Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Discussion related to the Garmin Montana 7x0 series GPSr
Themistokles
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

In the meantime, I have conducted every possible test: All sorts of batteries (NiMH precharged, normal NiMH, standard AA batteries (Alkaline)), each of them with the display on one time and off the other time.

In every case, the behavior was the same: After about 30 minutes, the red LED began to blink, and the battery icon showed one bar. That happened with new (Alkaline) or fully charged (NiMH, NiMH precharged) batteries.

Of course, I had set up the device for the correct battery type each time.

How should I proceed now?
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GPSrChive
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by GPSrChive »

These test were all performed with firmware 15.20 installed?
Themistokles
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

Thanks again.

Yes, I have installed 15.20 a while ago (thanks to this website) and have conducted all tests with that version.
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GPSrChive
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by GPSrChive »

Please contact Garmin directly to open a support ticket as there is little more we can do to assist here. They will need to investigate a firmware update solution to correct this issue.

Please keep us updated with any further progress or other information related to this issue.

Thank you.
Themistokles
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

Thank you very much for your time, your support and your advice.

However, at the moment, I am a bit hesitant to open a support case with Garmin, because I am not sure whether the problem is due to a software issue or due to something else. After all, my device is obviously the only one that's affected by the problem. At least, nobody else has confirmed the problem in this thread, and I couldn't spot other threads in this forum that relate to the same problem.

Given that, I believe that it's very unlikely that Garmin will do anything about it. If I am the only one whose device shows this problem, they'll probably assume that it's not a software issue, and they'll probably be right with that. Hence, at the moment, opening a case with them would be a waste of time and resources.

If at least one other person would confirm the problem, the situation would be different of course; then I surely would follow your advice and open a support ticket.
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GPSrChive
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by GPSrChive »

We are testing again with our Montana 700 and some Amazon Basics Alkaline AA.

I am reminded by this test that Bug 107 has also yet to be resolved, and have sent a reminder to Garmin. Thank you for that!
Themistokles
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Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:47 am

Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

Thank you very much for your support and for operating that forum!

Your last remark about bug 107 made me visit that bug. This brought a new idea for a further test. Until now, I had not configured a normal data field that shows the battery status. Instead, I had always looked at the battery symbol in the status bar. Perhaps the data field would have shown the correct status. I will test this during my next ride.

However, even if that test would show a positive result, one problem would remain: The red LED starts to blink within less than 60 minutes even with fresh alkaline batteries or freshly charged NiMH batteries. This behavior surely doesn't depend on which data fields I configure.
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GPSrChive
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by GPSrChive »

We are still going to have to somehow determine what you are doing differently with your Montana 7x0 to cause the AA battery level to drop so quickly.

We tested with generic Amazon Basics AA Alkaline cells, and after 1hr 14min the battery status indicator was still showing full power, and the Notification LED never flashed any color.
Montana 700 Alkaline Battery Test
68.bmp
131.bmp
4541.bmp
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Themistokles
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Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2019 7:47 am

Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

Thank you very much for that test!

Perhaps we have different test conditions. During the last weeks, I have tested as follows:

- Turn on the backlight permanently, at the lowest possible intensity. (Turning off the backlight did not solve the problem.)

- During the ride, always have the trip odometer active with various configured fields. (Having another page than the trip odometer active did not solve the problem.)

- I have turned on GPS + Galileo. (I can't remember whether I already have tested GPS alone, but have read that Galileo is quite energy efficient anyway and that GPS + Glonass would draw more energy).

- I have not used any fitness or other sensors. (However, I haven't found a place in the settings where I can turn off ANT+ or Bluetooth explicitly, so I don't know whether additional sensors would cost more energy; after all, the device probably continuously searches for sensors even if I don't use them.)

- WiFi is turned off of course.

To avoid misunderstandings for people who didn't read the whole thread, I'd like to repeat that the problem is only with the battery status display and the red blinking LED. The device does NOT turn off prematurely. Instead, the battery status is showing 1 bar and the red LED blinks after 30 to 60 minutes even with fresh batteries, but nevertheless the device then continues to work normally for the time I would expect (that's about six hours or so).

Of course, it it very good that the device doesn't turn off prematurely, but it is extremely annoying that I can't rely on the battery status display.

Due to extremely bad weather, I couldn't yet conduct the test I have promised in my last post (battery status as field in the trip odometer). I'll report the result as soon as possible.

What setting for GNSS did you use? GPS alone?
Themistokles
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Re: Problems with the battery status - Possible solutions?

Unread post by Themistokles »

Update:

By pure random, I have found out that I am not the only person who suffers from the problem. At least, there are others with similar problems:

https://www.gpsrchive.com/Discussion/vi ... php?t=2182

Weird that this thread is about the GPSmap 65, while I didn't have such problems on my GPSmap 60, 60csx, 62s and 66s. The Montana 700 is my first device ever that shows that problem.
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