Garmin GPS Internal Batteries

I have several older Garmins, both automotive and handheld, with bad batteries. All boot fine when external power is applied. I'm not aware of any Garmin GPS that won't.

For what it's worth, nearly all handheld Garmin units are serviceable...meaning that they are generally quite easy to open by the user. When I had the eTrex Touch for the two months that I did (it was returned to possibly be purchased at a later time when all of it's "issues" have been resolved), I noted that the unit is held together with six Torx drive screws. I didn't open it, but these units are in no way "sealed" as most of today's mobile phones are. Assuming the batteries are not proprietary, by the time the original battery fails I'm sure there will be replacements readily available. I'm sure Garmin won't recommend a user swap out a built-in battery but I would think it would be totally doable by anyone with some skill.

I believe that even with a "bad" battery in the unit, the unit can still be powered externally by a USB power source. I believe all battery powered Garmin units have the capability to also be externally powered.

Thank you for the replies

My Garmin Zumo XT is starting to show it age. If I can continue to get by with using external power, that is very good to know. I have considered sending it in to Garmin because of the battery and the mini USB port. For $130 they will return a refurbished Zumo XT after I send my current one in to them.

I am still not completely ruling out replacing the battery myself. I watched a video yesterday on replacing the Zumo XT battery. They are using a torx screwdriver, either a T3 or T5. The OEM battery is apparently unavailable, but there are aftermarket batteries that will work, from what I have read.

I haven't looked into replacing the mini USB port. Maybe I could do it, but maybe I would rather get a refurbished unit.

What I don't know, of course, if how long the refurbished units will be available. Or, for that matter, if the price will remain $130.

On the other hand, maybe when my current Zumo XT needs to be replaced I might spring for a newer model.

On a couple of my older automotive units with bad batteries, if I'm navigating a route and disconnect external power, the unit will drop the route and it has to be entered again. Waypoint info, maps and saved routes aren't affected.

On newer GPSR's, some of this data is stored in non volatile memory and won't have this issue.

My first or second Garmin navigator was a 765t. Excellent device, as I recall. Other than the infamous firmware update that completely bricked it - an update that I avoided by literally hours - the only weakness I recall was a battery that lost significant capacity over time. I don't recall if it was Li-ion, but it was long enough ago it might have been NiCad. It was a common enough issue that you could buy battery replacement kits from various online sellers that included a plastic pry tool to open the case, as well as a replacement 3rd party battery. It's been a long time, but the replacement process was fairly straightforward as I recall. I don't think there was any soldering required, like there is with some battery swaps.

yeah, they will work on external power unlike my razor that runs on batteries and when they go bad the razor is done as it won't run on external power so the supplied a/c cord is useless at that point. Planned obsolescence, never bought that brand again.

If you've had experience with refurb units and purchased maps, you can ignore this reply.

If not, be aware that most maps are tied to the unit they were pre-loaded onto or purchased for. That means you will lose the preloaded or purchased maps on the old unit. You would need to contact Garmin to have the maps transferred to the new refurb unit (I don't know for certain if they still do this...they did in the past). I believe one would have to prove that the old unit was indeed destroyed or was non-functional or actually send it in to them for them to transfer maps from one unit to an other.

Just something to keep in mind.

…on devices that are old with marginal batteries use caution and don’t leave them on a charger unattended for an extended period As an example of what can happen, but not a Garmin, my wife’s cell phone phone a few years ago literally blew the back off the case which was accompanied with some minor sparking. She had it in the car at the time so simply unplugged it. The battery was about twice the normal thickness. Ultimately I replaced the battery with an iFixit kit.

IFixit has nice kits. I replaced the battery in a nuvi 265 about two years ago. One nice thing is there is a local iFixit store and they were helpful (at no charge) in opening the case.

Thank you to both of you for your replies.

That is good to know. While I anticipated that I would lose the preloaded or purchased maps, I did not know that I might be able to have the maps transferred to the new refurb unit. I also have some on a micro SD and I would certainly remove that before sending mine in to Garmin.

I noticed that the Garmin Zumo displays differently depending on what power supply I use. I have a Garmin GTM 60 HD Digital Traffic Receiver connected to a 12 volt power supply in my house. When the Zumo is on and connected to that, it will display:

Charging the battery.

Press the Power key to turn on.

Then it will display:

Charging complete.

Press the Power key to turn on.

I also have a Garmin PSC05R-050A1 USB Switching Power Supply Wall Charger. I don't recall for sure which device it came with. Maybe a Garmin Nuvifone G60. Anyway, I think the Zumo will display that it is charging the battery, but never display charging complete.

The difference that I can see is the GTM 60 provides 2 amps at 5 VDC and the wal wart only provides 1 amp at 5 VDC.

I have also noticed that when it is connected to the motorcycle mount and using a power bank to power it, it never displays either Charging the battery or Charging complete, even though there is an icon in the upper right showing it is charging.

Two of my power banks have blue USB ports. That means they are USB 3.0, typically 5VDC 0.9A–1.5A. Maybe I should get a power bank with USB 3.1 or 3.2 for longer run times.

https://www.usbmemorydirect.com/blog/usb-port-colors/?srslti...

I found this on the Garmin website:

Current Draw of the zūmo XT Motorcycle Power Cable

Zūmo® XT GPS navigator:

When the zūmo XT is NOT connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the parasitic current draw of the Motorcycle Power Cable is 150uA @ 12V.

When the Zūmo XT IS connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the current draw is Input: 10-30V, 1.5A (max) Output: 4.8-5.5V, 1.5A.

Additional information can be found in Voltage Input/Output and Fuse Specs for Automotive Power Cables.
________________________________________________________

Another thing that I have noticed when displaying the diagnostic screen is when Zumo shows Charging Complete using the GTM 60, I check and it shows:

Batt Capacity 100 and remain there for a while

The interesting thing is when I use other cables, it will also show:

Batt Capacity 100, but starting dropping fairly soon after that.

Maybe my battery isn't that bad and justs needs to get charged on 2 amps or more to "fully charge" it!