Garmin Rino 520 Batteries won't charge

[hooptytank]

I have 2 Rinos, and 3 stock Garmin li-ion battery packs.

 

Background: 2 of them were not used for about 4 months and now they will not charge. They were not fully charged when last used but not dead either. Both bad batteries were left attached to the units. The one that still works was not attached. I've charged these batteries less than 10 times total since new. The one that will take a charge, will discharge and charge just fine, so both my chargers are good.

 

Problem: When hooking up the charger to either of the 2 dead batteries, the red charge indicator light will come on for a second, but then goes out. The unit powers up with the power supply attached, but will shut of if disconnected. If I shut the unit off, the battery indicator on the screen just shows 0% like its ready to charge but days later still 0%...WTF?!

 

I checked and cleaned all the contact points but no help.

 

When I first got the units, one of the clip on charge adapters smoked while charging a battery due to the poor holding ability of the clips. Garmin sent 2 replacement batteries and clip on adapters that had a much better grip on the back of the battery than the original ones. At least they counter measured their problem.

 

How can I get these batteries charged? Freeze them? Put them in an oven at low temps?

 

I was hoping I could jump some of the terminals on the battery to reset their memory or something similar.

Any help is appreciated.

[themethod]

Same problem here, just was checking to make sure the batteries on my pair of 530's were charged one was fine, the other was dead, figured it must have been left on or something so I went to charge it and it won't charge!!!

It was working fine earlier this year, these units don't get much use except for the winter when we go boarding but I do check them every few months. There has to be a way to revive it!

 

JW

[Barnie's Band of Gold]

I've seen this problem with cell phone batteries - what follows is based on that experience.

 

The battery has likely gone below the minimum voltage needed by the charger to "see" it. In this condition the charger is not putting out any voltage because it doesn't realize a battery is connected.

 

When this happens I use a non-smart charger to "jolt" the battery over the minimum voltage needed for the smart charger to see it. I line up + to + and - to - and hold the power source to the battery for about 30 seconds then check to see if the proper charger will then work. If not I move the battery over to a battery conditioner.

 

Works most times for me but your mileage may vary and of course the risk is entirely yours.

[+2Wheel'in]

I'm supposing that the problem is not unique to the 520, but rather a problem with the battery...no matter which RINO you have. I have 2 of the 530HCx models and have not experienced the problem (yet), but I haven't really run the batteries very low either. Has anyone brought this charging problem to Garmin's attention (other than the OP's initial clip on adaptor trouble)? They are usually very helpful. Additionally, many thanks to Barnie's Band of Gold for what may be a work-around....keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to test the fix, but nice to know about it if I have to.

 

Bill

[Barnie's Band of Gold]

Best to remove batteries from devices that will not be used for a period of time. Even powered off it is not uncommon for electronic devices to have a very small draw against the battery.

[hooptytank]

Best to remove batteries from devices that will not be used for a period of time. Even powered off it is not uncommon for electronic devices to have a very small draw against the battery.

 

Yes, that is true, all electronic devices, have a parasitic draw, that will kill a battery over a period of time.

 

The problem is now that the batteries are dead, they will not charge. All batteries, especially Li-Ion, even drawn dead WILL recharge if they were in decent condition before dying. These apparently have some circuitry that will not let them recharge if they are too low. This sounds like a manufacturing/testing oversight from the manufacturer, Garmin. My owners manual never said to remove the batteries if I was not using them for a while.

 

So how do I save these $80 batteries??? anybody?

[jeffraben]

Help having same problem... ideas on how I can charge the batteries?

[kcherpj1]

I had exactly the same problem... except my issue was right out of the box new. My unit was on the shelf new, and the battery was completely dead. After trying to charge it, I saw the same 1 second of charging LED time, then off. The charger was connected for about 20 mins before I started fiddling (and searching on the Internet) - which led me to this forum.

 

After reading about the "kickstart" approach, I sat there for about 30 seconds and pulled out/reinserted the barrel plug into the charger bracket about 25 times (this was with the battery not in the radio). No change.

 

I then connected it to the radio and tried again. No change.

 

I then searched around a bit more and found the boot-to-diagnostic sequence. On my 530HCX, that means pressing the power button, then letting go and pressing the ENTER button shortly after, while the unit is booting.

 

My diag screen showed a "charger" voltage of 9.50V, and a "missing" battery voltage. Not even there! The temperature reading was also null.

 

So I powered off (using the button), and noticed my LED on the charger was now staying ON! Apparently my little foray into the diagnostic screen "changed" something. Your guess is as good as mine as to what... but my unit was now charging.

 

As a test, I removed the charger plug and reinserted, and it stayed charging (LED on). My percent charge indicator climbed to 1%.

 

Out of curiousity, I went back into the diagnostic screen, and now instead of a null value, my 'battery' voltage was 3.93V, and climbing (reading 4.27V now, a few minutes later). Also showed a temperature value of 27, climbing to 30 now.

 

So it looks like some VERY low battery voltage (perhaps @ 3.8V maybe?) makes it appear that the battery is not connected. This sequence "appears" to have made a difference, although who really knows? Maybe it was the heat from my hand that warmed up the cells a bit so that there voltage rose up to the threshold value on their own?

 

Anyway - seem to have success. Your mileage may vary. Once the battery is fully charged (if it does ever get there), that would be good evidence that a REALLY dead battery can still come back to life. I'll try to remember to update this post with my results..

[Netw1z]

When this happens I use a non-smart charger to "jolt" the battery over the minimum voltage needed for the smart charger to see it. I line up + to + and - to - and hold the power source to the battery for about 30 seconds then check to see if the proper charger will then work.

 

Does anyone know what the positive and negative parts of the rino battery are?

i have two units that wont take charge. I plug it in and no red charging led on either rino 530.

 

I know im a couple of years late here, but im tryong to bring these beautiful rino 530s online for geo cacheing fun!

[Bighairybeast]

I just replaced the battery on my Rino 530HCX because the original one would no longer charge. The new battery exhibited the same symptoms, the red charge light would blink on then immediately turn off. The unit itself would never go above 0% charge. 

I attached the Rino to my computer and, although the Garmin Web updater indicated the software was up to date, I reinstalled. After the unit rebooted the battery charger light remained lit and the unit charged to 100% normally.

Cheers!

[WhistlerGeo]

On 3/4/2012 at 1:28 PM, kcherpj1 said:

I had exactly the same problem... except my issue was right out of the box new. My unit was on the shelf new, and the battery was completely dead. After trying to charge it, I saw the same 1 second of charging LED time, then off. The charger was connected for about 20 mins before I started fiddling (and searching on the Internet) - which led me to this forum.

I then searched around a bit more and found the boot-to-diagnostic sequence. On my 530HCX, that means pressing the power button, then letting go and pressing the ENTER button shortly after, while the unit is booting.

My diag screen showed a "charger" voltage of 9.50V, and a "missing" battery voltage. Not even there! The temperature reading was also null.

So I powered off (using the button), and noticed my LED on the charger was now staying ON! Apparently my little foray into the diagnostic screen "changed" something. Your guess is as good as mine as to what... but my unit was now charging.

As a test, I removed the charger plug and reinserted, and it stayed charging (LED on). My percent charge indicator climbed to 1%.

This, right here.. made my day today. Thank you!!