Frying my Garmin

[MakarskiJA]

Ok, so I wired up a connector into the tail light and grounded to the frame. I am on my second Garmin 60CSX. This time I plugged it in and everything worked okay for the first couple days then today the GPS won't stay on without holding the power button. I checked the voltage and I'm only getting 11.8 at the plug so it's not too much for it. Is my wiring not correct? Like I said, it worked for a while. My first unit I plugged directly into the sae adapter I have going to the battery for charging and the same thing happened.

[PFFOG]

11.8 sounds low, and when charging, voltage means one thing, but AMPERAGE is needed to actually sustain the system. My guess is although your wiring is providing some power, but it was partially draining the battery too, until it was/is exhausted. .

[MakarskiJA]

It's not working even with new batteries in it. And with the bike running its still not staying on.

[ckcarr]

Sounds broken.
My original Garmin 60csx started acting up and turning off on its own. Would not stay on. Was a cracked board or something. It was out of warranty but they did have refurbished units for sale with a trade in. So I did an exchange and got one of those. It was several years ago however. There's probably better units available now.

I'd guess it has nothing to do with the wiring. Are you using the Garmin 12v auto adapter?

Actually my other Garmin went black screen one day and never came back on. I ended up just throwing away.

[MakarskiJA]

I'm using a Glisson Power/Data Cable. Red wire to the grey tail light wire and black wire ground to the frame.
This unit does not charge externally. Just AA's or external power.

[wswartzwel]

You are using the garmin power cord aren't you? It has a rectifier in it to reduce the voltage... the unit does not run on 12 volts.

[ckcarr]

Although I have the Garmin power cable for the Garmin Map 60CSx I quit using it because as a practical matter a set of AA batteries made more sense to me. Battery life is 18-30 hours which for the average Joe is 2-4 days riding time. A 12 pack of batteries lasts quite a while. I know, that doesn't help. I think Bill is right, although looking at the Gilsson web page the cables certainly look proper for the unit. Are you modifying their cable in some way?

[MakarskiJA]

I'm going to put a 5amp fuse in line with the cable. I talked to a garmin rep and he said thats all they do in the garmin cables. The gps itself is rated to handle 8 to 34 volts and be just fine.

[ckcarr]

How does the fuse help if you stated it isn't working even with new batteries in it?

Just mildly curious...

[MakarskiJA]

Garmin will be sending me another one, if the next one screws up ill just say forget it and run it off batteries. The service tech said that's what he would try. The one they sent me was under warranty so they replace it for free. Garmin has been an excellent company to work through these issues with.