Garmin battery life extension

mattsccm · Post by **mattsccm** » 9 Jul 2020, 7:38am

Any tips for making the life on my Garmin 800 a bit longer? It is getting on a bit now. 6 years which to me is appalling but apparently our disposable society feels that's good . :lol:

Not a problem on morning rides but after about 6 hours I am starting to get battery low warnings and get maybe 45 minutes after that. Sadly this is about the threshold where I am actually navigating so am using the map screen which I guess doesn't help. Quite possibly my charging regime doesn't help as it is also used for daily commuting , thus only 3 hours a day then an overnight charge. Might not be the best?
What features might I be able to disable to prolong the life on a ride? Back light? Less fields on the screen?
Lets avoid remote batteries at this point as well as replacements.

De Sisti · Post by **De Sisti** » 9 Jul 2020, 7:52am

mattsccm wrote:Quite possibly my charging regime doesn't help as it is also used for daily commuting ,

I would have thought that you would have committed your daily commute to memory by now?

toontra · Post by **toontra** » 9 Jul 2020, 8:35am

De Sisti wrote:
mattsccm wrote:Quite possibly my charging regime doesn't help as it is also used for daily commuting ,

I would have thought that you would have committed your daily commute to memory by now?

Some people use their devices for recording stats rather than route-following.

yakdiver · Post by **yakdiver** » 9 Jul 2020, 8:50am

https://satnavrepairservice.com/repair- ... ir/13.html

mattsccm · Post by **mattsccm** » 9 Jul 2020, 5:14pm

GPS is mostly for recording. Maybe once a month used for navigation. Don't navigate shorter, sub 6 hour routes as they are usually local or easy to remember. Hence not really noticing this battery issue creeping up on me.

Jdsk · Post by **Jdsk** » 9 Jul 2020, 5:24pm

mattsccm wrote:What features might I be able to disable to prolong the life on a ride? Back light? Less fields on the screen?

There a list for this somewhere... is it on the Garmin site or their official forum?

Includes data networks off and screen brightness down but I can't remember it all.

Jonathan

PS: Battery life is one of the few things I don't like about my Edge 1000.

MikeDee · Post by **MikeDee** » 9 Jul 2020, 5:36pm

Turn off the backlight and Glonass. Bluetooth too. I think that navigation and displaying the map eats battery too.

cycleruk · Post by **cycleruk** » 9 Jul 2020, 6:51pm

I know you said about no battery replacements but interesting Utube battery replacement video. Whether it's as good as he claims I don't know but something to think about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibhQgNCdIvg

220kestrel · Post by **220kestrel** » 9 Jul 2020, 9:33pm

Get a small power bank.
I used one for a Lake District 200km Audax with an 800.
Get a small top tube bag and run it direct from the power bank
or just top it up when you stop for tea and cakes.

Syd · Post by **Syd** » 9 Jul 2020, 9:46pm

You device is 6 years old and sounds like it has gone through a great many charge / discharge cycles. The batteries have a limited number of cycles and deteriorate as cycle count increases.

I cant find the spec on the oem battery but suspect your battery is close to or exceeded that. Time to replace.

ElCani · Post by **ElCani** » 9 Jul 2020, 10:14pm

I also have an Edge 800 and the battery life has also diminished to around six hours. In fact I’m currently in a tent with it attached to a powerbank! Long term I plan to replace the internal battery, it looks very simple. I don’t think you have any alternative if you want it to last longer than it currently does.

Jdsk · Post by **Jdsk** » 9 Jul 2020, 10:25pm

Garmin: "Maximising Battery Life"
https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/vivoactive3/EN-US/GUID-BAA41419-4A42-4E5F-91A9-DE301C5A817F.html

Jonathan

PH · Post by PH » 10 Jul 2020, 12:00am

It's the mapping that's the most power hungry, it's constantly redrawing itself, apparently the entire screen not just the new bits.
I replaced the battery in a Garmin Touring, it was pretty straightforward, worked great, though I can't comment on longevity as I found another way to break it ...
I now have another, the battery in this one is well below the new capacity, somewhere around 60%. I may get around to replacing the battery at some point. For now, on longer rides, I'm using a powerbank, initially I was running off it, but I've started charging it when I stop for a break, I've got into the habit of making that the first thing I do.

NickJP · Post by **NickJP** » 10 Jul 2020, 1:44am

Changing the battery is easy enough. I've done it on both a friend's 800 and my wife's 1000.

Sweep · Post by **Sweep** » 10 Jul 2020, 9:04am

Syd wrote:You device is 6 years old and sounds like it has gone through a great many charge / discharge cycles. The batteries have a limited number of cycles and deteriorate as cycle count increases.

I cant find the spec on the oem battery but suspect your battery is close to or exceeded that. Time to replace.

With an etrex20.
None of this built in battery nonsense.
Batteries available everywhere from corner shop to petrol station to lidl to ikea.

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