About this replacement
TomTom XL Live Series — 3.7V Li-ion Replacement Battery (VF3A)
This is a 3.7V, 1100mAh Li-ion cell replacing the original VF3A battery in the TomTom XL Live portable GPS navigator. It fits the XL Live, XL Live TTS (4EL0.017.01), XL 340M Live, and related 4EL0 variants. Swap it in when the original cell no longer holds enough charge to keep the navigator running through a journey.
- XL Live platform compatibility: The 4EL0 model family shares a common 3.7V single-cell architecture with the same connector pinout and battery bay dimensions (47.20 × 34.00 × 5.40mm). No BMS handshake is required — the navigator reads charge state directly from the cell voltage.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through charge and discharge on the XL Live platform and confirmed the charge controller accepted it without fault. Voltage under load stayed within the expected window across the cycle.
- First fix after fitting: After any full power interruption, the XL Live performs a cold GPS start. Take the device outdoors after fitting and power it on — allow 5 to 10 minutes to acquire a satellite fix. Subsequent warm starts will lock on in under a minute.
GPS accuracy reduced as battery charge drops on the XL Live
Some TomTom XL units reduce GPS receiver sensitivity at low cell voltage to cut power draw. This shows up as position drift or slower map updates before the battery indicator even looks critical. The root cause is the receiver pulling back before the display gives a low-battery warning. Keeping the cell above 3.5V under load avoids this mode entirely.
XL Live shuts off mid-route with no low-battery warning
This happens when an aged or deeply discharged cell has an uncalibrated voltage curve — the navigator's charge indicator reads higher than the actual cell state. When real voltage hits the cutoff threshold, the unit shuts down with no visible warning beforehand. A new cell with a fresh voltage curve restores accurate state-of-charge reporting. After fitting, run one full charge cycle so the navigator can recalibrate its threshold against the new cell's discharge profile.