Zumo User Forums

twowheelstom wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2024 5:00 pmI am assuming that doing either bike cradle charging -or- AC wall charging are both valid options?. Thanks for comments.

The very important thing with AC charging is - did the Zumo XT start by himself, when connected to the wall charger!

Yes - let it start up completely, then shortly(!) press the power button. The screen should go black and you'll see a message for a short time that the Zumo XT is charging, than the Zumo XT goes completely black. Let it charge for a few hours...

No - than you must do the trick with a battery and the bike mount...

help me to understand the difference.
my AC charger adapter outputs DC 5 volts at 2.1 amps
the bike battery outputs DC 5 volts at lower amps

to my understanding, the DC 5 volt output is the same, only the amps are different.
so why would the XT battery charge up at the lower 0.5 amps but not charge at 2.1 amps?
that part I don't understand, because the only difference is the level of amps charging the XT

to my knowledge any battery will charge at any amount of lower amps, just takes longer time

corrections, the converter block on the XT cord is

Input: 10-30v, 1.5A max
Output: 4.8-5.5v, 1.5A

the only difference between using AC charger and bike battery XT converter block is 1.5A vs 2.1A
0.6A

right?

I found this on Garmin Support page, can someone interpret for me what this means?
I don't understand what parasitic current draw means

zūmo® XT GPS navigator:

When the zūmo XT is NOT connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the parasitic current draw of the Motorcycle Power Cable is 150uA @ 12V.
When the zūmo XT IS connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the current draw is Input: 10-30V, 1.5A (max) Output: 4.8-5.5V, 1.5A.

I found a converter table on google
150uA = 0.00015 amps

twowheelstom wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 3:59 pm help me to understand the difference.
my AC charger adapter outputs DC 5 volts at 2.1 amps
the bike battery outputs DC 5 volts at lower amps

to my understanding, the DC 5 volt output is the same, only the amps are different.
so why would the XT battery charge up at the lower 0.5 amps but not charge at 2.1 amps?
that part I don't understand, because the only difference is the level of amps charging the XT

to my knowledge any battery will charge at any amount of lower amps, just takes longer time

Sorry, i can't - but for sure there is a difference between these two charging possibilities, so many user reports tell it! Many of them were not able to get the Zumo XT to life when using a wall charger and a usb-cable. Most of the time the only solution was to use the bike mount! Something inside the Zumo XT must be handled differently using the mount or using a cable...

But hopefully the battery of your Zumo XT is not flat when you get it and than there are no such problems!

Regarding the 'parasite draw' of the mount - i think what is meant is, that even when no Zumo XT is connected in the motorbike mount, the 12V-to5V-converter will draw a very little amount of power! So it is, IMHO, a smart move to connect the bike mount to a switched line of your motorcycle!

twowheelstom wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 4:27 pm I found this on Garmin Support page, can someone interpret for me what this means?
I don't understand what parasitic current draw means

zūmo® XT GPS navigator:

When the zūmo XT is NOT connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the parasitic current draw of the Motorcycle Power Cable is 150uA @ 12V.
When the zūmo XT IS connected to the motorcycle charging mount, the current draw is Input: 10-30V, 1.5A (max) Output: 4.8-5.5V, 1.5A.

As you discovered, this is such a tiny amount of draw that unless your battery is on the verge of failure for other reasons, you can ignore the parasitic draw. But most modern bikes have their own current draws that can run your battery down in a fairly short time when parked -- a few weeks, in some cases. Clocks, computers, and dash memory chips all draw on the battery with the key off. So it's smart to keep the bike on a battery tender/maintainer (NOT a "trickle charger"). Once you get in that habit the parasitic draw of the XT mount becomes a complete non-issue. So I leave mine connected direct to the battery to avoid the unit powering off when I stop for gas or other short breaks.

-dan

danham wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 7:06 pm Once you get in that habit the parasitic draw of the XT mount becomes a complete non-issue. So I leave mine connected direct to the battery to avoid the unit powering off when I stop for gas or other short breaks.
-dan

That's what I was thinking of doing with my XT mount when I get it, (not arrived yet due to winter snow storm delay in delivery). I was thinking of connecting the mount wires directly to bike battery like you did.

And now I see what that parasitic 150uA amp draw number means = when the XT is NOT connected into the mount, the amp draw on the bike battery is that 150uA figure, (0.00015 amps). So that mount is going to draw 0.00015 amps all the time when the bike is off. Now I can see why using a battery tender to regularly top up the bike battery because of that parasitic amp draw of the mount. Now I see. That parasitic draw part was confusing me, so thanks for your post, it helped a lot.

I bet that the 150uA parasitic draw is from that black fuse/voltage converter block on the mount wire, that's probably what's continually drawing the 0.00015 amps, maybe

I made some electrical measurements two years ago when I first received my XT. I thought that I had posted them here before, but I cannot find the post, so I'll do it now:
_________________
Out of the box, the battery was too weak to boot, even on 2 A USB charger. The screen showed charging, but the boot progress bar reached only about 10% before shutting down.

I connected the motorcycle mount to a nominal 12 V regulated power supply, with an ammeter inline.
With the power supply providing 13.6 V, the XT started, drawing 0.42 A, default brightness was at 20%.

I made a few other measurements:
The supplied mounting cord and converter produced 5.24 V at the pins with the 13.6 V input. Top pin is positive, bottom is negative.

Brightness level, Current draw (A)
20%, 0.42
50%, 0.43
70%, 0.45
80%, 0.48
90%, 0.52
100%, 0.58

Changing between day or night mode made no difference in current draw, only a changed brightness level mode caused a current change.

Using the motorcycle mount, the XT and converter draw 2.44 mA in sleep mode (after single press of the power switch).

Together, they draw 0.87 mA powered off (after power button held down and shut down confirmed on screen).

With the XT removed from the mount, the converter draws 0.15 mA. Not much, but not zero.
____________


Looking at this again today, I am still befuddled that a 2A USB charger (2A x 5V= 10watts) would not provide enough power to boot the dead XT, but on the 13.6V power supply, the XT started just fine while drawing only 0.42A, or 5.7 watts of power.