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Colorado: power consumption compared to CSX and HCX ?


freeday

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EDIT: Colorado power consumption (apersson850) inserted

 

All units with: no WAAS, no compass, no backlight

10.02.2008_07:58:53_garmin-stromverbrauch2.gif

HCX and CSX with Eneloop

 

What about the power consumption of the Colorado? - Could the C-owner check it out?

 

Please post also which chipset and how much internal memory - Thank you?

 

edit: measured with: WAAS disabled

(sorry, forgot it - in my country WAAS is always disabled)

Edited by freeday
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of course, i wanted to make a full list:

gps off mode

with/without compass

with all 20 steps of light

which screen should i select to have less power consumtion

difference in power consumtion depending on Sat-status (clear sky, heavy tree cover...)

 

but my digital meter was no able to check it out. - so i took onle the standard one.

If i turn on the light (full mode) the gps powers off (if i have installed the digital meter - normally it works).

i would need a contactless digital meter - but i have none.

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I would convert this data into hours of use with these settings. Most won't have a feel for what 100 mA means to them, considering the average geocacher doesn' know if its MaH, mAh, maH, MAH, or any of the other combinations for milli-amp-hours or even what those units represent.

 

What about the GPS setting? Having WAAS on enabled or disabled.

What about pressure measurements? Remember that these units also record the barometric pressure over time and perform different calculations that would not be done if the unit were set differently.

 

There is an auto-calibration mode for elevation as well. This should probably be turned off -- forcing the casual experimenter to be aware of this as a power drain.

 

I would keep this simple, choose a couple standard backlighting settings: off, 50%, 100%, and not try to fill the chart with intermediate data.

 

In my brother's words: Keep it simple.

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i have no CO - therefore i am looking for anyone to measure it with a CO

 

Easy to understand but not easy to get an answer that helps me

 

>>Most won't have a feel for what 100 mA means to them, considering the average geocacher doesn' know if its MaH, mAh, maH, MAH, or any of the other combinations for milli-amp-hours or even what those units represent.

 

this thread is not written for geocachers who do not know what 100 mA could be :rolleyes:

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Just like what tomc61 noticed in that thread, the current drawn by the Colorado also varies quite a lot. I did as he did, used the averaging the DMM can do. The one I had at hand is the older Fluke 87, but that difference doesn't matter in this case.

 

I did all these tests with the Colorado in the same location, when initial position fix had been accomplished.

So here's the result for the Colorado 300 I have:

 

Colorado running, after booting, no additional features on: 134 mA.

WAAS/Egnos on: 141 mA.

Full backlight: 165 mA.

Magnetic compass enabled (and active): 174 mA.

All (Egnos, backlight and compass) at the same time: 208 mA.

All things on and also using it a lot, i.e. computing routes, panning map and so on, to get a lot of CPU cycles and confirmation beeps: 249 mA.

 

I never checked if it made any difference, but I do have an SD card in this GPS.

 

Oh yeah, I have to add that the SI system for units is very picky on case. There is only one abbreviation for milliamphours, and that's mAh. M is mega and H is Henry.

Edited by apersson850
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I did all these tests with the Colorado in the same location, when initial position fix had been accomplished.

So here's the result for the Colorado I have:

 

Colorado running, after booting, no additional features on: 134 mA.

WAAS/Egnos on: 141 mA.

Full backlight: 165 mA.

Magnetic compass enabled (and active): 174 mA.

All (Egnos, backlight and compass) at the same time: 208 mA.

All things on and also using it a lot, i.e. computing routes, panning map and so on, to get a lot of CPU cycles and confirmation beeps: 249 mA.

 

Finally, . . . Short, concise, and meaningful.

 

Thank-you Anders!

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Thank you - apersson850

>>Colorado running, after booting, no additional features on: 134 mA.

That is exactly the same like the CSX (135 mA varying from 129-140 indoor use (sat-reception not the best, but 3D), no WAAS, no compass, no backlight, Satscreen)

Edited by freeday
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Oh yeah, I have to add that the SI system for units is very picky on case. There is only one abbreviation for milliamphours, and that's mAh. M is mega and H is Henry.

 

Not picky, logical ! Suffix, prefix, unit with a lower case, except that capitals letters are used when the unit is named after a person !

 

Eg: meter: m, millimeter: mm

But unit for current intensity is A as named after the scientist Ampere, and mA for milliampere

 

Many units are named after US, UK, scientists while these two countries are the only one not using metric in day to day life ! What a shame !

 

PS: Don't mention Angstrom !!!!

 

Anyway everyting is simpler than inch, feet, furlong, slug .... :bad:

Edited by Suscrofa
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Well, you mentioned him first, but I have a special interest in mentioning his full name, Anders Ångström, of course.

However, the unit Ångström isn't part of the SI system, even if it's accepted, but they prefer nm (nanometer).

 

At the same time, just let me mention another scientist, who has a temperature unit named after him, Anders Celcius.

 

I wonder what kind of conclusions could be drawn from their first names?? :bad:

 

It would be interesting to see what kind of current consumption a 60 CSx will have when using it heavily, as I tried with the Colorado? Another thing is that the type of higher resolution screen used in the Colorado requires more backlight than you need on the 60 CSx.

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Oh yeah, I have to add that the SI system for units is very picky on case. There is only one abbreviation for milliamphours, and that's mAh. M is mega and H is Henry.

So, if my calculations are correct, 1 MAH = 1000 joules/coulomb; not sure what that would represent physically :)

 

On a more practical note, over the last 50 years or so I have been very careful to "properly" capitalize the first letters when spelling out units named after people (i.e., I would have previously written "Joules/Coulomb"); Looks like I've been wrong all this time :P But then, none of my engineering friends ever called me on this :P

 

Looking further, 1000 joules/coulomb is just 1000 V (guess I should have remembered that from my school days, but that was a long time ago - we still still considered 1 Hz to be 1 cps then)

Edited by Hertzog
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Oh yeah, I have to add that the SI system for units is very picky on case. There is only one abbreviation for milliamphours, and that's mAh. M is mega and H is Henry.

So, if my calculations are correct, 1 MAH = 1000 joules/coulomb; not sure what that would represent physically :o

 

On a more practical note, over the last 50 years or so I have been very careful to "properly" capitalize the first letters when spelling out units named after people (i.e., I would have previously written "Joules/Coulomb"); Looks like I've been wrong all this time :blink: But then, none of my engineering friends ever called me on this :o

 

Looking further, 1000 joules/coulomb is just 1000 V (guess I should have remembered that from my school days, but that was a long time ago - we still still considered 1 Hz to be 1 cps then)

1000 joules, . . . 2X the total output of a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 channel amplifier, all channels driven

full tilt . . . Whoah Nellie! Watch where ya put your fingers. Now ya see 'em, POOF, now ya don't!

Don't let the magic smoke out of your fingers, (if you get to keep 'em) they'll never be the same again !

 

Norm

Edited by RRLover
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Now i made a realistic testing with Eneloops (2 pieces/unit, size AA, 2000mAh nominal).

The eneloops were charged some weeks ago - to get a realistic result.

 

settings on both units:

GPS: ON (save .GPX on µSD with intervall automatic-higher)

LIGHT: OFF

WAAS: OFF

COMPASS: OFF

ACTIVE SCREEN: TRIPCOMPUTER

Temperature about 20° Celsius

Reception 3D inside a House (no optimal reception),(on optimal outside reception the power consumtion is less, but not so realistic for a test)

 

Warning Low Batt after: (hours:minutes)

Vista HCX --------- 20:03

Gpsmap 60 CSX ----- 13:32

Unit turned of after: (hours:minutes)

Vista HCX --------- 20:23

Gpsmap 60 CSX ----- 13:52

 

Curious: both unites had exactly 20 minutes sparetime after the LOW BATT warning

battery.gifbattery.gif

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1000 joules, . . . 2X the total output of a Sunfire Cinema Grand 5 channel amplifier, all channels driven

full tilt . . . Whoah Nellie! Watch where ya put your fingers. Now ya see 'em, POOF, now ya don't!

Don't let the magic smoke out of your fingers, (if you get to keep 'em) they'll never be the same again !

 

Norm

You are confusing Power with Energy. Power is simply the rate of using (or generating) energy - the time dimension is critical. Your home cinema amplifier probably has a claimed output of 500 W (power), meaning it can output 500 Joules of energy EVERY SECOND. (Let's not get into semantics about efficiency etc! :blink: )

 

A 2,100 mAh NiMH battery (1.2 volts) has about 2.1 x 1.2 x 3,600 = 9,000 joules of usable stored energy - but this is generally dissipated over several hours. Even if you short out the battery to discharge it as rapidly as possible (NOT recommended, by the way!) - it will get hot, it may split the casing, but it is not likely to blow your fingers off! (One joule is not really a lot of energy in human terms.)

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This is a trick question! Is that 500W output expressed as average power, peak power or RMS power? BTW, one of those terms for power is fictitious. Now, in keeping with the topic of this thread..... 249mA would drain a set of batteries rated at 2100 mAh in 8.4 hours if the batteries are fully charged in a perfect world. Now switch to used batteries that have seen multiple cycles in a quick charger and we're probably talking 5-6 hrs or less

Edited by stickman756
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This is a trick question! Is that 500W output expressed as average power, peak power or RMS power? BTW, one of those terms for power is fictitious. Now, in keeping with the topic of this thread..... 249mA would drain a set of batteries rated at 2100 mAh in 8.4 hours if the batteries are fully charged in a perfect world. Now switch to used batteries that have seen multiple cycles in a quick charger and we're probably talking 5-6 hrs or less

Well, the Amp. has a 'joule meter' on the front, I've never "pegged it". Rated @ 500 RMS(peak), Proceed Pav/PDSD Pre/Pro

has an pure analog(e) input for vinyl. Linn turntable (Dynavector m/c crtg.)and Linn 4 ohm 5140s, 5120, and Tucans, . . . SWEET!

 

Back to topic,

NO MORE DIGRESSION!

 

Norm

Edited by RRLover
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YES!, Hear, Hear, no more digression!

 

Now, what I've noticed is that no one has mentioned what temperatures they are operating in. Last weekend I noticed I was draining my regular NiMh in my Map60Cx in a couple of hours. I switched to a set of Rayovac Hybrids and observed the same thing. Temps were about -10 C. I cannot say how long the Hybrids were stored before I put them into use. I wonder if someone has done testing to check the performance under cooler temps?

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YES!, Hear, Hear, no more digression!

 

Now, what I've noticed is that no one has mentioned what temperatures they are operating in. Last weekend I noticed I was draining my regular NiMh in my Map60Cx in a couple of hours. I switched to a set of Rayovac Hybrids and observed the same thing. Temps were about -10 C. I cannot say how long the Hybrids were stored before I put them into use. I wonder if someone has done testing to check the performance under cooler temps?

Check this topic:

http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=184558

 

Also, to summarise from this web site http://www.climber.org/gear/batteries.html#temp it appears that NiMHs work fine down to "near freezing" temperatures, but if REALLY cold weather is a serious concern, lithium batteries have by far the best performance.

 

(It's all a bit academic for those of us from Australia!)

 

Hope this helps.

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Oh yeah, I have to add that the SI system for units is very picky on case. There is only one abbreviation for milliamphours, and that's mAh. M is mega and H is Henry.

So, if my calculations are correct, 1 MAH = 1000 joules/coulomb; not sure what that would represent physically :)

 

On a more practical note, over the last 50 years or so I have been very careful to "properly" capitalize the first letters when spelling out units named after people (i.e., I would have previously written "Joules/Coulomb"); Looks like I've been wrong all this time ;) But then, none of my engineering friends ever called me on this :)

 

Looking further, 1000 joules/coulomb is just 1000 V (guess I should have remembered that from my school days, but that was a long time ago - we still still considered 1 Hz to be 1 cps then)

A coulomb is unit of charge. Since each electron delivers a fixed amount of charge, current is the rate of charge or charge/time. Multiply current times time and you get units like mAh or coulombs.(charge / time) X time = charge. Batteries give the charge capacity in mAh because it is more accurate than energy in mWh. This is because the energy lost in the batteries internal resistance varies greatly with the size of the load.
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You missed one degree of time. 1 AH is actually 1 Vs.

And M is 1000000, not 1000.

But apart from that, you are right, Hertzog!

Yep. The missed second was trying to read small type on on a web page; in looking closely at the units for "inductance" I shifted up one line in a table to "impedance". The missing 1000 is just plain embarrassing!

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