Powering the Garmin unit on before starting car
Fri, 09/01/2023 - 11:34am
![]() ![]() ![]() 6 years
|
I was driving yesterday, and my wife was cleaning the area around the plug. She had to pull out the garmin power cable for a few minutes. Since the unit was powered on when I started the car, the garmin unit immediately turned off. From now on I am going to power the garmin unit on before starting the car, and turn the unit off when am ready to leave the car. This should prevent the unit from turning on and off while driving when there are temporary power interruptions. Most of you probably turn the unit on and off with the car. What are your thoughts?
Too much bother
My units all ask if I want to keep it running when it loses power. So just respond with the don't shut off....
I manually shut the newer units off when I turn off the car at the end of the day so I don't drain the battery, other than that I leave it do what it wants....
I never get lost, but I do explore new territory every now and then.
As KenShy states
Most recent units (your profile shows DriveSmart 5, Drive 52, Nuvi 2455LMT) should provide a prompt when powered down. Which device specifically is it?
Powered down means pulling the plug and in many cars, when the ignition is off the power to the socket is off. But if you don’t get that message when you pull the plug and immediately get a blank screen, there might be a battery issue. So check behavior on battery.
John from PA
I believe that they all should give a prompt
Most recent units (your profile shows DriveSmart 5, Drive 52, Nuvi 2455LMT) should provide a prompt when powered down. Which device specifically is it?
Powered down means pulling the plug and in many cars, when the ignition is off the power to the socket is off. But if you don’t get that message when you pull the plug and immediately get a blank screen, there might be a battery issue. So check behavior on battery.
I've got a 2455 and a DriveSmart 65 and both say they're shutting down in something like 16 seconds. They give you the option to cancel the shutdown. My much older unit prior to these two also gave the option. I agree with John from PA. there could be a battery issue.
DriveSmart 65, NUVI2555LMT, (NUVI350 is Now Retired)
Agreed
Most recent units (your profile shows DriveSmart 5, Drive 52, Nuvi 2455LMT) should provide a prompt when powered down. Which device specifically is it?
Powered down means pulling the plug and in many cars, when the ignition is off the power to the socket is off. But if you don’t get that message when you pull the plug and immediately get a blank screen, there might be a battery issue. So check behavior on battery.
I agree that an immediate power off (not sleep, but a shutdown resulting in a reboot screen the next time started up) is an indication of a battery issue on most devices and we need to know which device is being mentioned here.
A battery issue could be 1) an old weak battery unable to take a charge and indication that a battery replacement is needed, or 2) it could be a battery that's been drained by going into sleep mode overnight or until the next time the vehicle is driven. Since I don't know I'll be driving even in the next day, when I turn off my engine and see the short "I'm about to go asleep" message, I hold the power button down until the true Power Off mode option appears, then turn it off.
garmin-nuvi-user, what does the charge icon on the device's home screen show if you power up the device on its own, not connected to the cigarette lighter cable? If it shows maybe a 50% charge after being on for a couple minutes, either option 1 or 2, above, applies. I think we also need to know if the vehicle's cigarette lighter socket stays powered with the engine off or if the socket shuts down.
Varies
Some very old GPSr's I've owned just switch to battery if vehicle power is lost. Other old units go into sleep mode and some just turn off.
Newer units, like the Nuvi 3597, DL51 and RV890 I now use, prompt you to either stay on or power off. If no choice is made, they time out and go into sleep mode.
Some, mostly handhelds, have power options you can set. The behavior varies with the GPS.
The battery is probably weak.
The unit is a Garmin Drive 52 purchased refurbished in early 2021. I did not realize the battery was going bad. Come to think of it I have not seen it with a full charge in a while. I just powered it on, and it told me the battery was low. I just used it all day long a few days ago.
When the unit's power cable was unplugged to clean, the unit immediately shut off. There was no prompt to stay on. When it was plugged back in, it went into reboot mode doing a full startup. Later on in the day when I shut the engine off it did prompt me whether or not to stay on.
Thank you for the replies. I will start looking for a replacement unit or a replacement battery.
NewPower 99 battery
Thank you for the replies. I will start looking for a replacement unit or a replacement battery.
I have had several good experiences with the replacement batteries from NewPower99. The kit, currently on sale, comes with the tools you need to crack the case. There is also a video for online assistance. See https://newpower99.com/products/garmin-drive-52-battery-repl... for the kit, currently on sale by the way.
John from PA
charge the battery
Before giving up on the old battery, charge it using a wall charger for about 5 hours. This will make up for any lack of use in the car.
A computer USB port is just not good enough because it provides lower amperage than a wall charger. If the computer goes to sleep the power in the USB port goes off.
Kinda…
A computer USB port is just not good enough because it provides lower amperage than a wall charger. If the computer goes to sleep the power in the USB port goes off.
In the absence of a wall charger you might be able to use a laptop port, at least as a form of diagnostics.
A USB 3 port on a laptop can deliver 0.9 amp which is sufficient to charge most Garmin devices, especially when connected but OFF. No guarantees, colors aren’t mandatory, but that USB 3 port will usually have blue internals. Ports that adhere to USB 2 are white or black and only deliver 0.5 amp. Best to check the laptop specs that should clearly show the ports and protocol.
As far as the ports powering down on laptop standby, that generally is true, but that can be changed in the Windows power settings panel.
John from PA
I just ordered 2 batteries
I just ordered 2 batteries (one for my Drive Smart 5 and one for my Driv 52). I use the units for all day errands in the car. The battery bars never go to green. They are usually yellow and go to red after 5-10 minutes of use.
Did you do a long charge on a wall charger
I just ordered 2 batteries (one for my Drive Smart 5 and one for my Driv 52). I use the units for all day errands in the car. The battery bars never go to green. They are usually yellow and go to red after 5-10 minutes of use.
Did you do the long charge on a wall type charger (as others like dobs108 have suggested)? If you did, and they showed green then the battery was likely good and the device was just faced with insufficient charging time.
John from PA
External power
I just ordered 2 batteries (one for my Drive Smart 5 and one for my Driv 52). I use the units for all day errands in the car. The battery bars never go to green. They are usually yellow and go to red after 5-10 minutes of use.
With the GPS brightness set to a desirable level, these On The Road GPS devices are not meant to be run without external power.
My guess is that a still-good battery can show a yellow to red level, or a dead battery in a few short minutes if powered only with the internal battery. I can't offer specifics as I never run an automotive GPS on an internal battery alone for more than a minute or two after an indoors software or map update or POI revision, just to make sure the update works.
True
I just ordered 2 batteries (one for my Drive Smart 5 and one for my Driv 52). I use the units for all day errands in the car. The battery bars never go to green. They are usually yellow and go to red after 5-10 minutes of use.
With the GPS brightness set to a desirable level, these On The Road GPS devices are not meant to be run without external power.
My guess is that a still-good battery can show a yellow to red level, or a dead battery in a few short minutes if powered only with the internal battery. I can't offer specifics as I never run an automotive GPS on an internal battery alone for more than a minute or two after an indoors software or map update or POI revision, just to make sure the update works.
Bad batteries affect different GPSr's in different ways. I have a few older units with long gone batteries that boot and function normally under external power.
Map and firmware updates need to be done on these units via a USB port which supplies adequate amperage. Otherwise, I still find them useable.
Time will tell if this holds true as the batteries age on my newer GPSr's though.
charge the batteries
I just ordered 2 batteries (one for my Drive Smart 5 and one for my Driv 52). I use the units for all day errands in the car. The battery bars never go to green. They are usually yellow and go to red after 5-10 minutes of use.
New batteries aren't fully charged. Use a wall charger to charge the batteries for a long time, like 5 hours.
Another thought - make sure the cigar lighter outlet is actually on when the ignition is on and make sure it is not intermittent.
A Good Battery Should Last 30 Minutes
Sometimes I am too lazy to plug the unit in. I can usually go about a half hour on units which have a good battery. My units are set to dim the display automatically when on battery power.