How to break your Garmin 396

[Dan Luke]

Just let battery run down with the USB XM weather antenna connected.

I did this to see how much battery life I would get with the screen set
at half brightness (5+ hours), but when I reconnected external power,
the unit begin an endless series of re-boots, never getting past the "I
agree" lawyer acknowledgement screen. If I disconnect the XM antenna,
the unit will boot up and run normally, but if I plug the XM back in,
the unit shuts down.

By fiddling around with the unit for a while, I discovered that by
starting the unit in simulator mode, then plugging in the XM antenna,
then putting the unit back in normal mode I can get the whole mess up
and running as it is supposed to.

I installed the latest firmware rev (2.40) but that didn't help, so I've
e-mailed Garmin tech support for help. Stay tuned for their response.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Dan Luke]

Update:

Looking through the 396's Setup menu, I found a field called "System
Mode" which was set to "Battery Saver." When I set this to "Normal,"
all the problems associated with the XM antenna went away. I don't know
if I put the thing in Battery Saver mode or if it did it itself, but
apparently letting the battery run down while in this mode is a no-no.

Damned freakin' gadgets.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[Jay Honeck]

> Damned freakin' gadgets.

Didja figure out a work-around to the magnet-in-the-antenna problem?

That one has got my friend buffaloed, too. It's sending his compass all
over the place.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Dan Luke]

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

>> Damned freakin' gadgets.
>
> Didja figure out a work-around to the magnet-in-the-antenna problem?
>
> That one has got my friend buffaloed, too. It's sending his compass
> all over the place.

Nope. I haven't even put the thing in the airplane yet.

Garmin furnishes an extension power/USB cable with the 396, so if I
can't find a good spot on the glare shield, I may be able to come up
with some kind of velcro'd shelf solution near a rear window.

I've been playing with the 396 at home a lot. So far, only two gripes:
the magnet and the battery saver bug. It's really cool to plug a set of
laptop headphones into your portable GPS and listen to some tunes while
you enter flight plans, etc. The 396 will plug directly into my
intercom, so this will gige me a really no-sweat XM Radio installation
(well, for as long as I have this airplane, anyway).

************

Right now, I'm kind of preoccupied with the storm. Katrina is expected
to come ashore as a Cat. 5 somewhere between New Orleans and Biloxi.
That would put Mobile on the bad side of possibly the worst storm to hit
the Gulf Coast in recorded history, potentially producing a storm surge
as high as 25 feet in Mobile Bay. BFM elevation is 26 feet MSL.

....and I had a very interested buyer flying in from Oklahoma to look at
the airplane this afternoon, too, dammit.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM

[john smith]

Jay Honeck wrote:
> Didja figure out a work-around to the magnet-in-the-antenna problem?
> That one has got my friend buffaloed, too. It's sending his compass all
> over the place.

Calling Dr Weir, calling Dr Weir!
These folks need a good degaussing coil.
What is your recipe for a homebrew device?

[RST Engineering]

Is it not possible to mechanically remove the magnet? I know on the XM
radio antenna, you simply peel back the plastic film cover on the bottom and
pry the magnet out. It is simply held in place by a small steel plate
screwed to the antenna housing; the magnet's attraction to the steel is the
only thing holding it in place.

However, as to the degaussing coil, I'd probably start off looking for an
old model train "variac" type AC power supply. I know S gauge ran on a
variac supply; I'm not sure about Lionel or HO. I know N and TT use DC
motors. Figure how much current the sucker will put out before the breaker
pops (use a calibrated wirewound load) and then size the wire of the
degaussing coil to suck 75% of that amount of current at max power.

If you are SERIOUS about a degaussing coil, I'll do the math. I know a
thousand feet of #30 wire wound on a toilet paper cardboard center roll can
be plugged directly into the 110 wall power without disintegrating (temp
rise is about 10°C). If you have a variac or want to tear apart a rat shack
filament transformer, remove the iron EI laminations and unwind the
secondary, the primary should be a good degaussing coil.

Jim



"john smith" > wrote in message
. ..
> Jay Honeck wrote:
>> Didja figure out a work-around to the magnet-in-the-antenna problem?
>> That one has got my friend buffaloed, too. It's sending his compass all
>> over the place.
>
> Calling Dr Weir, calling Dr Weir!
> These folks need a good degaussing coil.
> What is your recipe for a homebrew device?

[Victor J. Osborne, Jr.]

Never trust an item where the book is bigger than the gadget.

--

Thx, {|;-)

Victor J. (Jim) Osborne, Jr.
"Dan Luke" > wrote in message
...
> Update:
>
> Looking through the 396's Setup menu, I found a field called "System Mode"
> which was set to "Battery Saver." When I set this to "Normal," all the
> problems associated with the XM antenna went away. I don't know if I put
> the thing in Battery Saver mode or if it did it itself, but apparently
> letting the battery run down while in this mode is a no-no.
>
> Damned freakin' gadgets.
>
> --
> Dan
> C172RG at BFM
>

[Dan Luke]

Garmin has responded to my e-mail and acknowledged the re-boot glitch
involving the XM antenna when the 396 is in battery saver mode.

They're working on a firmware patch.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM