Beware Garmin GPS 276C will kill battery if left off and

[CaptCaper]

still plugged in. Happened twice on me. Last season I left the 276C plugged in but shut off. The screen showed chargeing battery. 4 days later the sled was stone cold dead. This is a new battery from last season becaused I replaced the old one thinking it was time and I assumed I needed a new one never realizeing the gps can discharge it even when shut off.
Jumping it wouldn't start last night (-3deg.F) turned real slow so I brought it inside and left a charger on it all night. Seems fine now. I'll know tommorrow morn it'll be good and cold then.
Never had a problem starting it expcept when I left the Garmin plugged in. The Garmin battery must discharge alot in the cold and kept sucking the juice from the sleds battery. I hope It didn't ruin the battery since it was so flat dead and could of froze.

 

[Attak-Firecat]

Garmin

Is it wired into the electrical system or do you plug it into the 12v socket?

 

[Grimm]

I've noticed that when I've had my gps plugged into either my bike or sled and powered off, that all of a sudden it would come out of sleep mode for some reason. The screen would just light up, I don't know why.

That's why I always disconnect the gps when I leave it unattended for a period of time. In my case, I wire my gps direct to battery.

 

[SharkAttak]

thanks for the info

 

[CaptCaper]

I just thought of posting to warn others now and in future searching that use GPS's. Nothing like a dead battery on these sleds when it's 0 out. Hard to start. Wouldn't start off a jump from the Vmax no how. Been sitting too long this week while I was away.
Makes ya want to hook 2 of them like we have in boats with a selector switch #1 or #2 or "Both"
I like it wired direct as well which it is. Being first trip out this year I forgot to unplug it.
It might come out of sleep mode but I bet the type of battery in this unit doesn't like the cold. It probably kept dischargeing and the sled kept up with it. The 276C has a self chargeing circuit for the battery inside for portable use. I probably have a setting for the battery charge option so I can turn it off. Just to be safe.

 

[mud99]

I have a garmin GPS wired into my sled, your info is not correct.

You need to wire the GPS into the cigarette lighter/accesory plug harness, that way it will cut power when the sled is off.

If you wire it into a circuit which is always on, yes it will drain the battery, but you shouldn't install it that way.

Mark

 

[camoman]

Yup I agree... my gps powers off as it is wired to the cig lighter. leave it plugged in all season!

Garmin 276c

 

[CaptCaper]

I understand about wiring direct and not direct. My preference is to wire direct. I like it running all the time when I'm out rideing. If I stop to talk at an intersection,etc. I don't want it to break the tracking up and have to turn on then off frequently. Its the worst thing to do is to turn them on and off all the time.
I save all the tracks and like them complete as possible. Now that I know about the overnight drain for sure I won't forget again to unplugg it or take it in which I usually do.
This post was just a warning to others.

 

[bankershrs]

CaptCaper,
Can you post a pic of the mount for your 276c? I have the same unit, use in boat and car. Time to add a mount for the sled, just curious what you used.
Thanks

 

[bottlerocket]

I understand about wiring direct and not direct. My preference is to wire direct. I like it running all the time when I'm out rideing. If I stop to talk at an intersection,etc. I don't want it to break the tracking up and have to turn on then off frequently. Its the worst thing to do is to turn them on and off all the time.
I save all the tracks and like them complete as possible. Now that I know about the overnight drain for sure I won't forget again to unplugg it or take it in which I usually do.
This post was just a warning to others.

This is exactly why I wired directly to the battery but I installed a on/off switch so I could veiw it without the key on. I also used a lighted switch and hope not to forget to turn it off.

 

[marq]

I ran into the problem last year where my gps battery would discharge so much from the cold that when I turned my Apex off, the gps would start acting all crazy because it didn't have enough battery reserve to shut down properly. The result was that the unit would get caught "power cycling" and the only way i could get it to stop was to supply power and warmth. Just turning the sled back on would not break the cycle.

My fix this year was to wire directly to the battery with an on/off switch. Now I can properly shut the unit down when I want to, and I can look at the trail maps I've created without leaving the sled running at an intersection. Been great so far.

 

[bottlerocket]

I have the nuvi 500 and it goes into the backup battery mode when I shut off the power. I think it gives you 30 seconds to continue or stut down.

 

[marq]

I have the nuvi 500 and it goes into the backup battery mode when I shut off the power. I think it gives you 30 seconds to continue or stut down.

Thats what mine does also, during normal conditions. When I use it on the sled I think the battery gets drained to the point where it can't complete the 30 second shutdown program, and dies.. but then immediately tries to start back up, and gets all tweaked out repeated that process until the battery can't even handle that anymore. That's the only thing I have found that I don't like about it. I like having it hardwired now... if I turn off the sled and forget to turn off the gps, it's still getting power until I shut it down properly.

 

[bottlerocket]

Im glad I didnt get a 276C which was one of the ones I looked at.

 

[CaptCaper]

276c is a nice unit. I should install a shut off so I can leave it on the sled. I usually take it in every night.