External Battery for Nuvi

I've found that a Motorola 500mv cell charger will power my 775T and go to Nav mode, but not sure if it's the same for your unit.

While somewhat more cumbersome, any 12V. power pack with a "cigarette lighter" type socket would work along with your car cord.

I don't know about the other two towns but I found that a "transit map" of London was more than adequate to navigate where I wanted to go......and it's batteries never went dead !!
And nobody wanted to steal it either.

I guess there is no way of replacing the battery in the nuvi's. Mine turnson for about 1 minute, so i can never use it ouside of the car. Is there a way to replace this battery?

I have actually been considering something along these lines as well. I was on a return flight this past Saturday from Orlando to Minneapolis with a changeover in Atlanta. I listened to my Slacker Radio, but the battery was depleted before the end of the flight. Similarly, I had my Garmin Nuvifone G60 along as well. I would like to get some sort of rechargeable external battery pack for both the Garmin Nuvifone G60 and the Slacker Radio.

what model is it?

Did you try the search for Replace XXXX battery here or on Google.

Do you really want to use your GPS outside your vehicle?

Is the unit so old that it is worth less than the battery and you should look at a unit that is being discontinued on Costco or Amazon for under $150.00

For that you'd get a new unit, fresh battery, current map.

What would be neat to have is a solar power backpack, i recall seen one a couple months ago i believe they have or could be modify to for a 12v plug in connector much like a cigarette lighter. i can't recall how much they go for though. I did a quick query on google and came across this h**p://www.backup-power.ca/catalog/item/2510096/3417693.htm

I can charge the battery and run the GPS from an external supply. One comes with every Garnin to do exactly that. An external supply based on batteries should do the sane thing, as long as it is wired correctly and is capable of delivering enough current at the expected voltage to do so.

The Motorola charger model 5102 5volts @ 550mA from my Motorola V361 cell phone works well to charge my Garmin 255w The charger mini usb plugs directly into the Garmin and charges in a few hours.

The only way to go is solar!

A thin flexible-solar-panel-powerfilm can be attached to a back pack and deliver 5 watts @ 12vdc, you won't have to deal with the different country's power requirements that you will be traveling in for a charger for the external battery. The panel can then be used for many things when you get home.

Garmin Nuvi 1370 1390 1490 have
Low Power Consumption @(<50mA)

Flexible Solar Panel - PowerFilm 5 Watt: PowerFilm series flexible solar panels are crafted using a film of silicon crystals on a flexible plastic backing, making it possible for the PowerFilm to roll up so that it is easily portable. Most other Solar Panels cannot do this. These solar panels are durable, light, and because of the ease with which they roll up, very transportable.

They are so durable, in fact, that they are rated marine grade, and can be attached to firm surfaces and even walked on! They are perfect when a very low profile is desired, or when portability is essential. The PowerFilm series panels vary in power from 5 to 20 Watts. Depending on your energy needs, it is possible to combine two panels to yield even more power.

These solar panels come with a storage tube as well as a 15 foot cable which is equipped with blocking diodes that are ready to charge a 12V battery. All you need to do is simply hook the leads up. Accessories such as cigarette lighter sockets, plugs, and extension cables are available.

Features:

* High durability
* Marine grade rating
* Light, compact

Specifications:

* Operating Voltage: 15.4 V
* Operating Current: 0.3 A
* Weight: 9.6 ounces
* Dimensions: 11.5 x 21 inches
* Warranty: 3 years

http://www.siliconsolar.com/flexible-solar-panel--powerfilm-...

Don't lump all if the Garmin Nuvis in this category, though. I have a Garmin Nuvi 500 and the battery can be replaced.

I would looking for AA battery to USB charger and then connect usb cable to charge the nuvi. I think costco have some Sanyo rechargeable battery pack and the device to connect to usb.

I was in exactly the same position as you last summer. I got a Gomadic system (http://www.gomadic.com) which performed excellently.

The nice thing about the Gomadic system is the interchangeable tips, so you only need one system for all your portable devices. I got the AA battery charger, the Li-Ion portable battery, the 2-way car charger and the 4-way (universal voltage/socket) mains charger, along with all the necessary tips. Together with a couple of universal voltage AA wall chargers this powered/charged a Nuvi, two iPhones, a Moto phone, three Canon cameras, a flash gun, an iPod and a Palm PDA around Europe on one system.

I had a couple of issues when I first got the system - the 4-way charger cracked (since redesigned) and one of the iPhone tips didn't charge properly. I contacted Gomadic and they mailed replacements to the UK at no charge with no questions asked other than what was the correct mailing address. I am _very_ impressed with their customer service.

My Nuvi is a 760 and they have two tips for it, one for charging/using and one for USB syncing. According to Gomadic they need to do this because of the Garmin design. I don't know if that is true of the more recent models, but they have a very comprehensive list of supported devices on their web page which will let you choose the correct tip.

Many of the other portable Garmin chargers will NOT allow use of the Garmin while charging, the Gomadic charge/use tip will. I used the AA pack to charge/use the Nuvi in pedestrian mode and the car charger while using it.

The up-front cost of the whole system above is not as cheap as some alternatives but I got the full deal, you can just the the AA battery pack if that's all you need. However I now have a system that allows me multiple options to mains, car or portable charge/use/sync, anywhere in the world, just about any portable device I now own or will purchase in the future, and my only additional cost for a new device will be a $5 tip - unless it's mini-USB in which case it will be $0. (Except for Nokias, there seems to be a real issue with some of the old style Nokis phone sockets, the new mini-USB ones should be fine)

I was a little leery of the initial cost of the system but I needed something for the trip so made a bit of a leap of faith. I'm very satisfied with the result and can say from experience that they seem to mean it when they promise a lifetime warranty.

http://www.homedepot.com/Featured-Products-Ryobi-Tek4/h_d1/N...

I like it because I can buy extra batteries carry the extra batteries with me, and I can use it on many different electronic devices. Just my thoughts.

This looks like a great option.

Can you be a little more specific, maybe post your exact model, what did you purchase?

Just took a quick look at the site. I got the:

Wall quad charger
AA Battery Extender (Battery Backup)
Double Car Charger

which are all on the site still.

I also got a Lithium-Ion battery extender, but I don't see that on the site anywhere at the moment. I got that for periods of traveling when it might not have been possible to plug in the wall charger or regular AA chargers as it had a lot more capacity, came with a retractable USB sync cable and Li-Ions hold their charge well. It also gave one more option for charging when everyone's device went flat at the same time I don't know if they still sell it or if it's just out of stock.

I also got tips for everything:

Garmin - charge/use tip and the USB sync tip
Palm tip
Apple - charge and sync tips
Motorola
Sony Ericsson
mini-USB
and a few more. Tip selection really depends on what unit/s you have, you can select from their "Buy More Tips" page, just make sure that if it shows a choice of two tips for your device i.e. "Charger" and "USB cable" that you get both tips if you want to be able to both sync and charge/use it from one of the above chargers. If you don't think you're going to be syncing while traveling then you won't need the "USB cable" tip. If you do want to sync and they're not selling the Li-Ion charger with the included USB cable at the moment then you might need to add one of their sync cables that takes their tips.

I also got some Sanyo "Eneloops" NiMH AAs to take with me, as these hold their charge a lot better than regular NiMHs. I already had standard universal AA wall chargers and foreign socket adapters for them.

Overall the system worked very well. I got a bit obsessive about plugging the AA rechargables in every night as well as topping up everything else from the wall charger, but...I never had anything go flat on me that I couldn't immediately plug in to the appropriate tip to keep working! No dead GPS, cellphones, PDA or iPods.

The really neat aspect of the entire system is that it didn't matter what went flat, just plug in the appropriate tip and then plug in the device. No more carrying separate chargers for every device, all the tips are compatible with all the different charging options - mains, car, battery - mix and match any way you want to.

I used the Li-Ion extender on the GPS for the plane journey in both directions (while listening to the iPod on the AA extender) and got a nice track of the full 10.5 hour polar route on my map, plus a really cool "Max Speed" of 974 KM per hour.

If you have any more questions you should contact their customer support. They actually answer their emails! And usually within 24 hours.

P.S. I was thinking of the Gomadic models I bought. The exact Garmin model was a Nuvi 760T. Apples were iPhone 3GS and iPod Classic. Palm was a Zire 71, can't remember the exact Moto model, but it was a Moto proprietary socket for an older unlocked GSM phone for local sim cards (no way was I paying overseas roaming rates).

>>You wrote: Guess there's no way to replace the battery in a Nuvi.>>

The battery can be replaced. Go to youtube.com and type "nuvi battery" into the search box. You'll be presented with a list of videos for battery replacement in the 760, 255, 650, 250 and more. You didn't say what model you own or I'd post a link.

Batteries are available on eBay.

Cheers

http://www.gpsmagazine.com/2010/02/how_to_replace_the_intern...

I followed the youtube directions on changing the battery in my nüvi 760. It was quick and easy. I bought the battery and the small torx driver on eBay.

Just get a USB wall charger, cheap and quick.

Tue, 02/16/2010 - 10:16pm
Peterock39

I guess there is no way of
I guess there is no way of replacing the battery in the nuvi's. Mine turnson for about 1 minute, so i can never use it ouside of the car. Is there a way to replace this battery?

see if this might be what you are needing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXXzsi9Ures

I have this:

http://store.solio.com/Solio-Magnesium-Edition

I think I got it on sale for around $99. It works quite well to charge a NUVI, or other Garmin GPS, Ipods, IPhones, and various Nokia phones. The nice thing is that it is a battery and solar array. So you can have it absorb sun and the charge your device, or, for example, on a plane, precharge the Solio and then use it to charge your device on a long flight. I do this to extend the life of my ipod and Zune when watching movies.

The solio does need bright sunlight to charge itself, but works well hiking or boating.

I have a Sanyo Eneloop KBC-L2 that I use for my mobile devices. I got the charger from my local Costco warehouse for about $20.
The 1st time I tried with a nuvi 370, it went into storage mode. I will have to make some test if I can prevent it from going into storage mode.

Beware of buying from BargainHunters at Amazon. They will charge your credit card, email you a shipping notification even though they don't have it in stock. And that is at $50 plus shipping.

Found this compatibility sheet about Eneloop
http://www.eneloop.info/fileadmin/EDITORS/ENELOOP/DATA_SHEET...

And manual for KBC-L2S
http://www.eneloop.info/fileadmin/EDITORS/ENELOOP/MANUALS/BO...

I tried this one
http://www.gomadic.com/garmin-nuvi-250-emergency-aa-battery-...
it totally sucked and I returned it...
1. It couldn't take 4 AA rechargeable batteries - I tried with sanyo and powerex, the box was too small. I know rechargeables are bit bigger than standard batteries but gomadic state their device works with them
2. When I finally got to plug in my device and left it overnight it actually drained my nuvi battery instead of charging it
3. It would be nice if the cable was shorter so you could somehow attach the device to your unit if used on the track...