Author Topic: Etrex switching off. (Read 7504 times)

flashman · « **on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:24:14 am »

Hi all,
I have recently started using a 2nd hand Etrex Venture for audaxing purposes and I am slowly getting to grips with the technical aspects. However, the biggest problem I have experienced on a recent 300 and last weekends BCM was the unit switching itself off after about 100k when the road gets a touch rougher. I am currently running the unit on the stem with the standard cycle mount cable tied on. Is it likely that a more robust mounting system like the one demonstrated at the head of this category will prevent this or is it likely to be more of an internal problem which will mean me getting hold of Garmin? I would be interested to hear if anybody else experiences/ed this same problem with this or similar models and how they resolved it.
Many thanks
Nick

Wowbagger · « **Reply #1 on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:28:10 am »

I've had this occasionally with the Vista HCx. I put it down to poor battery connection.

Charlotte · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:31:59 am »

Wow's right. I stop this happening in two ways:

1. Use NiMh rechargeables - they tend to be a smidgen bigger than ordinary disposable cells and less likely to jump about.
2. I use one of those wrist-sized sweatbands round and just behind the unit, where it sits on its mount to reduce vibration.

Both of these together totally cure the problem for me and my Legend HCx stays on until I turn it off or the batteries run flat.

Greenbank · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:39:42 am »

+1

I solved that problem with my eTrex (the bog standard yellow one) by using NiMH rechargables and using a ziptie to hold it in the mount so it stopped rattling so much.

andygates · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 May, 2010, 10:45:28 am »

I pack the standard mount with a couple of layers of black insulating tape applied to the flat face of the socket - an invisible fix. Tuck it in tidily under the lips.

The bike mount should have no rattle at all, so if it does rattle, add more tape. It's fine to cut around the screw that holds the clip on if, like me, you're always moving your gear from bike to bike.

Also, some people tease a little bit of rubber in under the springs of the battery contacts, to maintain better connection in roughstuff.

arallsopp · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 May, 2010, 11:46:44 pm »

Similar fix to AndyGates above, only I packed the inside of the battery lid with insulating tape. A single layer keeps most AAs in place. Some rechargeables come up large, some small. Pad to fit and its all good.

Kim · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 May, 2010, 11:49:46 pm »

7dayshop 2700/2800mAh NiMH batteries plus a layer of gaffer tape on the inside of the mount to stop the rattle, and I've yet to have this problem.

flashman · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 May, 2010, 09:14:49 am »

Many thanks for all the replies folks. Will try the NiMh rechargeables and packing the lid out to see if it makes a difference.
Cheers

piedwagtail91 · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 May, 2010, 04:44:07 pm »

i tried all those fixes with a vista c but in the end nothing worked , the unit was stuffed.
there is a fix on the internet which involves soldering a capacitor in place ( plenty of photos top show you how to do it) but i returned mine to garmin who sent me a new one.

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #9 on:** 20 May, 2010, 05:07:43 pm »

Pain in the arse and the main reason why I'm glad of the internal battery in the 705. Had it happen regularly in my etrex and my 60csx.

MSeries · « **Reply #10 on:** 20 May, 2010, 05:24:32 pm »

Quote from: piedwagtail91 on 20 May, 2010, 04:44:07 pm

i tried all those fixes with a vista c but in the end nothing worked , the unit was stuffed.
there is a fix on the internet which involves soldering a capacitor in place ( plenty of photos top show you how to do it) but i returned mine to garmin who sent me a new one.

My Vista C still switches off too. Various pages on't web suggest it's not the batteries coming loose but some other push fit connectors. I read the capacitor fix but don't really want to take mine apart righ now.

flashman · « **Reply #11 on:** 20 May, 2010, 07:38:02 pm »

Flatus, I note that you also did the BC last weekend. Did you use the 705 for routing and if so, just for selected periods? The main reason I went for the Etrex type was for the ease of carrying spare batteries and not requiring to charge unit every 12 hours or so, which I understand the real life battery ime to be.

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #12 on:** 20 May, 2010, 07:56:05 pm »

I used it for the whole event. I have a cheapo external battery pack (that Jaded gave me) that holds 4 AA cells. It has a mini usb connector that plugs into the 705. The 4aa cells lasted from 6am until about 10pm, at which point i turned off the ext pack and started using the internal battery. You could of course simply replace the aa cells (I had some in the drop bag), but I knew that the 13-15 hours of internal battery would be sufficient to finish the event.

The key thing is to save the internal battery till last as for some reason if you try and use the ext pack when the internal is flat it wont power up but just goes into charge mode. I carry the ext. pack in the side pocket of a tri feed bag on the top tube and it actually is a tidy setup.

flashman · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 May, 2010, 08:52:29 pm »

That sounds a good solution. I like the look of the 705 but decided on the Etrex for the reasons mentioned. If things don't work out with the Etrex I can see another purchase coming on. Thanks for the info.
Think I may have ridden with you guys for a brief spell before I turned off for the Elan on the Scenic? Glad the ride went well for you.

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #14 on:** 20 May, 2010, 10:39:31 pm »

Ahh were you the guy that I saw at the finish and asked how the scenic went? You were on a red framed steel bike I think?

If it was then you came up to Adamski and I and Mr Sucky on the a470 from Builth to Rhayader, just as Mr Sucky was starting his shenanigans

drossall · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 May, 2010, 12:06:23 am »

NiMH rechargeables alone solved the switching off problem on my original Etrex Summit. Since using them, I've also tried a Vista C and a Vista HCx, and none of the three have had a recurrence.

flashman · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 May, 2010, 10:23:12 am »

Yep, that was me on the red Mercian. I hope Mr Sucky is reading these posts and hanging his head in shame.

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 May, 2010, 11:12:34 am »

So do I flashman, so do. It was a shameful display. I think you may have noticed it too

Greenbank · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 May, 2010, 11:33:03 am »

(Further thread hijack)

Quote from: Flatus on 20 May, 2010, 07:56:05 pm

I used it for the whole event.

Got my PortaPow thing which will sit in my tri-bag.

Any chance you can send me the GPX/route file you used for the BCM? I'm trying to work out the best way to use the Edge 705 for Audaxing and looking at an example would be best. Or pop over to this thread: routes/tracks for Edge 705 on Audaxes

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #19 on:** 21 May, 2010, 12:04:28 pm »

Of course I can, I'll email them tonight. The route was split into 4 because of the points where the route crosses over itself.

The trick with the 705 is to save the routes as gpxx files rather than gpx. The only place I know of that offers this is bikehike. It took me 20 minutes to plot and download the 600k route. No need to manipulate the file in anyway. I haven't found a way of getting the unit to flash up script of my choice (ie controls) so would be interested if you find a way. Google streetview overcomes this in some respect because at least I can get a heads up of what controls or the approaches to them look like.

Greenbank · « **Reply #20 on:** 21 May, 2010, 12:21:06 pm »

Ta. There's no rush, my next Audax is the Snowdon and Coast 400 which (like the BCM) wouldn't be too bad if I had to follow it by routesheet anyway, so I'm willing to experiment.

Hot Flatus · « **Reply #21 on:** 21 May, 2010, 12:53:37 pm »

I'm doing that one too. Shouldn't take long to plot

oldroadrunner · « **Reply #22 on:** 01 June, 2010, 11:52:47 am »

I am now on my 6th Etrex after problems with them switching off. The nice people at Garmin sent me a Summit rather than a Venture when I sent the last one back and so far (after about 5 weeks) it hasn’t shut down.
I cant knock the responsiveness of Garmin but I am 99% certain that there is a fundamental weakness in the design and/or construction of the Venture model. The first unit was fine for about 8 months with it being used 50-100 miles weekly (mainly as a simple cycling computer) but then it started to give erroneous 'low battery' warnings and cutting out randomly. It eventually cut out so often that it became unusable. All the subsequent units (except one that locked up when I tried to update the firmware) behaved similarly in that they gave erroneous 'low battery' warnings and started cutting out. Some of the units lasted a month or two before they started misbehaving, some a bit longer. I think the 'refurbished' (rather than new) units that Garmin supplied generally lasted a shorter time than the new ones. Once the ‘cutting out’ problem started it inevitably got worse and worse so I will be worried if the latest unit starts misbehaving!
I went through all the various things other people have suggested-different batteries (re-chargeable and alkaline), extra 'damping' on the handlebar mount to reduce vibration, a bit of gaffer tape on the handlebar mount so that the unit wouldn’t move within the mount, different bikes (steel frame, aluminium/carbon, all aluminium) but none of these things stopped the problem. Garmin even supplied (free) an oversize mount so that I could fit a very thick layer of damping material but this didn’t perform any better.
Interestingly, when I spoke to Garmin 2 (or was it 3 ?) units ago they said that the Venture wasnt really made for bike use!! I couldn’t really understand the logic of why they sold a bike mount for these models!
For customer service Garmin get 10/10-very helpful and very quick. I just wish that they would sort out the design/manufacturing problem.

MSeries · « **Reply #23 on:** 01 June, 2010, 04:13:30 pm »

I've just taken my Vista C apart. On re assembly it still works ! The outer shell is in two parts, upper and lower, they come apart by releasing five small catches accessed through five square holes, two on each side, one on the bottom end.

Inside, the circuit board is screwed to the top shell, I couldn't remove the screw that holds it in place. There is a ribbon cable curling under the circuit board which I presume connects the LCD (or whateved it is) display. The bottom shell carries the batteries and the connection to the PCB is made using a pair of contact connections once the two halfs of the shell are mated up. The PCB has a pair of gold squares about 2.5mm square that is touched by springy contacts that connect to the battery holder. I suspect these are losing contact as the unit vibrates in use. If the two halfs of the shell come apart, pressure will be lost. I scraped the gold squares clean and carefully bent the two mating connectors to apply more pressure. I'd have no problem soldering a pair of wires to these squares to connect an external battery pack or to permanently connect the internal holder instead of relying on the push fit. This may be my next course of action but I'm not sure it could be done without damaging or removing the exisiting contacts and I didn't want to do that just yet.

So I feel that preventing the two halfs of the shell from rattling apart may help with the VistaC, the RAM mount might be the way to go instead of clamping the device from the bottom half of the shell.

A word about the waterproofing. The rubber strip is easily peeled off, it's sticky. UNder that is two layers of transparent tape, I carefully peeled these off and re fitted them using the adhesive that they already had on them.

We'll see if it has made any improvement.

frankly frankie · « **Reply #24 on:** 01 June, 2010, 05:28:18 pm »

It's not the battery contacts, it's the sprung contacts onto the pcb as so lovingly described by Mr Nesbitt above.
Doing whatever you can to eliminate rattle seems to be 90% effective, and 2 or 3 layers of PVC tape to tighten a standard Garmin bar mount does the trick for me.

Quote from: oldroadrunner on 01 June, 2010, 11:52:47 am

I just wish that they would sort out the design/manufacturing problem.

Well don't hold your breath, because the same design feature exists not only in all the Etrexes, and all the 60 series, but AIUI in the newer Dakotas as well, and for all I know the Oregons too. These are of course all primarily walkers' models.