Odwolda Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Ok, I'm not sure if it just needs batteries or if there's something else wrong, but my etrex yellow just died...Now, I know for a fact that I haven't had it on for 22 hours yet so I have to wonder if this is common. When I last had it on it was at 3/4 battery so is something going on that I should get fixed? Or does the etrex slowly use up batteries anyway even if not on? I haven't had it on for about 2 weeks so maybe thats the problem, but still. Any tips? Quote Link to comment
+DustyJacket Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Are they rechargeables? NiCad rechargeables lose about 1% per day +/-. I am not sure about NiMH, but they seem to lose some charge just sitting on the shelf. Quote Link to comment
Odwolda Posted January 17, 2004 Author Share Posted January 17, 2004 Nope, not rechargable. However I am going to get them soon But umm, I just remembered there is ONE pair of batteries in the house that still work so let me go test...brb Quote Link to comment
cwoper Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Ok, I'm not sure if it just needs batteries or if there's something else wrong, but my etrex yellow just died...Now, I know for a fact that I haven't had it on for 22 hours yet so I have to wonder if this is common. When I last had it on it was at 3/4 battery so is something going on that I should get fixed? Or does the etrex slowly use up batteries anyway even if not on? I haven't had it on for about 2 weeks so maybe thats the problem, but still. Any tips? My Magallan does the same thing. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Try new batteries. Quote Link to comment
Odwolda Posted January 17, 2004 Author Share Posted January 17, 2004 Ok, tests positive. Etrex hasn't died but the batteries sure as heck did. Meh...I better go buy some rechargeables... Quote Link to comment
The_Brownies Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 The backlighting will kill batteries in nothing flat. Use it sparingly. As far as batteries go. I use Duracell and Energizers. My experience has shown Energizers seem to last longer. Quick word on Rechargables. Been there, and done that. Sounds good, but after 5-10 recharges the life really starts going down and over the long run they will end up costing you a lot more than a large pack of batteries from Costco / Sams Club. Suggestions 1. Keep the backlight off 2. Carry extra batteries with you. 3. Shutoff the GPS between caches. Quote Link to comment
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Consumer Reports has listed Ray-O-Vac batteries as the longest lasting AA's, and they are also less than half the price of Energizers and Durakills. I get an average of 25 hours life out of them in my Legend. Quote Link to comment
+hedberg Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Have you EGNOS/WAAS turned on? It requires more power... And the battery time stated in the manual are: The lifetime of the battery are IF the temperature is +20 degress Celsius, Power Savings are on, connection with satellites and the background light in the display are off. If you change anything will the lifetime of the batteries be lower. If you have the background light in the display will the time be reduced a lot. If the temperature falls down to +10 to +15 degress Celsius will also the time be lower. When the temperature are really low, below the freezing point, do we recommend rechargeable batteries since they can stand the coldness better. (I have translated the information from the Swedish Garmin Site FAQ) Quote Link to comment
+Chance Encounter Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 (edited) I had an eTrex Yellow and used it succesfully for my first 90 or so caches (in other words, most of them). A set of 2200mAh NiMH Energizers usually lasted all day or most of the day, when I'd swap them out for a freshly recharged set. I use the same brand in my digicam. I haven't found any drop-off in the lasting power of the rechargeables, despite having revived them maybe 200 times per set (I have four sets of two batteries, and another two sets of AAAs for our FRS radios). I estimate I've saved a few hundred bucks so far. We now use two eTrex Legends, which have a tiny bit shorter battery life. Maybe it's because we keep WAAS enabled. No matter, we still have enough juice in a set of batteries for an all-day geoexpedition. And we keep the charger in the van just in case... One minor flaw I've found with the eTrex line is that you can't turn the backlight completely off; fifteen seconds is the minimum. We rarely do night caching but it's nice to have that big bright light when we do! Although the light only comes on when you tap the power button, it seems like it'd save a little to shut it off completely. Anyone know how much having WAAS enabled affects the battery life? Edited January 17, 2004 by Chance Encounter Quote Link to comment
+wildearth2001 Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 I use only RAY-O-VAC Maximum Plus AA bateries in my GPS. I usuallt get between 6-10 hours out of my unit despite the manufacturers statment of 28-32 hours. I might try using RAY-O-VAC NMH rechargables (which I use in everything else). Is it alright to use NMH bateries in a GPS? Quote Link to comment
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 (edited) One minor flaw I've found with the eTrex line is that you can't turn the backlight completely off; fifteen seconds is the minimum. We rarely do night caching but it's nice to have that big bright light when we do! Although the light only comes on when you tap the power button, it seems like it'd save a little to shut it off completely. Touch the power button to turn it on, and touch it again to turn it off. EDIT: Meaning the back-light. Edited January 17, 2004 by Sparky-Watts Quote Link to comment
+ZingerHead Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 I've got an eTrex Vista and I've been using the same four pairs of AA size NIMH rechargeables in it for almost 2 years. I suspect that over time the batteries have lost some of their capacity, but I can usually get a full day of geocaching out of them, and I always carry a spare set of batteries anyway. The cost of recharging them is minimal - I recharge them every week, frequently several times a week, and they are still fine. I will NEVER go back to disposable batteries - these NIMHs are much more cost efficient and I feel good about reducing my output of garbage. One thing about "dead gps syndrome" - my Vista occasionally "blanks out", just shutting off for no reason. Other strange occurrences are a completely black screen, or a screen with nothing on it but black lines. In every case I could restore normal operation by removing the batteries and bending the clips ever so slightly so they made better contact with the batteries. Without fail this technique brings a misbehaving etrex back to life. And you should be able to toggle the backlight on and off using the power button - just hold it down briefly so you don't shut off the GPS. Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Tracy got us some Energizer NiMH and a rapid charger last Christmas. We run both our Etrex Yellow and Legend off them. IMPORTANT (to us at least)- the charger has both standard 120VAC Wall and 12VDC Auto plugs, so we can recharge in the car or at home. We bought four more, so we can recharge a set while we use the other. Beofre that, we were using some Rayovac Rechargable Alkalines. The charger and set of four batteries was about $20, but they did not work as well. Quote Link to comment
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 And you should be able to toggle the backlight on and off using the power button - just hold it down briefly so you don't shut off the GPS. Hmmmm....why didn't I think of that? Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 Odwolda, If you've had your GPSR less than a year, you can send it in for warranty work. Garmin is very good at stripping these units down and rebuilding then- FAST. We sent in our Legend, and it was back in less than a week. Garmin replaced the rubber gaskets, repaired the Click Stick (no broken click stick jokes- SPARKY), replaced the screen (couple of good long scratches), and updated the firmware. Quote Link to comment
+G-Squad Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 TecMage, Are you sure Garmin sent you back the exact same unit you sent in? My Magellan Map 330 just went out on me so I sent a request to support. Their response was it would be a flat $65 repair/replace charge. The replacement would be with a reconditioned unit. Considering the work that was required on your unit, I would suspect Garmin kept your old unit and sent you a reconditioned one. I could be wrong though. Quote Link to comment
+Sparky-Watts Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 (no broken click stick jokes- SPARKY) The thought never even crossed my mind! Quote Link to comment
+Team Tecmage Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 TecMage, Are you sure Garmin sent you back the exact same unit you sent in? My Magellan Map 330 just went out on me so I sent a request to support. Their response was it would be a flat $65 repair/replace charge. The replacement would be with a reconditioned unit. Considering the work that was required on your unit, I would suspect Garmin kept your old unit and sent you a reconditioned one. I could be wrong though. You could be right- we were really just wanted to get the rubber gaskets replaced. The unit worked fine- in fact, once the rubber around the click stick broke, it worked BETTER. The invoice that came back with the unit listed the work I listed above. They could have easily downloaded our waypoints and uploaded them to a refubished unit. Quote Link to comment
+GeckoGeek Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 but after 5-10 recharges the life really starts going down It shouldn't be that noticeable that soon. Either you have bad batteries or a charger that fries them. Not all chargers are gentle with the cells. At minimum locate one that has a light that shows when the battery has reached full charge. Also stay away from chargers that do a timed charge rather then by checking the battery voltage. Check the battery when you pull it out of the charger. If it's hot that's a bad sign. It shouldn't be any hotter then "just warm". Quote Link to comment
Colonel Mustard Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 And you should be able to toggle the backlight on and off using the power button - just hold it down briefly so you don't shut off the GPS. Hmmmm....why didn't I think of that? I guess you just weren't fast enough. hehehehehehe Quote Link to comment
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