Garmin eTrex Venrure HC Battery Indicator

[Steve12345]

Hoping there is an answer, I just bought a used Garmin eTrex Venture HC and the battery icon is always showing black bars, even after I just fully charged a set of batteries and installed them. As the batteries get depleted, it stays the same. Is this normal? I sure would like to know how much battery life is left.

 

I updated the firmware and made sure the battery type is correctly set.

 

So maybe all black bars mean it is fully charged and will change a different color as the battery gets depleted? My assumption is the bars should be orange and go black as the battery gets depleted.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[snowfleurys]

On my 76csx there are 4 black battery bars when the batteries are fully charged. With usage the bars dissapear one at a time. After the last one is gone, I believe there is a warning messarge about low battery.

Check the owners manual. If you did not get one, most are available on the Garmin website.

[Orion84]

It's the same on my Vista HCx and I wouldn't expect the Venture HC to be any different. 4 black bars when full, depletion causes bars to disappear one by one.

 

For as far as I know these indicators are based on the voltage level produced by the batteries. As you are using rechargeable batteries (probably NiMH?) this might explain why it takes a long time for the transition from 4 to 3 bars to take place. NiMH batteries have a pretty constant voltage level and as such they appear to be full for quite some time. Often you see that it takes a long time before the indicator goes from 4 to 3, but after that the bars disappear more rapidly. Non-rechargeable batteries show a nice gradual voltage drop that allows a more accurate indication.

Edited May 19, 2009 by Orion84

[+louchem]

It's the same on my Vista HCx and I wouldn't expect the Venture HC to be any different. 4 black bars when full, depletion causes bars to disappear one by one.

 

Yes, this is exactly the case with my Venture HC. Full four bars with fresh batteries and slowly drops to one bar as I use it. The battery life on these units is very good so you may not see a drop from four bars to three until after many hours of use. I would guess I get about 20 hours on a pair of Duracells.

 

Also, the unit has a setting to tell it what kind of batteries you are using (standard or rechargeable) and I think this may affect how the system interprets remaining battery life. So, if you are using rechargeable batteries, make sure that the unit is set that way and maybe that will improve your battery indicator experience.

Edited May 19, 2009 by louchem

[+julianh]

My assumption is the bars should be orange and go black as the battery gets depleted.

4 black bars indicates batteries fully charged. They disappear (go white) one-by-one as battery power drops. There are no coloured bars as far as I know (unless some custom colour schemes change the colour of the battery bars?)

 

Battery life on the Venture HC is claimed to be about 14 hours (depending on battery type), but I think that is pretty conservative, based on my own experience with my Summit HC using NiMH hybrids), so expect to have to use it for some time before you see the battery indicator drop much!

[Steve12345]

Thanks for the responses, I appearantly was reading the indicator wrong. I think it is ok now that I understand how it works. The manual is very vague on this.