Hand Held GPS Repair

[Jefecinco]

My Garmin GPSmap 76Cx is no longer working due to a failed battery terminal. One of the two AA batteries appears to have leaked with the leakage apparently causing the negative terminal to break in half. The terminal is an inverted "U" shape with a leg soldered to an internal circuit board and the other leg resting against the battery negative. The terminal broke in half in the turn of the "U" shape. This made the gap in the battery tray too wide to provide sufficient pressure on the battery to complete the circuit.

I'm seeking advice on how to make the GPS functional. An inelegant solution that has come to mind is to simply place a small washer between the battery and the remaining part of the terminal. A similar idea is to use a piece of single strand uninsulated copper wire. This could be tested without soldering the pieces together. If it works soldering could follow. Although I've had some training on some electronics my forte, so to say, is in mechanical power systems so my thoughts may not be smart not practical.

Thank you Duracell.

[jimh]

Is the springy metal battery contact riveted to the circuit board? Or, is it just soldered? Maybe you can find some other battery-powered device that is no longer working and harvest a spring-metal battery contact from it. Like from an old NTSC TV remote control still in the bottom drawer of some furniture in the living room.

[Jefecinco]

Jim. The contact is soldered to the circuit board. The battery compartment is sealed, or appears to be sealed, from the GPS internal circuitry. I ASSUME a tiny post or similar protrudes from the circuit board up through the bottom of the battery compartment where the contact is soldered. If this is the case a small soldering iron could be employed as you suggest.

I believe I can purchase a "pencil" soldering iron and a roll of rosin core solder for fairly small money. I can probably find an obsolete device for a contact.

Thanks for the advice. I'm a little nervous about damaging the GPS while attempting this repair but the option is another GPS purchase. I use the little Garmin on our Sport 13 so if my repair fails I may be able to buy a small Raymarine Dragonfly for about the cost of a quality hand held replacement.

[jimh]

You should also contact GARMIN customer service. Perhaps the breaking of the battery clip is a common problem and there is an expedient remedy for it.

[Jefecinco]

Based on Jim's suggestion I've sent an email to Garmin customer service. It should be interesting to read the response. I did some additional searches and found that the broken connector is a very common problem. Apparently the battery industry standard dimensions for AA batteries is not standard and length can vary. From various discussion groups Garmin's response to out-of-warranty repair has been mixed. Some had the repair for free, some got a replacement unit for 35% off retail, and some paid a charge which also varied.

[jimh]

I have encountered the same problem: varying battery size for what you'd think would be a standard dimension. At my workplace we used a great many small devices that ran on a 9-Volt battery. Every day we'd go through dozens of batteries. The manufacturer of these devices warned users that the battery compartment was specifically designed for a certain brand and certain model of 9-Volt, and that they recommended using only that battery.

Someone in a supervisory capacity thought that a great savings (maybe $0.25 per battery) could be had if a less expensive brand and model were substituted, so they ordered hundreds of these cheaper batteries. The dimensions of the new batteries were not the same as the recommended model, the new batteries did not fit well into the battery compartment, and, of course, the new batteries only provided power to the device for about half as long as the recommended battery. The manufacturer of the device had already tested many battery brands and models and found the brand and model they recommended worked the best and gave the longest life. Who knew there was so much variation in something you think of as a commodity?

[Jefecinco]

I received a canned response from Garmin this morning. "Thank you for contacting Garmin, blah, blah, blah. We want to help you with your problem. Unfortunately your 76.. is no longer repaired by Garmin and you will likely require a replacement. Contact me if I can help you with this." This response was up to expectations. Garmin can certainly expect me to buy a replacement from them after such a disappointing failure of a four year old device.

Just for fun I will call the support line to see if the response is the same.

It's looking a lot like a home repair or replacement with a lower priced helm mount unit. Dragonfly 4s are looking like a decent choice for a small boat for small cost with a transducer and C-Map or Navionics Coastal chart. The cost is less than some upper tier hand held units from Garmin.

[Jefecinco]

I called Garmin Technical Support this morning. The outcome was well worth the call. They will replace my unit with a reconditioned unit for $48.60 including tax and shipping. I pay for shipping to them.

The lesson learned by me was a telephone call is almost always better than an email. I first had a better experience via telephone with Lowrance but emails are free or at least inclusive whereas we buy telephone service by the hour.

I've added the support telephone number to my speed dial, it's 800-800-1020 for those with Garmin equipment.

[Jefecinco]

Final Update: I received the replacement reconditioned unit this morning due to the kindness of a neighbor. I've tested it and it's working properly. So, for an ultimate cost of $48.60 and my $12 cost of shipping I now have a nice unit. Kudos to Garmin.

UPS gets no kudos. For the fourth time this year they delivered a package meant for me to a neighbor's house a block away. They seem unable to distinguish between an 8 and a 9. I've finally filed a complaint so maybe the route man will hear about it.