Compass Calibration

[+Zen Cooker #1]

There has been some discussion about the merits or demerits of rechargable batteries in GPSrs. Despite the fact that millions of cell phone users rely on rechargables, while some GPS users can't trust 'em, here's another factor to consider...

 

With Magellan GPSrs that have built-in compasses, the compass has to be recalibrated every time the user changes batteries. With my SporTrak Color, that has been a real pain. I now have a eXplorist 600 with a rechargable battery, which means that my days of continual compass recalibration are over.

 

AA's? You've got to be kidding me!

[+Miragee]

Uh . . . how much trouble is it to calibrate the compass on a Magellan GPSr?

[+D0T-C0M]

well with an explorist600 it takes a few minutes which involves getting away from any metallic/magnetic sources and running through the calibration procedure.

[+Miragee]

Oh . . . on my Garmin GPSrs, all I have to do is turn the unit around slowly two complete revolutions while holding it level.

[+Zen Cooker #1]

That's the same procedure for a Magellan. However, every time that you have to replace the AA's, you have to recalibrate the compass. With rechargables, that should be once only.

[+Miragee]

Half the time I change my rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, I forget to calibrate the compass. The GPSr still gets me to the cache just as well. Doesn't seem like a deal breaker to me. I would still rather have AA-size batteries for my GPSr that can also be used in my camera.

 

My 15-minute charger makes getting fresh, charged batteries very easy.

[+Rubberhead]

I just change the batteries with the unit powered from hardwired connection. I haven't had to recalibrate in a year.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Seriously.... calibrating the compass takes what? 10, 15 seconds, tops?

 

Id rather sit there for 5 minutes calibrating my compass then have to live with that stupid lithium battery pack.

 

I swear, laziness is going to kill us all.

[gpstrekkers]

I just change the batteries with the unit powered from hardwired connection.  I haven't had to recalibrate in a year.

Ditto that! (almost) I've also calibrated my platinum in my hand. Seems to work just fine.

[+briansnat]

Calibrating the compass isn't an issue for me. It takes about 40 seconds. Being out on a hike and 10 miles from a battery charger while watching my battery strength bars wind down would be.

[+D0T-C0M]

not beating a dead horse here but for sake of argument, replacement Li-ion batteries are 7$ on ebay for the explorist. USB battery packs are like $10. This is becoming a repeat of the other battery thread. There will be those who like Li-ion and those who perfer AA batteries. All we can do is give everyone all the information and let them decide what is best for them. Initially I was against Li-ion but now that cheap replacements Li-ions have been found and USB battery packs are available I have changed my mind and now find the convience of being able to charge the battery in the unit more convenient. Another thing I like is the Li-ion in my explorist takes 4 hours tops to charge if completely exhausted, My AA rechargables takes like 8 hours.

Edited August 9, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+briansnat]

eplacement Li-ion batteries are 7$ on ebay for the explorist.

 

And if you're off backpacking or canoing for a week, or even on vacation I'm sure you can order one from e-Bay like that.

Edited August 9, 2005 by briansnat

[stevesisti]

not beating a dead horse here but for sake of argument, replacement Li-ion batteries are 7$ on ebay for the explorist. USB battery packs are like $10. This is becoming a repeat of the other battery thread. There will be those who like Li-ion and those who perfer AA batteries. All we can do is give everyone all the information and let them decide what is best for them. Initially I was against Li-ion but now that cheap replacements Li-ions have been found and USB battery packs are available I have changed my mind and now find the convience of being able to charge the battery in the unit more convenient. Another thing I like is the Li-ion in my explorist takes 4 hours tops to charge if completely exhausted, My AA rechargables takes like 8 hours.

If you are going to give people the information, at least make sure it's accurate.....you must have a real crappy AA charger........current models recharge AA's in 90 minutes, and maintain the charge till you remove them.

 

Another interesting point is that 90 min, or 4 hrs or 8 hrs doesn't really matter....if you didn't put'em in the charger the night before, your not going to sit and wait for the bats to charge the morning you need them.

[+TotemLake]

There was an interesting experiment done sometime last year and it was posted in this forum of which I'm too lazy to look up.

 

That person discovered using the same two rechargeables in the same exact position after being recharged will not require recalibrating the compass. It was a point of fact I was able to repeat.

[+D0T-C0M]

eplacement Li-ion batteries are 7$ on ebay for the explorist.

 

And if you're off backpacking or canoing for a week, or even on vacation I'm sure you can order one from e-Bay like that.

thats what the USB battery pack is for. The Li-ion last anywhere from 14 to 17 hours. You plug it in at night or put your spare Li-ion on charge while you use up the one in your GPS.

 

What Im trying to provide are cheap alternatives when planning long trips with your Li-ion devices. Many people probably never go on week long trips out in the wilderness but for those who use Li-ion, 99% of the time you won't go through more than a couple fully charged Li-ion batteries but the USB battery pack can increase your power supply indefinately.

Edited August 9, 2005 by D0T-C0M

[+D0T-C0M]

not beating a dead horse here but for sake of argument, replacement Li-ion batteries are 7$ on ebay for the explorist. USB battery packs are like $10. This is becoming a repeat of the other battery thread. There will be those who like Li-ion and those who perfer AA batteries. All we can do is give everyone all the information and let them decide what is best for them. Initially I was against Li-ion but now that cheap replacements Li-ions have been found and USB battery packs are available I have changed my mind and now find the convience of being able to charge the battery in the unit more convenient. Another thing I like is the Li-ion in my explorist takes 4 hours tops to charge if completely exhausted, My AA rechargables takes like 8 hours.

If you are going to give people the information, at least make sure it's accurate.....you must have a real crappy AA charger........current models recharge AA's in 90 minutes, and maintain the charge till you remove them.

 

Another interesting point is that 90 min, or 4 hrs or 8 hrs doesn't really matter....if you didn't put'em in the charger the night before, your not going to sit and wait for the bats to charge the morning you need them.

Well I have 2 chargers, One is a brand new durcell charger and the batteries in this charger takes about 6 to 8 hours. The information I put out was accurate for my charger. If there are other chargers out there that will charge them in 90min then thats great you provided that information.

[+Couparangus]

If you use the same type of alkaline batteries why would you need to re-calibrate anyway? I haven't held a magnet to a battery lately, but aren't they primarily made from copper and zinc? The last time I checked these two metals weren't ferrous. I guess the anode & cathode have some magnetic materials hence the need to calibrate.

 

If Garmin/Magellan were smart(er) they would design their GPS receivers to only use proprietary rechargeable battery packs. They could also sell a drop-in rapid charger. This way they could offer all different capacities and perhaps even offer a pack that allowed the user to install alkalines. Maybe they've done this and I'm just not up to date?

[+apersson850]

Notice that keeping the unit supplied externally, while changing the battery, isn't what makes it unnecessary to calibrate the compass. The need (if there is any) for recalibration after battery exchange is that batteries may have different magnetic characteristics. That applies even if the GPS was powered during the exchange, of course.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Just another reason to use a real base late compass that sells for less the $10.00.

I do not even bother Calibrating my sport track color. If I need a compass I use one of my base plate compasses.

[stevesisti]

You might want to make sure there is nothing wrong with your charger. I have a Duracell charger (Duracell 1-Hour Battery Charger (CEF80NC) and it also chargers NIMH AA's in an hour.

 

Either way I don't see much of an argument for either type battery....If you have a rechargeable Lion battery, get a few spare bats and maybe an extra charger and you don't have a problem.

[+JohnnyVegas]

Well in did not take long to get this thread off topic, for those that want to dicuss batteries why not just go the that thread and post your old tired comments over there.

 

Batteries

 

The OP was commenting on the merrit of a GPS with a built in magnetic compass, not about what type of battery should my GPS have in it.(He already as a new Explorist 600) And the issue of recalibrating the magnetic compass

The question was not whick is better Std. AAs, Rechargabe AAs or lithuim ion

Edited August 9, 2005 by JohnnyVegas

[+northernpenguin]

I had to send my eXplorist 600 back in for service and use my older eTrex which had no compass in it.

I have been in the habit of yanking my battery out all the time in the eXplorist to get at the SD Card, and also in the habit of rarely remembering to recalibrate it.

 

I've had no problems whatsoever with the compass - even with the battery going in and out like flashlight batteries.

 

Going back to that eTrex for two weeks though sure was a noticable difference. There's no way I'd buy a GPSr that didn't have a compass in it now.

[peter]

If you use the same type of alkaline batteries why would you need to re-calibrate anyway?

Just because you're using the same type or model of battery doesn't mean its magnetization will be the same. I just checked some of my NiMH and alkaline cells by holding a compass needle near them and the degree and polarity of the magnetization were random - i.e. on some cells the positive terminal attracted the 'N' end of the compass while on others (same brand&type) it attracted the 'S' end.

 

If you're using NiMH cells and want to avoid the need to recalibrate it wouldn't be too hard to select a couple pairs of cells that all display nearly the same magnetization level and polarity. The calibration shouldn't be affected as long as you just swap between your selected cells.

[+briansnat]

Well in did not take long to get this thread off topic, for those that want to dicuss batteries why not just go the that thread and post your old tired comments over there.

 

Batteries

 

The OP was commenting on the merrit of a GPS with a built in magnetic compass, not about what type of battery should my GPS have in it.(He already as a new Explorist 600) And the issue of recalibrating the magnetic compass

The question was not whick is better Std. AAs, Rechargabe AAs or lithuim ion

I think he was discussing the merits of a certain kind of battery used with units with a magnetic compass.

 

BTW, congrats on your appointment as moderator of this forum!

[stevesisti]

Well in did not take long to get this thread off topic, for those that want to dicuss batteries why not just go the that thread and post your old tired comments over there.

 

Batteries

 

The OP was commenting on the merrit of a GPS with a built in magnetic compass, not about what type of battery should my GPS have in it.(He already as a new Explorist 600) And the issue of recalibrating the magnetic compass

The question was not whick is better Std. AAs, Rechargabe AAs or lithuim ion

Maybe you didn't read the posting correctly...the subject was "another" reason for proprietary rechargeables vs AA's......citing another reason will inevitably bring comment on the "original" reasons...seems perfectly normal to me. You're also making the assumption that everyone reads every post...doesn't happen here, doesn't happen in any forum set-up. If people want to coment or recomment, I say let'em go without "reprimanding" them :0)

[+JanniCash]

Well in did not take long to get this thread off topic, for those that  want to dicuss batteries why not just go the that thread and post your old tired comments over there.

 

Batteries

 

The OP was commenting  on the merrit of a GPS with a built in magnetic compass, not about what type of battery should my GPS have in it.(He already as a new Explorist 600) And the issue of recalibrating the magnetic compass

The question was not whick is better Std. AAs, Rechargabe AAs or lithuim ion

I guess that the color is supposed to indicate you're getting red and blue in the face. Don't bother, your spelling documents your aroused state more than enough.

 

And you are quite wrong. The OP made a point against the use of AA cells (rechargable or not), which requires recalibration of the compass.

 

Here is a question for everyone who still has normal blood pressure. I am not sure, do Li-Ion batteries have the same magnetism issues that other cell types have? If so, all the wonderfull cheap Li-Ion substitutes (from cellphones or what they reported to work lately) would cause exactly the same effect.

 

Jan

[peter]

Here is a question for everyone who still has normal blood pressure. I am not sure, do Li-Ion batteries have the same magnetism issues that other cell types have? If so, all the wonderfull cheap Li-Ion substitutes (from cellphones or what they reported to work lately) would cause exactly the same effect.

Checking the Li+ cell from my cellphone shows that it has a very small amount of magnetization - much less than I found on my alkaline and NiMH cells.

 

But even if Li+ cells were magnetized, they usually wouldn't lead to a need for recalibration since the cell is recharged in place. Therefore you don't have the situation where you're replacing one cell (with a particular magnetization) with another (that has a different magnetization).

[+JanniCash]

Here is a question for everyone who still has normal blood pressure. I am not sure, do Li-Ion batteries have the same magnetism issues that other cell types have? If so, all the wonderfull cheap Li-Ion substitutes (from cellphones or what they reported to work lately) would cause exactly the same effect.

Checking the Li+ cell from my cellphone shows that it has a very small amount of magnetization - much less than I found on my alkaline and NiMH cells.

 

But even if Li+ cells were magnetized, they usually wouldn't lead to a need for recalibration since the cell is recharged in place. Therefore you don't have the situation where you're replacing one cell (with a particular magnetization) with another (that has a different magnetization).

Absolutely right ... as long as you charge the same battery in the unit over and over again. I was just asking because in another thread people argued that they can find compatible Li-Ion replacement batteries cheap enough so that one can carry spare ones on long trips and swap batteries in the field. That scenario will require calibration.

 

Jan

[+Thrak]

It's a non-issue for me. It takes me under a minute to stand and turn in a circle slowly two times around. The amount of time is negligable.

 

As far as the type of battery it seems to be a religious war or something. Heck, I have a Garmin that uses AA batteries but I can get rechargables for that as well if I like. My AA charger for my camera only takes maybe 60 - 90 minutes or so for a full charge. You can just go down to Radio Shack and ask for a fast charging unit. They cost a little more but not a lot of $ at all.

 

I say get what you want to get - you will likely be happy either way. Just get out and start finding caches.

[+Tahoe Skier5000]

Another reason not to get them is that they always get discontinued in a couple of years. Youre making yourself dependent on these companies so that you can use your GPS. Screw that...

 

PS. doing my best to beat the horse out of its misery here...

Edited August 9, 2005 by Tahoe Skier5000