Garmin Battery Connectors Problem

[Gaddiel]

I've recently started having a problem with my eTrex Legend. It will turn itself off if it gets bumped. Sometimes I also have trouble getting it to turn on. According to what I've read, this is a problem that some of the eTrex series GPSrs have, and it is caused by a flaky connection on one or both of the battery leads.

My question: Anybody know of someone who could work on this for me, other than Garmin? The unit is probably about 18 months out of warranty at this point, and probably would not be worth sending off for a refurbish...

Wayne

[Geoark1]

Might want to contact Garmin I had the same problem with my Summit contacted them cost me 6 buck to return and they sent a refurbished unit free of charge.

[nonnipoppy]

Hey Gaddiel,

I'm not sure if the problem is the same but my 60CS had a bit of trouble with batteries not making contact all the time. I got a small piece of small cell foam (from some kind of packaging at Wal Mart). This was cut into small blocks about .5 X .3 inches. These were wedged between the two parts of the battery contacts. They are folded metal that forms an inverted V and the foam is wedged inside if that inverted V keeping it from collapsing so much. No more problem. Good luck. I do have an old GPSIII that you are welcome to use If you choose to send yours off to Garmin. Just let me know.........poppy

[RuffRidr]

I had that exact same problem with my Legend. What I would do is reach in there and stretch out the springs a bit. That would seem to work for a week or two. Eventually, my Legend started developing other problems. Such as the dreaded lines on the screen. The finally, the rubber thing around the whole unit broke. I called up Garmin and they had me ship it to them. They sent me a brand new unit back in less than a week. Oh ya, mine was way past the warranty period as well. If I were you I'd give them a try. They seem like a really good company, who stands by their product.

--RuffRidr

[Gaddiel]

Might want to contact Garmin...

They seem like a really good company, who stands by their product.

Good advice. We've already sent it back once for repair. They covered it under warranty, even though it was about 3 months past the warranty period. Had it back within a week... I think I will call them and see what they can do. The worst they can tell me is "No"...

[cachecrazies]

Here's another vote for Garmin service!

We sent Bob's Legend in for repairs and/or replacement ($99.00 flat fee) and they sent back a brand new gps! Can't beat this kind of service as far as we're concerned! And quickly too! Gonna keep this in mind in case my 60CS goes haywire! A new unit ends up costing 1/2 or less of what you can buy it for.

Oh yeah, his had the lines in the screen problem, bad rubber casing and the weak battery connections.

[Gaddiel]

Well, I called Garmin. The first lady told me to try upgrading the firmware, doing a hard reset, etc. (not much help). However, I called back the next day and got another tech that told me they could not repair it under warranty, but he had another suggestion.

He told me to wrap some tape around the body of each battery. This insures a good, tight fit in the compartment. It seems that not all batteries are the exact same circumfrence and length. Well, anyway, I tried it and it WORKED! So far, I have had no further problem. Guess it wasn't the battery leads after all...

Just wanted to pass this good information along...

Wayne

[sancho]

http://home.triad.rr.com/ralloh/Vista%2 ... Repair.pdf


this seems to be the real problem not the batteries at least for the two units i know of.

hope the link still works