Sporttrack Map Dies

[Mr. TSP]

I got caught in a hellacious rain today while caching. My ST Map got pretty wet but continued to work OK. Yes, mine does have the hairline cracks where the screws are and I'm sure some moisture got into the unit because the display window fogged up very slightly on the inside.

 

After the rain I continued to use it for a while, worked OK. After I got home I tried to turn it on but it won't power up at all. I replaced batteries, nada. I tried using the external power cable, nada. I took it apart to see if there is any water inside, nada.

 

Now I seem to remember there was a way to get this to power on by a combination of button presses but maybe I'm wrong.

 

After hearing horror stories about Magellan's poor technical service I hate to send it in for repair but might have to.

 

Any ideas before I resort to the drastic?

 

Thanks.

[+embra]

I'd try my best to dry it out thoroughly. My preferred method is to put it into a warm oven (no hotter than 100 degrees), turn the heat off on the oven, and leave it overnight. If you've taken it apart, so much the better to improve air circulation.

 

There was a recent thread that had a lot of good suggestions for drying out a unit that got dropped in the drink. That one involved salt water, though. With rain, I think you stand a better chance with less intense interventions than were offered there.

[Team GeoSpeedy]

I think this is the drastic you're looking for:

 

Waterlogged GPS

 

-p

[Mr. TSP]

I think this is the drastic you're looking for:

 

Waterlogged GPS

 

-p

Thanks. There seems to be some life left in it as I can hear very faint beeps coming from it when I try to power it on. I got a can of compressed dry air that I'll try and use to completely blow any remaining moisture. This wasn't exposed to salt water so shouldn't need extensive cleaning. If worse comes to worse I'll send it back for repair or just buy something new and waterproof.

 

Thanks again.

[Mr. TSP]

It's now officially dead as three of the wires connecting the batteries/external power contacts have broken away from the circuit board during my repeated opening and closing of the unit. I tried to resolder these but it's too delicate of a job. I got a return authorization to repair from Magellan but I'm just going to put this one out to pasture since I'm sure this will be too uneconomical to fix.

[Team GeoSpeedy]

It's now officially dead as three of the wires connecting the batteries/external power contacts have broken away from the circuit board during my repeated opening and closing of the unit. I tried to resolder these but it's too delicate of a job. I got a return authorization to repair from Magellan but I'm just going to put this one out to pasture since I'm sure this will be too uneconomical to fix.

Ebay! "non-working unit for sale". Heck, I've bought worse! Some engineering college student with a little extra lab time would give $20 for it. It's a win:win... You get $20, s/he gets some practice.

 

-p