Garmin Nuvi 660 won't run off car power after replacing internal battery

Our 660 started doing the SAME THING about 3 years ago...

Except that it failed before I replaced the battery. Though once it failed, it would work for a while on new battery, until that battery was exhausted...

In our case, I, too, thought it was the battery, not the charging system... Which is where the problem was....

In our case, I determined that the power, (by the way, I did check, and even replace, the fuse in the cigarette lighter charger) which got to the rear connector, but power did not make it into the 660... to charge the battery or run off the car DC power. Wife's Phone would charge and run off cigarette lighter plug, by the way.... Problem followed 660 charging system... Somewhere within 660.

I did fix it.... by removing the power (and unfortunately Traffic and FM modulator) from the rear of the unit (nothing connects to the rear connector now... and I now power the 660 via the USB connector....

Hopefully some one good at searching old threads will find the 2 threads I had on this... One thread following the symptoms I encountered that pretty much followed yours....

And the most important Thread: How to make a USB cable that will power a 660 off of the USB port.... I wanted this to be a sticky, but it didn't get that far... Maybe now that a 2nd person can find it helpful, if found it can be made a sticky.

From Memory.... I took a standard 4 pin USB and a mini 5 Pin USB cable, cut both in half, and connected all the same colored wires together, except on the 5 pin cable (I think pin 3 the blue wire but don't hold me to it), was connected to a different color on the 4 pin cable (I think yellow, pin 4??? again, don't hold me to it--Find my post). This created a Standard USB 4 pin cable that connected Power to 2 different pins on the 5 pin Mini USB that fits the 660, and powers the 660 via the USB cable!
Been using that successfully for 3+ years!

The post I refer to is 100% correct and accurate, and contained a rudimentary text created diagram of the connections....

Anyway, with this modified USB Cable, I've been able to run the 660 off of USB Supplied power for years.....and it charges the internal battery, too!!!

Folks..... See if you can find the post, and maybe make it a sticky for the 660....

That will fix your symptoms and you may try leaving the external connector attached to see if the Traffic and FM Modulator still works... I did not try that....

Good Luck, and please post your results...

Doing it yourself has a better chance of success than asking someone else to do it. Making a FAQ is no tougher than posting a message on a forum. Try it:

http://www.poi-factory.com/node/add/faq

PS: You're not alone. I also worried about creating a FAQ before creating my first one.

tbellamny, go to the batteryship web site and search for the nuvi 660 battery. You'll see the battery and connector and several Q&As that may be of help to you. What I suggest is to give the new battery a full charge (overnight with an AC wall adapter or computer USB port that doesn't go to sleep). Maybe with a full charge, the new battery run from the vehicle's cigarette lighter socket will work. It's certainly worth a try.

http://www.batteryship.com/

Is this it?
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/44261

That's the first of the two posts....
I looked in my Garmin manual, and found the two adapters I used to create the cable..... Using those, and the cable I made, and a DVM, I can then determine which wires are connected to which cable...... I wish we could post pictures.....

I'll go get cable and ohm it out!!!

Be back in a few minutes with the info.... which I'll try and make as clear as possible.... and post it here, and try and make a sticky out of it...

Later!

OK.. I used this adapter to determine pinouts....
https://www.adafruit.com/product/1833?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItejE...

Now... based upon that--- and this pinout information of USB and Mini pinouts..... http://www.hobbytronics.co.uk/usb-connector-pinout

Cut 5 pin mini USB cable in half, and also cut USB cable in half (refer to pinout link above)

Connected pin 1 of mini USB cable to pin 1 of USB cable (RED WIRE +5V)

I DID NOT Connected pin 2 OR pin 3 of mini USB cable to pin 2 or pin 3 of USB cable (Neither wire are used.... We are just powering GPS, not sharing data)

connected wires for pin 4 and pin 5 of mini USB cable to Pin 4 of USB cable (4 is ID, 5 is Ground on mini---4 is Ground on USB)

With this cable, you can power a 660 off of the USB Port

I also submitted a FAQ Thanks for that information...

Where you see Mini USB..... Think Micro USB My bad and can't edit it now!

Frankly, I wouldn't put a dime into a GPS that old. The newer processors, significantly enhanced routing engine, safety and guidance features, improved speed, performance, battery life, etc. makes it very compelling to invest in a new one. Just my two cents.

First, what replacement battery are you using? Second, the 660 receives power through the mount by internal gold fingers that are compressed against the gold contacts of the printed circuit board. The board must be secured down well enough to compress the board against the fingers. If the replacement battery is too thick, this may prevent the board from touching the fingers. The side USB port is an alternate way to power the 660 with either a DC charger or AC charger/adapter. All of the fingers must be compressed against the board or the unit will not receive external power and will run on battery only until the battery goes dead. Make sure none of the fingers are bent or missing. Bloated batteries are known to lift the board up from the fingers but that should not apply here, since your battery is new. The board sits on top of the fingers and is held down with screws. When the unit is snapped into the mount, the unit should automatically power on if the outlet is active and you should see a yellow lightning bolt over the green battery icon. Here is a picture of the internal fingers. http://www.sharc.net/images/bloated_battery6.jpg

tbellamy, check what sharcnet has said as he's most likely the premier hardware expert here at the POI Factory.