Wasn't sure just where to stick this, but it can be moved if necessary.
Found out something pretty interesting the other day when chatting with the owner of Palmdr, one of the companies that repairs Garmin stuff, including Garmin’s GPS lines.
My ZUMO 550 is well over 10 years old, bought it from a local back when the earth was still hot. Over my time of ownership, it has pretty much worked fine. Has only locked up once (R&R the main battery), of which it croaked a few years back (and replaced), replaced the screen/digitizer twice due to water getting in during some pretty heavy down pours when I was out on the road. Last year the keypads started coming apart due to UV/ozone exposure, so ordered a set from a fella over in The Netherlands. And finally, since the internal battery seemed to have died a few years ago, I got a replacement from Palmdr. This thing is a tiny little bit where the old one has to be unsoldered, and the new one soldered back in place.
Since the unit basically needs to be stripped for the keypad and battery replacement, it got put off until earlier this year (March) before the real riding season. I basically shucked off the old keypads with my thumb nail, doing a final cleanup with an ExActo blade and some denatured alcohol. The new pads were put in place, and secured, with some Sil-Net silicone seam sealer.
*** The battery was fun since the terminal spacing is minimal and it would be very easy to short the two “leads” together during the process. To avoid any drama and risk shorting out the new battery, I cut a 1/4” to 3/8” wide strip from a Post-It note in the sticky area, and stuck it over the two battery contact pads on the GPS’ PCB. This, of course, was after the bad battery was removed. I used a magic marker to mark over the 2 areas of the pads to show their exact location. After that, I put a small dab of silicone sealer on the back of the new battery and put it in place, carefully aligning the battery’s two contact fingers over the marks I’d made on the Post-It note strip. ***
*** After finding out that the battery was rechargeable, all of this caution probably wasn’t necessary. Still, nice to know that I didn’t take the life out of the thing with an unintentional short…. even if only momentary. ***
After a couple of days to insure the sealer had cured, I tried to wiggle the battery to make sure it was stuck in place and wouldn’t move. Satisfied all was good, I pulled the Note’s strip out from under the contacts and carefully soldered each in place with a small, pencil tipped iron.
Both of those two jobs done, the unit was reassembled. Everything seemed fine in River City until a couple of weeks ago when we used the unit in my wife’s car for a trip up into MD. When I first turned it on the unit’s clock was wrong until initial sat comm, when it corrected itself. This was odd because it seemed to keep perfect time when just sitting on my bench shortly after swapping out the battery. I was afraid the battery they sent me was an older unit and was no longer any good.
Come to find out, that internal battery is a rechargeable Li unit, and it only charges when the GPS is turned on. The fella told me it should hold a charge for about a month after a good charge.
We shall see. The unit has been on the charger (and turned on) since yesterday, so we’ll see how it does.
Found out something pretty interesting the other day when chatting with the owner of Palmdr, one of the companies that repairs Garmin stuff, including Garmin’s GPS lines.
My ZUMO 550 is well over 10 years old, bought it from a local back when the earth was still hot. Over my time of ownership, it has pretty much worked fine. Has only locked up once (R&R the main battery), of which it croaked a few years back (and replaced), replaced the screen/digitizer twice due to water getting in during some pretty heavy down pours when I was out on the road. Last year the keypads started coming apart due to UV/ozone exposure, so ordered a set from a fella over in The Netherlands. And finally, since the internal battery seemed to have died a few years ago, I got a replacement from Palmdr. This thing is a tiny little bit where the old one has to be unsoldered, and the new one soldered back in place.
Since the unit basically needs to be stripped for the keypad and battery replacement, it got put off until earlier this year (March) before the real riding season. I basically shucked off the old keypads with my thumb nail, doing a final cleanup with an ExActo blade and some denatured alcohol. The new pads were put in place, and secured, with some Sil-Net silicone seam sealer.
*** The battery was fun since the terminal spacing is minimal and it would be very easy to short the two “leads” together during the process. To avoid any drama and risk shorting out the new battery, I cut a 1/4” to 3/8” wide strip from a Post-It note in the sticky area, and stuck it over the two battery contact pads on the GPS’ PCB. This, of course, was after the bad battery was removed. I used a magic marker to mark over the 2 areas of the pads to show their exact location. After that, I put a small dab of silicone sealer on the back of the new battery and put it in place, carefully aligning the battery’s two contact fingers over the marks I’d made on the Post-It note strip. ***
*** After finding out that the battery was rechargeable, all of this caution probably wasn’t necessary. Still, nice to know that I didn’t take the life out of the thing with an unintentional short…. even if only momentary. ***
After a couple of days to insure the sealer had cured, I tried to wiggle the battery to make sure it was stuck in place and wouldn’t move. Satisfied all was good, I pulled the Note’s strip out from under the contacts and carefully soldered each in place with a small, pencil tipped iron.
Both of those two jobs done, the unit was reassembled. Everything seemed fine in River City until a couple of weeks ago when we used the unit in my wife’s car for a trip up into MD. When I first turned it on the unit’s clock was wrong until initial sat comm, when it corrected itself. This was odd because it seemed to keep perfect time when just sitting on my bench shortly after swapping out the battery. I was afraid the battery they sent me was an older unit and was no longer any good.
Come to find out, that internal battery is a rechargeable Li unit, and it only charges when the GPS is turned on. The fella told me it should hold a charge for about a month after a good charge.
We shall see. The unit has been on the charger (and turned on) since yesterday, so we’ll see how it does.
