[gps-talkusers] Re: Earthmate question

Good evening Peggy,

Being quite familiar with these types of connections the culprit most of the 
time is a loose cigarette lighter plug.  It may be fine most of the time and 
then one jiggle and it loses contact and your moving things around it proceeded 
to make contact again.  

Just an educated guess.  

Paul
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  Hi, all.  I have a question for you Earthmate users, especially for those 
  who have used the adapter that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the 
  car.  I'm wondering if the Earthmate is supposed to charge while it's 
  plugged in with the car adapter.

  Last Sunday we went from Sacramento to Hayward and back, and I had the 
  Earthmate plugged in almost the whole time.  I used it on just the battery 
  briefly during the week.  Last Friday we went from Sacramento to San 
  Francisco and back.  At one point, I think while waiting to pay our toll 
  and get on the bridge, I got a "GPS receiver not detected", but then after 
  making sure the connections were snug, it came back on.  I assumed the 
  Earthmate had charged while plugged in in the car, so didn't charge it when 
  I got home.  I used it on battery yesterday with no problems.  Today I used 
  it in the car on battery for a trip to Elk Grove and back.  Before we even 
  got to Elk Grove, I got the "dliddle-dee-doop" sound and the message "GPS 
  receiver not detected".  Turning it off and on didn't help, so I plugged it 
  into the cigarette lighter adapter, and it came back to life and I used it 
  with no problems for the rest of the trip.  When we got home, I plugged it 
  in with the regular power cube, and my husband tells me lights are showing 
  on both the power cube and the Earthmate receiver, so it obviously needed 
  charging.  So I'm wondering if the car adapter just gives it extra power 
  but doesn't charge the battery.  But if that's the case, why did I briefly 
  lose power while waiting to cross the bridge, even with the adapter turned 
  on.  The situation isn't consistent enough for me to think it might be a 
  cable problem, and the fact that it was corrected immediately after 
  plugging into the car adapter makes me think it was a battery issue.  I'm 
  just wondering if I should treat the battery as though it had been used 
  even though I have the Earthmate on the car adapter, and charge it up with 
  the regular charger, just to make sure I have juice in the battery, or if 
  this is an early indication of a problem with my battery or receiver.

  Peggy

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