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Does your Rino turn off when bumped?


topografix

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I have two Garmin Rino 110 receivers. After our first outdoor test, we found that one shut off inside a jacket pocket while we were walking around the mall. Not exactly rugged performance...

 

I wrote to Garmin, and was told there wasn't a vibration problem, but I was welcome to stuff foam in the battery compartment.

 

I'm interested if anyone else has experienced this problem with their Rino. Try the following test:

 

Turn on your GPS.

Hold it in the palm of your hand, and give it a single shake (like you are shaking a can of spray paint).

 

One of my Rinos powers off every single time when I do this. The other one powers off if I shake six or seven times in succession.

 

I've been able to fix this problem by stuffing strips of cardboard (like five or six pieces) between the battery springs to take up some of the slack. I don't feel this is a proper solution for a piece of outdoor equipment.

 

This isn't the first time I've seen a Garmin GPS turn off by itself. I returned the first yellow eTrex I owned for this reason, and my friend's Venture has the same problem.

 

Anyone else out there have this problem with their Rino?

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

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Mine's not as bad as described, but I have noted that a couple times (when it dropped from a few feet high), it did shut off.

 

I'd assumed it was just that the battery terminals were pretty springy and if it hit just right, the intertia would cause the circuit to break - and it would poweroff.

 

You may want to try expanding the spring the battery sits on (carefully!), to see if holding the batteries under greater tension helps. Mine's taking a beating already - and I've only noticed the poweroff on a couple especially grievious drops.

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Only use Energizer batteries, I found that they are slightly longer, and wider than other batteries. I have not tried the Duracell batts, but the store brands are not good. The Radio Shack NiMH Rechargables are not Long enough, to work properly in a 4 battery unit like the GPS V.

 

Please try the Energizers, and see if they work better, in the Rino.

Do they???

 

------------------------

5_Rubik.gifMy home page about GPS units and information

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I cut a small piece of foam and just placed on the back cover where the battery tends to slip loose if banged, or dropped. This holds it in place. You can also cut a thick (Rubberband) and place it on the back there also. Give this a try and see!!!!rinobackcover.JPG

 

[This message was edited by Duggie on January 28, 2003 at 06:15 AM.]

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I've had similar problems with many types of portable electronic devices such as cell phones, bike computers, gps receivers etc. I keep an eraser that looks like a pencil just for cleaning the contacts. I've found that most of the time a very light coating of electrical contact grease after cleaning seems to help a great deal in preventing the problem from coming back.(You can get it in electronic, boating, automotive stores etc.) I also sometimes stretch out the springs slightly, or use mechanical means to reduce battery movement.

 

If the battery compartment of the rhino is anything like the eTrex's, this will probably pop up a fair bit. The original eTrex had two springs at the top, the same as the battery carrier in the sportrak. I believe part of the reason they redesigned it is that if you cocked the spring on the positive contact when you inserted batteries without the shrink sleeve intact, it could touch both the center contact and outer case resulting in heat damage or exploding batteries. Most rechargable battery designs I've seen lately though seem to have made improvements that should make that sort of problem less likely.

 

If only the receivers worked as well as ExperGPS does....

 

For what it's worth

 

Jeff

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quote:
Originally posted by LoneHowler:

only when I drop it accedently and it always powers back up. it's a newer 120 so they must have fixed the problem


 

I asked Garmin support if they'd made any changes to the Rinos to correct the battery problem. The reply: no.

 

I don't believe Garmin has taken any steps to correct the battery contact problem in any of their GPS receivers.

 

--

Dan Foster

TopoGrafix: GPS Software, Waypoints, and Maps

http://www.topografix.com/

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Seems like I read where Garmin installed a piece of foam in a Rino someone had sent in for repair. They know of the problem, but it can be rare: I have had mine for over a year and dropped it a lot and it NEVER shuts off. Of course, I have been taping the top battery to the others ever since I read that it was possible that it could shake loose! Maybe one day I will put the foam in there.....

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Ok i know this is really over but I was looking around because my 110 was giving me probs.. I tried every thing in the book to get this to stop turning off..said screw it im going to buy the 610 after work... so I took the 110 apart and wouldn't you know it, there post going to the main board from the battery was loose!!!!! So I fired up the trusty soldering iron hit the connection with it to real flow the solder gave it a slight tug and it didn't move.. slapped it back together and turn it on beat the hell out of it AND its still ON!! Hellz Yeh.

 

Like I said i know this is old but if some one out there can fix there 110 or 120 because of this that's awesome.

If you would like some pics of this or need a guild Id be happy to take my apart again and make a video of it.

 

Hope this helps some one..

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