garmin surgery

recently my garmin edge [ bicycle computer / gps ] has been randomly shutting off during rides. if you’ve ever used a gps while riding, you know how frustrating this can be ( especially if you are depending upon it for routing in unknown territory ). since my unit is far beyond the warranty period, i decided to follow a couple DIY fixes that i found online.

items used that are not pictured include; soldering iron, 60/40 solder and my wife ( but you can just a third hand tool… )

the first step was to break the waterproof seal around the edge of the casing. this was by far the most difficult part. 30 minutes and one fingernail later, it popped open!

once inside, i desoldered the old battery (800mAh) and replaced it with an LGIP-530B . this LG cell phone battery is a bit larger, so i had to grind down a couple of unnecessary ’tabs’. the new battery is 1100(mAh) and should have a greater life for the long weekend trips. ( ps. batteries plus had this battery for $37 dollars. i got it online for $3.30 with free shipping… )

the real reason for opening the garmin was actually to address the sudden shutoff issue. it is a simple fix, really. in the highlighted area above, you see the contact point for the two circuits. over time ( and the bumpy streets of indianpolis ) these two pieces start to separate, which obviously causes the shutoffs. i simply cut out two small sections of an old busted innertube, removed the screws that hold the contact plate in-place, and put the tube spacers underneath. this raises the contact board enough so that no jolt will allow them to separate.

putting it back together was pretty simple too! get everything in place, put a few dabs of super glue adhesive at the edges, then quickly put a line of tire patch rubber cement around the entire seal and press them together… i used zip ties to apply constant pressure overnight. i mean, come’on, what project is complete without the use of these handy things.

this took me a little longer than expected, but $3.30 and a couple hours is much better than $79.99 + shipping it to garmin.