usb cable

Hi Jerry, is this the correct cable for the Nuvi? Some cables will not charge it, even if it fits. Also, try another USB port to see if that makes a difference, occasionally I have issues with USB ports on the front of the PC, but the back ones work just fine.

needs to be turned on when doing this. Don't be mad at me, I did try to do this at beginning without PC plugged in.

Thanks shrifty It should be the right cable as it came in the box with unit.

When I connect to the computer it seems to take a long time.
How long did you leave it connected?

Is all it takes for the PC to start the nuvi up, and go into mass storage mode.

Tis true but it takes 6 to 8 hours to charge the battery when hooked to a USB port on a computer.

I guess I was unclear on what the OP was asking.

Are you plugging in to a PC directly or USB hub?

If a hub, it may not be capable of providing the correct amperage to charge a GPSr.

Avoid using USB hubs when connecting your GPSr to the PC. Things work a lot better that way.

is to try another USB port. As previously mentioned in other posts, the port might not be powerful enough.

A question to all: Would the PC need to recognize and add the new hardware (NUVI) in order for it to charge?

It has been my experience that it will take longer to charge using a USB port than if you use an electrical outlet or the power port on your vehicle.

No. As long as the port outputs power at an amperage the nuvi needs, it will charge.

GPS usb cables are a little different. They actually use ALL 5 WIRES (yes 5). MiniUSB has 5 wires, 1,2,3,4,x (yes, its actually called x) you can google the miniusb spec and see what I'm talking about. I went thru this trying to extend my traffic antenna.

Good to know, it seems that we here are narrowing down the options as to what the issue could be

Here's what i found. If the unit is charging it should get quite warm on the back somewhere. For that reason i have always turned my units upside down if i was intending to charge it.

I never have to worry about charging it since its always in the car or on the Harley and going somewhere.

It does get very warm in the car when plugged into the car charger.

The garmin USB cables do not have 5 wires (they have 4). There are 5 pins on the mini USB plug but the extra "ID" pin is not connected to any wire inside the cable.

The USB cable (with a USB type A plug on one end and a mini type B plug on the other end) that comes with some Garmin units has no connection between the ID pin and the ground pin at the mini plug. This kind of cable is consistent with the USB official standard for cables with a type A plug on one end and a mini type B plug on the other end, and most camera USB cables with a mini type B plug are exactly the same.

The Garmin cable with a "cigar lighter" plug on on one end and a USB mini plug on the other end has a resistor built into the mini plug that is connected between the ID pin and the ground pin inside the plug.

The Garmin units can detect whether the mini plug has an imbedded resistor or not and thus "knows" what kind of power source is attached to it.

Four wires, five wires, I really thought that these wires were universal once they fit the connectors.
Finding out much difference after upgrading i-phones and purchasing an i-pad2.
The wires that worked on the older models do not charge the newer models. My laptop does not charge my i-pad2 from usb either....
Money; Money; Money!!!!!!!

The USB standards have changed a lot going from 2.0 to 3.0. Also many manufacturers do not follow the official standards.

Garmin pretty much follows USB 2.0 specifications except for the value of the resistor used at the ID pin.

BTW: The "x" designation mentioned by Toaster appears on pinout websites such as pinouts.ru but is not in the official USB specifications (see the USB 2.0 specification at USB.org).

http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/

The official specification for the numbering of the pins on a USB mini plug and the color of associated cable wires are:

1 VBUS Red
2 D- White
3 D+ Green
4 ID
5 GND Black

I thought a USB cable was a USB cable.

I keep one cable, I think it is the one for my camera, at my desk and use it for my GPS and Camera because it has the same kind of plug.

Guess I am just lucky as so far they have all worked on the one plug. I will have to pay attention next time I buy something with a USB cable.

Thanks for all the great information!

I left a unit plugged in for a few hours and didn't charge at all.

In the future you probaly will find micro Type B plugs on camera cables instead of the older mini Type B.

I imagine that Garmin will stick with the mini Type B for quite a while, at least on their "Automotive" GPSr line.

Turns out they've already gone to the Micro Type B connector on the Nuvi 37X0 series; my 3790 has one. Probably because of the thin profile of the unit.

In Win XP Device Manager you can view all of the USB Hubs available on your PC or laptop. Click Properties and then the Power tab and you will see what power is available and how much of it is being used when your GPS is plugged in. I'm sure my Win 7 at home will show me the same information.

Under the power tab my hubs will all provide 500mA and the ZUMO when connected (w/SD card) is informing the laptop that it requires 500mA. If you connect to a hub that has more than 1 port and already has devices connected to that hub using some of the power the system may not provide the required power to the port the GPS is connected as it will exceed the hub max power.

I no expert on USB hubs/ports or how the laptop controls the hubs/ports but I do know if I need 500 mA from a 500 mA limited source and I already have 250 mA in use on one port, something has to give if I ask it to now supply another 500mA to the GPS. It very well may inform the GPS that it may turn on and operate but to not charge itself.

So, try and pick a hub that has no other devices connected to get full use of the available power.

They have and you'd better be careful when inserting
I'd rather have a round plug or stay with type A. I don't like this finicky stuff.

USB Type A is for the Host . In any USB computer to device connection the computer is the host and always has a type A receptacle.

USB Type B is for the attached device, originally a printer. When smaller devices started to be connected to computers(such as cameras) the need for smaller receptacles on the devices lead to the mini Type B. A demand for even smaller receptacles led to the micro Type B.

Devices that will be attached to a computer always have a Type B receptacle.

The cable that attaches a device to a computer always has a full size Type A plug on one end to mate to the full size Type A receptacle on the computer. The other end will have a Type B plug but may be be a full size, a mini, or a micro depending on the particular device(s) the cable is meant to be used on. The ID pin on mini and micro plugs on this kind of computer-to-device cable will always be "floating" ie not connected to anything.