Edge 800 external battery pack

[bikey-mikey]

Mikey,
I have pretty much decided that the Tecnet is what I am after. I run a Bryton 50t GPS which, similar to a Garmin 705 runs for about 12-15 hours. Can I just ask how you use the external supply? Do you plug it in from the off and it automatically keeps the GPS topped up or do you wait until the GPS has run down and then plug in. I intend to use it for 600k audaxes and other similar distance/time events. Sorry to ask what is probably a question with an obvious answer.
Cheers
Nick

Nick

I plug it in (using the 1A output), before the start, and it then keeps the Garmin fully topped up all the way.  It means you get everything properly connected and tested before you actually start, whereas if you wait till the Garmin starts to give you low battery warnings, you might be halfway down a fast hill, or maybe on someone's wheel, etc, and plugging the battery in at that point takes probably both hands, and a bit of clever no hands riding, which I, of course, am completely useless at !!

To test, press the right menu button, and on the display you should see the external battery symbol. 

[bikey-mikey]

I've been using an Edge 800 and have been keeping it topped up with a "Powerchimp" usb power pack which hold 2x AA 2450 mAh rechargables.
I've had endless problems though.
I found on several occasions when I approached approx 400km / 15hrs+ the unit would switch off and refuse to switch back on. It starts booting up and then dies. In each case the Garmin battery meter showed that I had plenty of power left - 50-80%.
In one case the stored data was completely corrupted, but most of the time after a full recharge the unit has functioned ok.
The problem has occured on the previous and current firmware.
I complained to Garmin and they replaced my unit with a new one (good service as always).
Again on PBP 550km / 21hrs I had the same problem. Very frustrating.

I suspect that the usb power pack is not delivering enough power and the Garmin is misrepresenting how much internal battery is available (showing 50% when in reality it's zero).
I also used a "Portapow" battery pack (also with 2xAA), but had the same issues.

Sorry to hear that - I have had no problems with the Tecknet, and have done a 300k perm without turning it off at all, and several 265k rides, again with no problems.

[eeymsmo]

I believe there's a know issue with the 800 (and possibly the 705) where they stop recording data correctly after a certain point. So it might be that you're running into rather than a battery issue.

I'll see if I can find a link anywhere. Think it was mentioned on here at some point.

[edited at 17:36 02/09/2011)
Here we go - http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=49198.0

[bikey-mikey]

Same here. Edge 705 here and I've only got data for 850km of PBP, and ~200km of that with no position data as it seemed not to have the power to get a satellite lock (although this may have been a firmware problem as I fixed it once with a reboot).

I used two PortaPow packs (one 3500mAh and one 5000mAh). Given that the 3500mAh one had got me through a 600 perfectly fine I thought I'd be fine with those two. It may be related to the general problems I had with the GPS anyway, it progressively lost all of the routes I'd uploaded to it, so it became useless for navigation anyway.

I did leave the unit switched on a few times where I should have turned it off (whilst stopped in the creperie in Sizun, or at the Brest control). By Loudeac on the way back I'd given up on the GPS for navigation and just used the arrows (and routesheet).

I was using the Edge 705 because I wanted to record HR data. If I didn't want that I'd use my old eTrex H that takes AA batteries. Indeed I'll probably go back to using that for navigation as it's a much more reliable solution than the Edge series.

Again sorry to hear that - all I can say is that I have done 23,264.66 kms with my 705 and it has been just fine.

Occasionally e.g. once a month maybe, it has been known to turn itself off for no apparent reason, but as I am watching it, I just turn it back on again, and seem to lose zilch data.

Remember that this unit was in the same accident as me, so may have some sort of wiring / circuit board damage, buit if it has it must be very minor...

Seems as if you may have got a Friday afternoon 705 

[Jaded]

I mistakenly had my 705 set to record every second last week on a 200km. I had it powered rom my Portapow equivalent. After 8.5 hours of recording it started telling me that I was getting further away from my destination. I stopped to check the power connection and disconnected the battery. The machine rebooted and I had to re-load the gpxx for directions. It then behaved properly on directions, but only showed the time accumulating from the time it rebooted, forgetting the original 8.5 hours. The distance recorded was right for the whole ride.
Back home the whole ride was there, but in two laps.

[thesloth]

I believe there's a know issue with the 800 (and possibly the 705) where they stop recording data correctly after a certain point. So it might be that you're running into rather than a battery issue.

I'll see if I can find a link anywhere. Think it was mentioned on here at some point.

[edited at 17:36 02/09/2011)
Here we go - http://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=49198.0

Many thanks for that! Good to see that this is a known issue. Will do some experiments to see if writing to SD card rather than the internal storage and reducing the recording interval helps things.

[Feline]

It's odd that people have had that problem, I recorded all of PBP in 2 halves, all 89 hours of it on my Edge 705. There was no data loss, and it is going to the internal memory. When I loaded the course for the return journey the data starts a new set, but the first set is still being held in memory until the thing gets connected to a PC anyway.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110157171
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110157071

When I rode the Seeting 600 that data is also intact and all in one piece http://connect.garmin.com/activity/92289433

[flashman]

Thanks for the info Mikey. I will get my order in an report back at a later date.
Cheers
Nick

[thesloth]

Checked on Connect and there are quite a few complete 1230km PBP tracks. Most are from 705's, but I did find one from an 800 as well: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111314410
Seems like some people can get it to work.

[bikey-mikey]

I mistakenly had my 705 set to record every second last week on a 200km. I had it powered rom my Portapow equivalent. After 8.5 hours of recording it started telling me that I was getting further away from my destination. I stopped to check the power connection and disconnected the battery. The machine rebooted and I had to re-load the gpxx for directions. It then behaved properly on directions, but only showed the time accumulating from the time it rebooted, forgetting the original 8.5 hours. The distance recorded was right for the whole ride.
Back home the whole ride was there, but in two laps.

Jaded

I always record on the every second basis and now and then I get a 'getting further away' reading, but I don't think it's caused by 'every second'.

I think it's triggered by going 'off route' and the Garmin thereafter calculates your remaining distance to end as if you are going to go back and ride through the bit you missed. (Even if you click 'no' when it asks if you want to recalculate).  The following happened last weekend.

I rode to Southampton on a DIYxGPS, using a route I plotted on Bikeroutetoaster - stayed overnight - next day did New Forest Onshore Offshore - stayed another night - next day rode back home, again on DIYxGPS, using the BikeHike reversed version of the outward route.  However Bike Hike 'reverse' doesn't readjust one way system bits, so I had to navigate a slightly different route through Frome, and from there the Garmin was thereafter plotting an ever increasing distance home.

The cure maybe is to have a perfect route every time, but we are only human...  Interesting to note that reloading the route put it right, though you are bound to get an extra lap if the machine was turned off. The total time should have been correct, but maybe you are showing 'lap' time' ? It takes mine up to ten minutes to reload, and doesn't seem to be able to reload if I am riding as well, so tend to put up with the distance to go issues - after all I knew how far the journey was going to be when I started, so it is only a bit of mental arithmatic to work out the remainder...   

Anyone else agree with this, or have I made 2 + 2 = 17  ?

[downhill]

Hammerman

How did you get on with the PortaPow ?

I am looking to get an Edge 800, but will need some extra battery life for the darker, longer rides.