult for the owner to understand for which of the listed reasons the navigator battery is not charging. You can try to clarify the situation by charging the navigator for a couple of hours using a known-good AC charger or via the USB port of a computer (laptop). If this does not help (there was no charging, and there is no charging), then you definitely need to take the navigator to a service center, where experienced specialists will accurately determine the cause of its malfunction and

Part three: Typical malfunctions of car navigators

Not long ago we called Moscow service centers that service car GPS navigators. This was done to understand what kind of support an average user can expect. We were talking about simple issues related to updating and installing maps. And we could only draw conclusions about the quality of service and the desire to help the motorist.

This time we decided to visit the service centers in person to talk directly with those who carry out the repairs. We found out what problems are addressed most often, how these problems are solved, and what design features that affect operation and repair do car navigators have.

We will have to separate Garmin from other manufacturers again. The fact is that Garmin navigators are practically not repaired under warranty - in case of any serious problems, the device is replaced with a new one. This approach has its pros and cons, which we will definitely talk about. But first, let's talk about the Explay, Digma and Lexand navigators. The discussion of these navigators can easily be extended to other brands. Most navigator manufacturers present on the Russian market share a common approach to production. Essentially, it comes down to ordering one of the models that this plant produces from one of the factories in China. At the request of the manufacturer, the case can be changed and, of course, a logo can be applied.

Inside, car navigators from different manufacturers may be no different

The first question that arises is, what is the situation with quality? It was with him that we began our conversation with Andrey Antipov, an engineer at the DiCom service center. It turned out that the situation with quality is very different. And even within the same manufacturer, and sometimes within the same model. We hasten to reassure you that most navigators are assembled quite well: neat soldering, high-quality external elements, neatly connected cables, and a reliable case. Contrary to popular belief, the Chinese know how to do things well. However, sometimes from one manufacturer or another, outwardly attractive devices with “internals” slip through the cracks, the quality of which raises doubts among repairmen. It is assessed visually - by how neat the boards and external elements look. It’s a pity that when purchasing, you can’t ask the seller to open the device’s case.

You can evaluate the quality of the navigator by the accuracy of the soldering. But the size of the fee is not the main thing

As for the stability of quality within one model, the set of components may indeed differ from batch to batch, but situations where at first the navigator was assembled well, and then haphazardly, are rare. Therefore, the general recommendation is quite simple: study the reviews of the owners and try to make a choice in favor of proven devices, rather than new products that have never been on the service engineer’s desk.

Be that as it may, navigators break down. We asked Andrey to tell us about typical problems and features of the navigators that he had to repair.

Firmware is first aid for any problems

Changing the firmware is the first thing done in the service if the problem is not obvious. In other words, when there are no obvious mechanical damage visible from the outside or when opening the case. The procedure itself is quite simple. The firmware is written to a memory card, which is inserted into the navigator. Then you need to turn on the device and, holding down the power key, wait until the screen displays information that the software is being changed. What are the nuances of this procedure?

Not all firmware is made publicly available. But in the service, of course, they are.
Unsuccessful independent firmware update is not a warranty case.

The most common reasons for failures when updating the firmware are related to viruses on the memory card and lack of battery power. To avoid the latter, flash the navigator while connected to external power. Moreover, it must be the “correct” charger - with sufficient current and voltage. When flashing firmware, navigators consume quite a lot of energy and a weak power source, for example, a computer USB port, cannot provide the device with sufficient power. And, of course, for insurance, the navigator battery must be fully charged.

The difficulty of recovering from unsuccessful firmware depends on the situation. At best, you will need to re-install the firmware. In a more complex version, you have to “merge” the dump (image) from the board of a working navigator. The difficulty lies in the fact that different batches of even the same model may differ in components, which makes it difficult to select an identical board.

Separately, it is worth noting the desire of the owner of the navigator not only to update the firmware or install a second navigation program, but also to “get into” the Windows CE operating system directly. Almost any navigator running on Windows CE can be “unlocked” - go to the operating system menu with the ability to change settings and install programs. The meaning of this action is not very clear. Making a tablet computer out of a navigator is unwise. Turning off the navigator is, in fact, a hard reset, resetting to factory settings everything that the “craftsman” installed on top of the operating system. In addition, in some models, along with their own shell, which is disabled during unlocking, libraries necessary for the operation of the navigation system can be loaded. Finally, the navigator is designed to run navigation programs, and other applications simply do not have to work adequately on this hardware.

Unlocking a car navigator allows you to gain access to the standard interface of the operating system

If the previous paragraph caused you a storm of indignation, then perhaps you are the right craftsman who will not be scared by either a hard reset or the need to resolve issues with the libraries necessary for Navitel to work on this particular device. In this case, we do not discourage you from experimenting, but we remind all other users that studying alternative software developer forums and abusing your navigator is most likely not what you bought this device for.

Antenna and satellite signal reception

The navigator does not pick up satellites - a fairly common symptom. However, to definitely say what caused this, diagnostics will be required. There may be several reasons:

firmware failure;
almanac failure;
feature of a car windshield;
mechanical damage or failure of the antenna itself;
impressive age of the device (which, however, can be attributed to the previous point).

We have considered firmware issues in sufficient detail, so let’s move straight to the second point. There are three types of navigator location modes: cold, warm and hot start.

During a cold start, the navigator does not have the slightest idea about its location, so searching for satellites takes a long time - up to 10 minutes or more, depending on external conditions. In this mode, the navigator receives an almanac and orbital parameters that allow satellites to be identified with fairly high accuracy. Then the navigator receives ephemeris - more accurate information for a more accurate calculation of the location of the satellites and the exact time.

A warm start means that the navigator has saved the almanac received during the previous turn-on in its memory, and also saved information about the time, albeit with a small error. The signal reception time is reduced to several minutes.

Finally, a hot start - when the navigator was turned off quite recently and the almanac and ephemeris data had not yet become outdated. Positioning time can be reduced to 10–20 seconds.

The lifetime of the ephemeris is only a few hours, after which the data becomes insufficiently accurate and needs to be obtained again. The almanac's lifespan is 2–3 months.

So, turning off the navigator for a long period of time or transporting it over a long distance with it turned off leads to the fact that the almanac becomes outdated. Usually this just means that the navigator will boot into cold start mode again, but software glitches can confuse the GPS receiver, and it will spend many hours trying in vain to find itself on the map.

This is exactly the case when the saying “time heals” works. Such a navigator must be left in satellite reception mode for a long time. Preferably where there is a good view of the sky. If after an hour of being in an open space there are no desired results, then you can try leaving the navigator on the window overnight.

A rather funny (funny for us, not for the owner of the navigator) reason for poor satellite reception can be a athermal car windshield. The special composition of this glass does not transmit satellite signals. However, such glass does not always interfere. Firstly, the signal can pass through the side windows, and secondly, some manufacturers provide “windows” for devices operating in the radio frequency spectrum.

The most serious reason why navigators refuse to catch satellites is the failure of the GPS antenna. With approximately the same frequency, manufacturers use antennas soldered to the board and connected separately. A soldered antenna is more difficult and expensive to replace. True, this is compensated by the fact that such antennas are less likely to fail. External antennas break more often, but they are also replaced in a matter of seconds, not counting the time required to disassemble the case. Most external antennas are interchangeable, which greatly simplifies both diagnostics and the search for spare parts.

Most detachable antennas are interchangeable

Batteries and power from the cigarette lighter

Car navigators use the most common lithium-ion batteries. Therefore, we will outline their features very briefly. Such batteries do not like low and high temperatures, as well as complete discharge. This can lead to a significant reduction in capacity and even complete failure. So, it is not recommended to leave the navigator in the car overnight and discharge it until it turns off completely.

Often the navigator does not turn on precisely because the battery is deeply discharged. In this case, you need to leave it on charge overnight or even for a day. Of course, some of the capacity will be lost, but in general the functionality of the device will be restored.

The most common batteries are used.

You can keep the navigator on charge as long as you like - the controller on the motherboard makes sure that the battery is charged exactly as much as it needs. It is recommended to fully charge lithium-ion batteries, but this is not a requirement. In lithium batteries, the “memory effect” is very insignificant and can be ignored. However, if the navigator is actively used in offline mode, then at least once every 2-3 months it is recommended to do a full discharge-charge cycle. Or better yet, two. It is better to use a charger from a 220 network. When connected to a computer via USB, a full charge will take almost two days, which, you see, is not very convenient.

A feature of batteries in car navigators is their short battery life. If the charge lasts for 1–2 hours, then the service center has the right to refuse to repair even a recently purchased navigator. This is due to the fact that a relatively powerful GPS antenna requires a lot of power, and manufacturers do not strive to reduce power consumption. If only for the reason that the car navigator is supposed to be constantly powered from the cigarette lighter.

There are two more features related to power from the cigarette lighter. For most navigators, only one of the two negative (side) contacts works. If the navigator “does not see” external power, then you need to try turning the cable in the cigarette lighter socket. In addition, the depth of the cigarette lighter may be greater than the power plug itself. Only finding a longer fork will help here.

Features of repairing Garmin navigators

At the beginning of the article, we promised to talk about the features of repairing Garmin navigators. Structurally, these navigators are not very different from those we reviewed above. But the approach to repairs in official service centers is somewhat different. The situation was commented on by Vitaly Chuyakov, a service engineer at Naviline, an authorized Garmin service center in St. Petersburg.

Most authorized Garmin service centers do not perform mechanical repairs. If the problem cannot be solved programmatically, the navigator is changed to a new one. The advantage of this approach is obvious, but there is also a disadvantage. If the warranty period has expired, it is almost impossible to find an official repair center. And the official “paid repair” is actually the replacement of the navigator with a new one with an additional payment, often commensurate with half the cost of the new device.