Zumo 590 & 595 Battery life & charge problems

[rbentnail]

I often wondered too if it matters how you turn the unit off particularly when running on the battery. A quick button press seems to turn it off but when started again it immediately goes to the Where To page with no boot up. Shutting down via long button press gives the question "Shut Unit Down?" and requires a complete boot when restarting.

So does a short press go to sleep but still drain the battery vs actual shutting down?

[Stu]

A quick press puts it in standby and does indeed drain the battery in this mode!

Pressing and holding till you get the prompt to turn it off is the way to go

I have two batteries for my zumo and both genuine ones and neither is better than the other

[JohnnyRidesAlone]

Yes I saw an internet where the poster just splayed the pins a bit without taking them out. These JST (maybe wrong -stands for Japaneese XXX) are a pig to fit, designed to be ultra-cheap and quick to crimp but zero maintenance ability - they also have a crimping tool at around 1000 USD.

I always had charging issues with my 590. I found it would only charge on standby not off!

[Boruch]

This matter is totally unacceptable!

I am furious that Garmin knowing full well that they incorporated a poor quality battery connector into a very expensive GPS, have not addressed this problem and issued either replacement units or at the very least, replacement batteries with a corrected connector. I have purchased numerous batteries due to this (unknowing that this connector was the culprit) only to find that the batteries in the end were in good shape. The connector is flawed. All of my riding friends have the exact same issue so this is wide spread.

Regardless of being out of warranty, this is a design flaw that owners should not have to deal with this headache day after day.

As much as I like Garmin products of past, if they don't resolve this proper for owners of 590 and 595 navigation units, I'll become an ardent advocate for their competitors.

[simoncrewe]

Whilst I totally agree with your sentiments, the unit is no longer current so don't expect Garmin to do any further modifications. Best thing to do, is to carry out the well documented mod to the connector & thereby keep your sanity.

[jfheath]

I have noted that the Zumo seems to react on what it thinks the charge is, rather than what it actually is. I'm not sure if this is actually the case or why it would be so, but - if you let the battery run flat and then put it on charge without disturbing it - overnight or longer - then the Zumo will show the battery meter as full and the battery itself will be full. Along with the bent pin trick, this seems to bring the battery life up to spec.

Just yesterday I had the plastic battery connector lift off with the mating part that is on the battery cable, leaving the pins exposed with nothing surrounding them. With a strong light and lens, I was able to slip the plastic housing back over the pins - but noted that one of the pins was slightly bent. I have still got to stick it down, but at present everything is held firmly positioned by the batter door.

[rbentnail]

Revisiting this b/c despite my best efforts my 595 battery life is dismal. I'm on battery #3 with the connector mod and I get a good solid 25-30 seconds of battery power after it's been in the cradle all day. This is rediculous! Has anyone read about anyone dismantling the device and soldering battery wires in to eliminate the crappy connector altogether?

[jfheath]

I had the same problem - did the bending of the connector pins trick a few times. I convinced myself that it had worked, but that was just wishful thinking.

A few weeks ago, I decided to disconnect the battery. Can't remember why. I always forget which part of that white plastic connector to press, and while I was fumbling around, the connecto lifted off without any issue. Except this time, it left a group of metal spikes sticking up. The Zumo half of the connector was still connected to the cable half. The Zumo half had come unstuck from the board.

Oh Tish. Or something like that.
So out came the maginfying glass. I could see where the plastic connector had been glued to the circuit board.
I did a test fit, and decided to straighten out the pins and gently leant on them everso slightly in the direction of where the cable half of the connector would be located. And I mean very gently. I don't know if these are solid metal pins or very fine tubes. Tubes will snap in an instant.

I positioned the circuit board half of the connector over the pins. Checked with a hand lens and a strong light, removed it and then went for the fix. I used thick superglue. Thin super glue flows into any electrical joint by caipllary action and effectively sticks the parts together and insulates them from each other at the same time. Thick superglue it was. Two small dabs where the glue had been originally. I held it in place and reconnected the battery half of the cable and put a weight on it and left it overnight to set.

It seemed to be held firm, so I put a strip of thin card over the top of the conenctor to encourage the battery door to press down on the top.
I let the battery run flat and then did a full charge. I think sometimes the Zumo doesn't know exactly how much charge it has left. If it is emptied and then filled up, it has a pretty good idea.

And since then, battery life has been better than it has ever been. The light goes dim very quickly - that can be extended from the menu. But it doesn't demand power nearly as often as it did.

I don't know whether it was the connector coming off the board, straigtening and leaning on the pins a bit or making the battery door press onto the connector so that it couldn't move that did the trick. But it was one of those !!

[rbentnail]

If I unplug/replug the connector it works for another 30 secs or so then cuts off again. I'm going to try the paper under the cover trick, what have I got to lose? If that doesn't work this little pecker is coming apart to see what else can be done.

[rbentnail]

Well, I got frustrated enough that I said the heck with it and dismantled my 595 to see what else can be done to enhance battery life. This has always been a problem for me as described in earlier posts. What is actually there, seen with the circuit board in my hand:

The connector half on the battery we know are hollow pins that can be ever-so-slightly expanded to make better contact. The circuit board half described somewhat inaccurately by jfheath is actually a plastic shroud held in place to the ckt bd by molded-in metal clips that are soldered to the ckt bd. So, unlike being glued, once that plastic shroud is loose from the ckt bd, it's a permanent disfigurement. But fear not, no harm no foul.

When the shroud is removed the "group of metal spikes" described are actually pairs of what look like very small tines on a fork. For each wire position, the pin from the battery connector slides down into a pair of tines to make contact on either side of the pin. This is why each little spread of a pin works for a while then not- the tines are spread apart farther and farther apart with each successive pin expansion until they simply don't make contact any more.

My first thought was to squish the tines together but then I thought, "you're an idiot! What's that going to fix?" It will only gain a little time until I'll being going through this all again- dismantle, squish tines, reassemble, repeat. I'm going to purchase a new battery and hack up the connector so I can solder the pins to the tines then connect the wires together in the battery compartment. I think it'll work.

As to the disfigured shroud, it simply slides back on and as jfh describes, held in place from the top with a piece of folded paper under the battery cover. It doesn't take much. If you look closely at the reverse of the cover there's a little molded notch that fits over the connector.

If anyone has a damaged/dead 595 battery he/she would like to contribute I'll happily pay shipping.