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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement
Thought I'd post this for those who own the older Garmin 296's,396's etc
and have been having trouble with the units taking a long time to aquire satellites, clock displays wrong time and date on boot up. Mine was taking 30 minutes or so after a couple weeks being turned off. Trouble is the "internal battery". Figure on start up the gps uses the wrong date and time to locate the satellites. Now it boots in 15 seconds after internal battery replacement that cost me about $5.00 bucks and 30 minutes labor. Garmin says it can be done at a cost of $250.00 if you send the unit in but do it yourself. I thought I'd pass this on to my fellow pilots......if your interested here's the link.. http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhes...nalbattery.htm http://www.gpsinformation.org/forum/...pic.php?t=4701 Terry N6401F |
#2
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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement
http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhes...nalbattery.htm http://www.gpsinformation.org/forum/...pic.php?t=4701 Terry N6401F Wow I did this to my King Skymap IIIC and it was a piece of cake compared to the Garmin. They really bury that guy deep !! Cheers: Paul N1431A KSDM |
#4
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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement
Morgans wrote:
"Tri-Pacer" no wrote in message ... http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhes...nalbattery.htm http://www.gpsinformation.org/forum/...pic.php?t=4701 Terry N6401F Wow I did this to my King Skymap IIIC and it was a piece of cake compared to the Garmin. They really bury that guy deep !! You ought to try it on a laptop, and have to take every single board loose, including the display. The Garmin looks like a piece of cake, after doing that, recently. I just took my certified KLN-89B to the shop to have the battery replaced. $200.00. But, I got about 9 years out of the battery. The owners manual says to replace every 3 to 5 years. The GPS gave me a low battery warning. After I did that I didn't realize the GPS had to be set up again. Not only did I loose flight plans (no big deal), I lost several set up functions that had to be redone. Took less than an hour to do after reading the manual. -- Regards, Ross C-172F 180HP KSWI |
#5
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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement (Updated)
I just did the swap on my 396. The descriptions in Terry's links give
you a pretty good overall guide, but I will add a few details. Once you get all the outer case screws out and get the ring nut off off the BNC connector, the case is held together by the stickiness of the gasket. I used a plastic iPod case cracker. If you GENTLY wedge a small flat jeweler's screwdriver in there and wiggle it a bit that should crack it without bunging up the case. Do it on the bottom so you won't see any scars you might create. Once cracked, the instructions in the links tell you to disconnect the white cable. To do this you have to slide the locking bar about 1/32 of an inch on both sides. The bar is the small plastic piece right where the ribbon cable enters the connector. Once you slide it, the cable will easily slide out. If it is stuck, you have not released the bar correctly. They slide pretty easily so if it does not move, you are doing something wrong. With the white cable disconnected, you can wiggle the screen loose. It is just laying in there on 4 plastic posts. The instructions on the links do not say anything about disconnecting the screen cable and show the screen laying there with the cable stretched out. These cables are VERY fragile and you must be careful not to pull on it. You CAN disconnect it as I did, but that connector is very tricky. There is a black release bar that "flips up" like a soda can pop top. Once done, the cable will slide out. Whether you disconnect the screen or just want to flip it and move it out of the way, you do need to disconnect the 2 wire black/red cable connector. I suggest fingernails or tweezers. If you pull the wires, you are asking for trouble. Also, these are tight and need a wiggle. Pull straight up. The foil on mine was a challenge. There is a plastic protector sheet behind it and mine was caught underneath the metal frame you are peeling everything off of. With the screen moved aside or disconnected and the 4 circuit board screws removed, there is an additional cable you need to release that the instructions omit. It is a cable on the side by the BNC connector on the main board that wraps around the board and goes underneath it. It uses the same "sliding bar" connector like the white one. Once disconnected, you should be able to remove the back case from the board. Once you are facing the battery, there are 3 ways to remove it. One, you can heat up the solder joints and try to pluck off the metal tab from the board. Two, you can use a solder sucker. Three, you can use solder wick. Whatever method you use, be very careful of that tiny little piece of plastic right next to the negative (towards the center of the circuit board) solder pad. That is an electronic component (diode or resistor). If you unsolder that you are likely to have a difficult time replacing it. It is surface mounted and VERY tiny. After the old battery is removed, you can try to break off the tabs and reuse them on the new battery. Or, you can solder fine stiff (insulated bell) wire to the board and the battery and let the battery sit in the large space in the case back. Or you can do as the fellow said and solder a wafer battery holder in there and the next visit to this area will be a lot easier. I used bell wire. It is stiff enough to hold the battery away from the circuit board and I could use a battery 15 times the size (and capacity) as the original. I used a Radio Shack CR 1220. Putting it back together is the reverse of taking it apart. If you did opt to disconnect the screen cable, you now have the challenge of getting it back on correctly. Getting these back in is very difficult unless you have done them before (iPods have similar connectors inside). Maneuvering the cable into the connector is tricky enough to tempt you to manhandle it a bit. DON'T! As I said they are fragile. The little flip up has to be up (and they tend to fall down). The cable has to go all the way in before pushing the flip up bar back down. Final note, Radio Shack is useless. They don't normally stock the wafer battery holder or the battery mentioned in the links. They also don't carry the replacement for the Varia MC621 that you are taking out. They do seem to stock the CR 1220. I'll report back if it works. I figured any 3V lithium should work. Good luck with yours. Mike Terry wrote: Thought I'd post this for those who own the older Garmin 296's,396's etc and have been having trouble with the units taking a long time to aquire satellites, clock displays wrong time and date on boot up. Mine was taking 30 minutes or so after a couple weeks being turned off. Trouble is the "internal battery". Figure on start up the gps uses the wrong date and time to locate the satellites. Now it boots in 15 seconds after internal battery replacement that cost me about $5.00 bucks and 30 minutes labor. Garmin says it can be done at a cost of $250.00 if you send the unit in but do it yourself. I thought I'd pass this on to my fellow pilots......if your interested here's the link.. http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhes...nalbattery.htm http://www.gpsinformation.org/forum/...pic.php?t=4701 Terry N6401F |
#6
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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement (Updated)
It has been over 10 days since the battery swap out. Went flying over
the past weekend after the GPS sat for nearly a week. The clock was spot on to the second. The unit acquired in the usual 30 seconds. I was a bit concerned that the heat required to solder the wires onto the battery may cause some harm (I used a temperature controlled iron with a thin pencil tip). I will have to see if the battery hangs in there. Given the replacement I used was 20 times the size of the original, maybe it will last longer. Seems the original made it about 2 years. Good Luck, Mike ..lots o stuff snipped about how to change the backup battery. I just did the swap on my 396. The descriptions in Terry's links give you a pretty good overall guide, but I will add a few details. http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhes...nalbattery.htm http://www.gpsinformation.org/forum/...pic.php?t=4701 Terry N6401F |
#7
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DIY Garmin GPS Internal Battery Replacement (Updated)
"Mike Spera" wrote in message m... It has been over 10 days since the battery swap out. Went flying over the past weekend after the GPS sat for nearly a week. The clock was spot on to the second. The unit acquired in the usual 30 seconds. I was a bit concerned that the heat required to solder the wires onto the battery may cause some harm (I used a temperature controlled iron with a thin pencil tip). I will have to see if the battery hangs in there. Given the replacement I used was 20 times the size of the original, maybe it will last longer. Seems the original made it about 2 years. Good Job Mike! Glad to hear it worked out.... Terry N6401F |
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