Forums >Gears and Wears>Garmin 610 not charging [solved]
Interval Junkie --Nobby
I love my Garmin 610. Been using it for about 3years. 6k miles. About 900 hrs of use or so.
Every Summer I start running into a problem where the watch needs some encouragement to start charging once connected to its cradle. I have put books on it, and balanced old harddrives on top (yeah, on the magnet -- they have no data anyway, but they're heavy). I usually clean the contacts with a Q-tip. Sometimes I get the dreaded "negative charging" problem, but a quick cleaning and usually that's avoided.
But as the Summer ends it becomes more difficult to work around. Last week I basically had to told a 15lb of pressure clip on the near end to keep it in charging mode. Until finally, even that didn't work.
Things I tried that probably help, but didn't solve my problem:
- dry Q-Tip cleaning of contact on both watch and cradle
- Eraser head (pencil) rubbing on contacts (the cradle contacts are very difficult to do this way)
- Isopropel alcohol and the Q-tip approach
But yesterday I noticed that really the problem wasn't corroded contacts, it was all the salt from my sweat that built up besides the contacts. See, the cradle contacts are counter-sunk in some plastic that helps position them against the watch. Except on the watch-side those divots to accommodate the plastic were coated with built up salt.
So, I took an x-acto and softly rubbed away at it between q-tip swabs.
Result: all fixed. No charging problems.
Just thought I'd pass that along to other 610 lovers.
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Thanks for tip! I run into the same problem with my 610. I'll give it a go and see if works.