Problem With Garmin Legend And Nimh Batteries

[+ICHTHYS]

I have a new Legend and I bought 4 nimh 2000mah AA batteries and charger for it. The first time I used the Legend I used a set of Alk batteries and had the battery setting to Alk batteries without a problem. It lasted approx 11 or 12 hrs with the battery indicator saying the batteries were low the last hour or so.

 

I then charged up my nimh's and set the Legend to nimh batteries and off I went. Within 1 hr the Legend was telling me my batteries were low. This lasted for the entire approx 10-11 hrs that I used the Legend until the batteries actually died.

 

I then put in the other 2 nimhs and sure enough within an hour the battery indicator said they were almost dead, yet the Legend has been running for about 6 hours now. I am going to see how long these batteries last.

 

What is up with this? Does the Legend just guess how long the batteries are good for or is it actually reading voltage levels from the batteries? Is there something wrong with my Legend?

[+Team Shibby]

Im not 100% sure about the legend, but my Garmin V has a battery setting in the menu. I.E. Alkaline, NiMh, etc. Also, from what I have read over and over, when using rechargeable batteries, the meter never displays the full capacity. Hope this helps...

 

Kar

[+pecka]

That's just not true. When using NiMs batteries, you only have to set the battery type in the menu for the battery meter to display correct values, as Alkalines have different discharging curve than NiMhs. But you can still get full capacity in the meter, but you have to use fresh batteries, as NiMhs tend to self discharge about 1% a day.

Edited January 10, 2005 by pecka

[+NightPilot]

It often takes several charge cycles to get NiMH batteries to accept a full charge. Keep charging them, and after a few charges they should last longer.

[+Roberts-tribe]

....but you have to use fresh batteries, as NiMhs tend to self discharge about 1% a day.

I keep my charged NiMHs in the freezer as the self-discharge is then negligible. The downside is that you have to let them regain ambient temperature before use.

 

But as per earlier poster, try a few charge/recharge cycles. certainly my Legend C works OK with NiMhs

Edited January 10, 2005 by Roberts-tribe

[+ICHTHYS]

Well, its not that it didn't work ok with the Nimhs. 11 hrs on the first set and abotu 10 on the other (which had been sitting around a few days) isn't bad. Its just bothers me that within an hour the battery low indicator kept popping up a box telling me that battery was low.

 

Hopefully after a few charges things will improve.

[+pecka]

What brand of batteries you're using? I'm using SANYO and I had no problems. You can also try to upgrade the firmware in your GPSr, there could be some bug in your version

[+ICHTHYS]

Interestingly enough, my Legend says it has software version 3.70. I went to the website to see if that was the latest version and the latest version I found on the Garmin site was 3.6

 

As for batteries, they are made by Digital Concepts and are Digital Rechargables.

[+pecka]

I have seen some other problems (GPSr showing bad location) w/ this fw. version in local forum. And because Garmin's latest stable is 3.6 I would DOWNGRADE!

[+Rubberhead]

I think it got overlooked but you need to set the battery type in your Legend to NiMH.

 

I have a Vista that I use with 2200 mAh NiMH batteries and the batter meter works just fine. It shows a full charge with freshly charged batteries. It drops to the lower ranges a little quicker than with akaline batteries but I still get a solid 10-12 hours before I start getting the low battery indicator.

[Boxer Crew]

Rubberhead is correct. I had exaclty the same problem until I told the Legend what batteries where installed.

[+ICHTHYS]

I do have it set to nimh for the battery setting.

[Smaug1]

You just forgot to change the battery setting to Ni-MH battery type.

 

A full-capacity alkaline reads a bit over 1.5 V.

 

A fully-charged Ni-MH will read between 1.2 - 1.3 V. For an alkaline battery this is discharged or getting there at least.

 

Alkalines have a long steady discharge curve. The voltage steadily goes down under load.

 

Ni-MH and Ni-Cads start at a lower voltage level, but they maintain it better. It will pretty much stay at a steady level until right before they die. Then, they avalanche right off, so carry an extra set. This is why Ni-MH are so good for digital cameras; they maintain that voltage level, even under load.

 

So change the battery type setting in your Legend's menu and stay cool.

[+NightPilot]

Does nobody actually read before posting? The OP said, in his original post, that he had changed the indicator setting to NiMH, and repeated it again later. The battery type setting is not the problem.

[+Daddy Oh No]

If you were using the lithium batteries, what setting for battery selection would you pick on a 60CS? The only two choices are Alkalie and NiMh.

[+NightPilot]

I would pick alkaline. Not perfect, but the voltage is much closer than NiMH. NiMH only put out 1.2VDC at full charge, while alkaline put out 1.5VDC+, and lithium a little more than that.