Garmin failure

[+The Rat]

Recently my Garmin GPSmap 60Cx suffered a leaking battery (with a 3-week old battery!) The gunk got all over one terminal and despite a lot of cleaning it wouldn't come on, at least not at first. I almost put it into the recycling bin, but I decided to give it another try and with a lot of cleaning, scraping, and blowing, was able to get the terminal area clean enough so that the device would come back on. However, it wasn't reliable. It would keep going blank, obviously losing the electrical connection and GPS lock. This happened perhaps a dozen times while I was geocaching the first time I tried and of course that was very annoying. It would work fine when connected to my desktop computer, since the USB connection supplied power, and I had no trouble transferring data to and from GSAK, cache pages, etc., but trying to use it in the field was difficult. With continued usage and more cleaning it has mostly fixed itself. It stayed on for hours today, although it did die once. I found a solution for that, though. I used a PowerAdd device that I had been given a couple of years ago and never found a use for. It's the one marked as a "Pliot" X8 (should be Pilot) on the linked web page. It's small and light enough to carry in my geocaching bag. It's a bit clunky to carry both the Garmin and the PowerAdd in my hands at the same time and the USB cord limits where I can move the Garmin if the PowerAdd is in my bag, but I found it was easy enough to do. It's a lot cheaper than buying a new Garmin and in any event I love the 60Cx and don't think it's available any more. As I mentioned, the Garmin stayed on for hours today and maybe it's finally cured, but if you encounter this same problem, consider the PowerAdd or a similar device.

Edited January 16, 2017 by The Rat

[+Viajero Perdido]

Glad you brought your old friend back to life!

 

I've resorted to using a bit of sandpaper on gunked-up battery contacts, just to be sure I've exposed some good, uncorroded, conductive metal. You might also want to bend the contacts out a little, so they press on the batteries with a little more force.

 

That may help.