Login

Forums  > Gears and Wears  > Why wont my garmin charge?


1

Why wont my garmin charge? (Read 1406 times)
cewickbe
Happy Howl-idays
 posted: 1/11/2008 at 10:41 PM
ANd why is there absolutely NO assistance on the garmin website?!?!

Forgive me if this has been posted alreayd, but I am on my way out the door and I have a 7-miler to do tomorrow so I need this fixed ASAp!!

I plugged the thing in overnight the other day and noticed it had never charged, tried it again and actually paid attention to it - it never says that its charging or anything like that. Its still pretty new (its a 205) and it would only be the 3rd time i have had to charge it. It worked before, why not now???

HELP!!!
jEfFgObLuE
Frustrating Project
 posted: 1/11/2008 at 10:54 PM
modified: 1/11/2008 at 11:14 PM
I can't answer your first question, other than to suggest try cleaning the metal contacts on the back of your watch and on the charger.

And as for your second question ("ANd why is there absolutely NO assistance on the garmin website?!?!), try the forums at MotionBased.com pertaining to your device. You may get some answers there.

As for your 7-miler tomorrow, Eric has included some excellent mapping software here at RunningAhead, so you could use that to plan out your course. Good Luck!

MTA: Try this (soft reset):
Q. How can I reset an Edge or Forerunner 205/305 unit that has locked up?
A. If your device has locked up during use, you can reset your unit by pressing the "Mode"(reset/lap) and "Power" buttons at the same time.


Also found this:(hard reset)
Yesterday however the unit DIED - couldn't switch it on and it wouldn't charge. One of the contacts had gone black so I cleaned with an eraser and managed to get some juice back in it from the charger. Once fully charged I tried to switch on again but NO JOY. So I did what Big Kev suggested a couple of pages ago which was

"Press MODE and RESET together, release just the RESET button and continue to hold the MODE. Now press the POWER-ON still holding the Mode button.
This boots up the Forerunner into an 'erase all?' menu."

I erased all and I have a fully functioning unit again. The unit has reverted to the default settings and I have lost all my History but it is working again!!!!!!
20th Century: 800m: 2:04 |1600m: 4:37 |3200m: 10:06 |5k: 16:23 |10k: 35:38 |15k: 54:20
25k: 1:35:59

21st Century: 5k: 19:42 |10k: 43:00

"Do not allow children to mix drinks. It is unseemly, and they use too much vermouth."
Steve Allen

Oswald acted alone.
dgb2n
Dave
 posted: 1/11/2008 at 11:37 PM
When you put it in the cradle and the watch is powered off, it should have a readout showing that it is charging. If you don't see it, you don't have positive contact. In general, if you can get data off of it, its charging.

To things to look for:

- If the leftmost contact is black, it may not be charging right. You need to clean the contacts. I'm pretty careful to dry the sweat off mine after every run.

- The other thing is to make sure that you disconnect it after its fully charged. When my computer goes into sleep mode, I've had issues where the Garmin was powered on and then discharged overnight.

Lots of good stories from folks who have called Garmin tech support if it comes to that. They stand behind their products.
I ran a mile and I liked it, liked it, liked it.

dgb2n@yahoo.com
cewickbe
Happy Howl-idays
 posted: 1/12/2008 at 3:58 AM
My contacts are clean, and I was talking about it not charging when I plug the thing into the wall. Right after I posted the first time, i took the plug off and just stuck it in the computer and it charged just fine. I will try checking the plug again (and yes, I did try it in many different sockets). I had never used the computer before because I thought you had to have the software installed first. I was just too lazy to do this, but I did it today and actually poked around a little in it. Its pretty cool. I will look into the matter a little better tomorrow after the run.
swgross
12 Squared
 posted: 1/14/2008 at 10:25 PM
Quote from dgb2n on 1/11/2008 at 11:37 PM:
- If the leftmost contact is black, it may not be charging right. You need to clean the contacts.


I have had problems with the leftmost contact turning black as well. A pencil eraser cleans it nicely, but I wonder, why don't the others turn black too? I'm certain I don't sweat in just that one particular spot. It's never affected charging, only uploading.
If you don't know where you're going, chances are you will end up somewhere else. - Yogi Berra
Blogrunner
Come Run With Us!
 posted: 3/2/2008 at 1:03 AM
Quote from jEfFgObLuE on 1/11/2008 at 10:54 PM:
I can't answer your first question, other than to suggest try cleaning the metal contacts on the back of your watch and on the charger.

And as for your second question ("ANd why is there absolutely NO assistance on the garmin website?!?!), try the forums at MotionBased.com pertaining to your device. You may get some answers there.

As for your 7-miler tomorrow, Eric has included some excellent mapping software here at RunningAhead, so you could use that to plan out your course. Good Luck!

MTA: Try this (soft reset):


Also found this:(hard reset)



You guys absolutely rock. I just had my watch suffer a similar incident. I came here, and found your answer about the mode/reset/power, and I did it, and it works. And now my watch is charging again.

I have a race in about 12 hours, so THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!! Big grin
Alex
Blogrunner's Road To New York - Daily Nonsense Delivered Fresh To Your Monitor

Groups
NYC Road Runners | 1500 Mile | Half-Marathoners
Scpete
posted: 3/5/2008 at 6:10 PM
Glad to see the tip on computer charging-discharging. I was puzzled recently when I got to a race and turned on my Garmin and it showed battery dead. I had hooked it up to computer and saw battery charging signal, but the next morning it was dead. Probably due to sleep mode.
frowzy
posted: 3/22/2008 at 6:55 PM
Quote from jEfFgObLuE on 1/11/2008 at 10:54 PM:
I can't answer your first question, other than to suggest try cleaning the metal contacts on the back of your watch and on the charger.

And as for your second question ("ANd why is there absolutely NO assistance on the garmin website?!?!), try the forums at MotionBased.com pertaining to your device. You may get some answers there.

As for your 7-miler tomorrow, Eric has included some excellent mapping software here at RunningAhead, so you could use that to plan out your course. Good Luck!

MTA: Try this (soft reset):


Also found this:(hard reset)


By the way, my Garmin 305 died today, and I tried the hard reset you suggested, and it came back to life. I just said "No", I don't want to reset all my data, and it was happy, but more important, it was alive again. Strange - why did it die?
trails2run
posted: 5/26/2008 at 2:11 AM
modified: 5/26/2008 at 2:11 AM
Another happy RA Garmin user that saved her Garmin with te Hard Reset described below. Thanks!!!
San Francisco Marathon*Timberline Marathon*Lost Dutchman Marathon*Reno Cinco de Mayo Marathon

Tahoe Rim Trail 50k*Glacial Trail 50k*Grand Teton Trail Marathon*Goblin Valley 50k
1


Forums  > Gears and Wears  > Why wont my garmin charge?

Feedback  |  Help
© 2005 – 2009 RunningAHEAD.com. All rights reserved.