C530 battery discharges fast

I have a C510 (identical apart from memory). On occasion, I have experienced battery duration of that sort of order of magnitude. Maybe it's load-related? - I'll bet that screen brightness has an effect...

How long does it last, if you just switch it on and leave it (idle)?

2.5 hrs is very short on a full battery. It says 8, but I bet you can't get 6.

Anyways, if you have it on WAAS/ENOS, that is going to drain it faster as well. The intensity of the screen (brightness) as Hornbyp said, will make a HUGE difference as well.

If you have WAAS on, turn it off. With the SiRF High Sensitivity receiver WAAS in not necessary.

On a recent all day motorcycle run, witht he volume up all the way, screen brightness at 100% and lots of recalculating due to on the fly route changes, I got six hours out of the battery.

ive had no problems with c530 battery. but i have it plugedin most of the time. the only time i use the battery is when im testing a route.

Hey,you got my name right for once :-)

I just left my C510 sat on the "Ready to Navigate" screen. The first "battery low" indication was after 2hours 20 mins. However, that was an hour and a half ago, and it's still running!

Hornbyp wrote:

asia fur wrote:

as Hornbyp said

Hey,you got my name right for once

I just left my C510 sat on the "Ready to Navigate" screen. The first "battery low" indication was after 2hours 20 mins. However, that was an hour and a half ago, and it's still running!

Ha! Took me long enough to get it right, huh? LOL.

I had the settings Normal Mode (WAAS off)
The brightness was set to 100
and I charged it using the USB hub the night before.
(weather was a little cold this week)

Was just searching the forums some people claim up
to 8 hours. Even if I turn the brightness down a
bit 70% doubt I can get 8 Hours.

I was hoping for 5 hours; looks like I need to do
some more testing.

I also find battery life short. I got the battery low message after driving 21/2 hours in heavy traffic. I did have WAAS engaged. I keep the DC charger in the glove compartment for just that situation. It powers the unit and charges it at the same time

i've only had my c530 for ~8 months, and the battery is pretty much dead. i cant use it for more than 20 minutes before it dies. that can't be normal, right?

During a recent trip to South Africa I found that if I was lucky if the unit would get 1 hour with screen on.

If I set screen time-out to 2 minutes it got to a little over 2 hours.

This despite having the unit on wall charge all night, every night.

Bluetooth, WAAS etc. were all off.
No mp3's or picture viewing occurred.

Severely disappointed.

Does anyone know if Garmin makes a power cord that can plug into the cigarette lighter and directly into the unit?
This would save having to carry the whole mounting bracket around...

Lithium-Ion batteries in these units will degrade over time whether the unit is used or not. They typically last 2-3 years. Cool storage and keeping the battery in a partially charged state when not in use retard the aging process. Also performance will be degraded at cold temperatures outside the 60-100 degree range.

Does this apply to us old farts as well?? I sure feel that way sometimes!!!!!

RT

In this case I would really then hope that Garmin would one day make vehicle GPS's with detacheable batteries.

That way if you install the unit permanently in your vehicle you do not need to worry about battery degradation due to heat/ cold when the unit is left in the car.

It would also allow people to purchase spare batteries (much like a cell phone) in case the unit runs out while on pedestrian mode etc.

I'm no expert however there are a few ways to extend battery life not mentioned already:

1. Ocassionally let the re-chargeable battery totally run down and only after it is fully discharged, plug it into teh charger.

2. When not in use keep the battery in a cool, dry place (someone I know keeps them wrapped up in the frig - but that means less beer!)

3. A battery is meant to be used so ocassionally let the unit use the battery (ie. Don't leave it plugged in all the time unless you have no need for the battery per se).

4. During hot muggy days I try and shield the unit from the sun wherever possible.

5. Carry a map - just in case all else fails!

This is not necessary with lithium-ion batteries (which the C530 has). Lithium-ion batteries don't have the memory-factor that ni-cads do. In fact, in some case it may not be recommended to fully discharge the battery. Check the owners manual.

Some good information at Wikipedia.org.

RT

i had a c 330 did the same thing the battery finnally wouldnt hold a charge at all anymore had to send it back to garmin for a new battery this happened 3 more times to me and i just keep sending them back. there are alot of battery issue with the garmin units

"In some case it may not be recommended to fully discharge the battery. Check the owners manual."

Great Advice!! (RTFM)

There are certain cases where fully draining a battery on a GPSr is advisable, even by Garmin. In cases where the unit's battery gauge on the display is out of calibration and does not reflect the state of the battery accurately....Garmin recommends that one leave their unit on until drained, then, plug it in and let it reach full charge before attempting to use again in order to calibrate the display's battery gauge.

While that is true, the manual for my laptop says fully discharging the battery on a continual basis will result in shortened battery life. As I said in my previous post above, read the lithium-ion battery link at Wikipedia.org and "Check the owners manual."

RT

I never had a problem with my 530. make sure it is not on WASS, it will drain your battery