Garmin 196 battery connection?

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR

That's an indication of weak battery, so I assume you have
replaced them with verified new/good ones.

I am not impressed with the quality of the battery contacts
in the 196. Periodically I clean the contacts and carefully
bend them a tad to insure proper pressure on the battery contacts.

Other than that, there is a circuit in there to sense battery
level, perhaps that circuit is malfunctioning.

I will second the comment on poor battery contacts. I used to work for
a manufacturer of portable electronic devices, and I can tell you that
proper battery contact pressure is very important for reliable
operation. Ever had a cheap flashlight you had to shake, even with good
batteries? I talked to Garmin and they haven't been very helpful. They
did send some new contacts, but they are the same crappy construction.
Good luck.
tom

ktbr wrote:
That's an indication of weak battery, so I assume you have
replaced them with verified new/good ones.

I am not impressed with the quality of the battery contacts
in the 196. Periodically I clean the contacts and carefully
bend them a tad to insure proper pressure on the battery contacts.

Other than that, there is a circuit in there to sense battery
level, perhaps that circuit is malfunctioning.

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:57:04 -0500, RNR
wrote in :

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR


My experience has been that, should vibration jar the six batteries
sufficiently to momentarily interrupt the power to the unit, it can
cause a malfunction. If the interruption is long enough, the unit
will shut itself off. But, if the power interruption is of shorter
duration, the failure mode is unpredictable.

To overcome the issue of the batteries suffering vibration induced
intermittent contact, I soldered a 0.1, 50v tantalum capacitor across
the power wiring, and haven't had a problem since.

I realize that if you do the math, this fix will only hold the power
up for a very brief time (typical running current is 170 milliamps at
9 volts). But, it works for me; no more trouble since it was
installed.

My 195, I have to tell it what type of batteries I am using. I think it
then measures the voltage and when it gets too low, such as for a nicad,
it shuts down to prevent battery damage. Could your 196 have some setting?

RNR wrote:

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:57:04 -0800, RNR wrote
(in article ):

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR

I would also say bad battery contacts, or one or more of the batteries is
backwards. You can clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:37:30 -0800, C J Campbell
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:57:04 -0800, RNR wrote
(in article ):

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR

I would also say bad battery contacts, or one or more of the batteries is
backwards. You can clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.


Thanks to all for the replies. I have tried multiple new batteries
and I have also cleaned the contacts. In addition, I have bent our
the "tang" on the positive side and inserted small pieces of heavy
paper between the coils of the springs on the negative side because
two of the batteries felt loose. I'll revisit these issues again. I
hope that I can resolve this without dealing with Garmin. I've had
two relatively minor issues with this unit. Both times I contacted
Garmin via email and never received a reply. Both of my problems were
soved in this forum. Thanks again.

RNR

And 3rd'd. Same problem here, poos contacts that need periodic cleaning and
stratching to keep a good contact.

- barney
"tom pettit" wrote in message
...
I will second the comment on poor battery contacts. I used to work for a
manufacturer of portable electronic devices, and I can tell you that proper
battery contact pressure is very important for reliable operation. Ever
had a cheap flashlight you had to shake, even with good batteries? I
talked to Garmin and they haven't been very helpful. They did send some
new contacts, but they are the same crappy construction. Good luck.
tom

ktbr wrote:
That's an indication of weak battery, so I assume you have
replaced them with verified new/good ones.

I am not impressed with the quality of the battery contacts
in the 196. Periodically I clean the contacts and carefully
bend them a tad to insure proper pressure on the battery contacts.

Other than that, there is a circuit in there to sense battery
level, perhaps that circuit is malfunctioning.

On Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:04:06 -0800, RNR wrote
(in article ):

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 17:37:30 -0800, C J Campbell
wrote:

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 06:57:04 -0800, RNR wrote
(in article ):

I have owned a 196 for about four years, without any serious concerns.
Last week, I encountered a problem that is serious. While the unit
works fine on aircraft power, it will not function on battery power.
It will turn on but it will shut itself off within 30 seconds. This
happens every time. Has anyone experienced this? Do I have any
chance of rectifying this without sending it back to Garmin? Thanks.
RNR

I would also say bad battery contacts, or one or more of the batteries is
backwards. You can clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.


Thanks to all for the replies. I have tried multiple new batteries
and I have also cleaned the contacts. In addition, I have bent our
the "tang" on the positive side and inserted small pieces of heavy
paper between the coils of the springs on the negative side because
two of the batteries felt loose. I'll revisit these issues again. I
hope that I can resolve this without dealing with Garmin. I've had
two relatively minor issues with this unit. Both times I contacted
Garmin via email and never received a reply. Both of my problems were
soved in this forum. Thanks again.

RNR

Garmin is much more responsive if you can reach them by phone. They have
pretty good customer service once you actually make contact with them.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor