Garmin is draining my battery

Flat lander

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My battery was dead after my bike sat for a week. Charged up the battery overnight and started looking for the short the next day. Found out my Garmin is drawing a .5 amp even when it is shut off. Is this normal? For now I take it out of the mount when I'm not ridding. Would like to know do they really draw that much all the time when not it use
 

LoFlow

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May 27, 2014
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kitsapolis
My battery was dead after my bike sat for a week. Charged up the battery overnight and started looking for the short the next day. Found out my Garmin is drawing a .5 amp even when it is shut off. Is this normal? For now I take it out of the mount when I'm not ridding. Would like to know do they really draw that much all the time when not it use
Mine does the same, I also found out the hard way. I'm guessing it's trying to keep the GPS's battery charged.
 

U.P.rider

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I'm using a Garmin Montana 680T with the locking/ powered cradle connected to a key off connector. I used a Eastern Beaver 3 circuit harness that has the connectors to plug into the S10's extra connectors. Several options such as key on or always on circuits. EB also has an splitter so you can add two devices to the 3 wire line.
Link: http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/Bike_Specific/Tenere/tenere.html
 
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Cycledude

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Rib lake wi
What model Garmin do you have and how do you have it hooked up to your Tenere ?
If it is actually turned off i don’t see how it could be draining your Tenere battery.
Have you added any other accessories ?

My battery was dead after my bike sat for a week. Charged up the battery overnight and started looking for the short the next day. Found out my Garmin is drawing a .5 amp even when it is shut off. Is this normal? For now I take it out of the mount when I'm not ridding. Would like to know do they really draw that much all the time when not it use
 

RCinNC

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I think that any device that has a voltage converter built into the circuit will draw power, even when nothing is plugged into the circuit containing the converter. I don't know which Garmin you're using, but if it has a powered cradle with a built in voltage converter that drops the voltage from 12V to something like 5V, the cradle itself will always be drawing current, even when the device itself is off. The only way to stop the draw is to be able to disconnect the circuit from the power supply. Even a USB outlet that's wired directly to the battery will be drawing current when nothing's plugged in, though the draw is really small.
 

Flat lander

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It's a Garmin Zumo 595. It was on the bike when I bought it. Installed by him. It is a direct hookup to the battery. I can take it out of the cradle and have no amp. draw. Back in the cradle and it's back up to. 5 amp with the screen off.
My guess is that it is trying to charge the internal battery which I think is bad because if it is out of the cradle overnight the unit is already dead.
 

WJBertrand

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Some Garmin cradles will still charge the battery when the GPS itself is turned off. The ones intended for motorcycle use aren't supposed to do that, but I've heard similar stories to this when they are wired to an always hot source. My ancient zumo 550 will charge in the car cradle when the unit is turned off but it is not supposed to do that in the motorcycle cradle. I don't know if it works as described because I wired the power to a switchable source from the beginning as a precaution.
 

Cycledude

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I am also using a Zumo 595, it’s hooked to the accessory light plug so when the key is in the off position there is no power. I bought the plug from Eastern Beaver for $19.00 delivered so that if I ever want to sell this Tenere I can just unplug it.
On my first Tenere I cut the wires near the plug and used Posi Locks to connect it so when I removed it to trade it in I soldered the wires back together and put heat shrink on them Incase the next owner wanted to use that plug for something.
 

EricV

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As RCinNC said, just about anything with a cradle will draw current when its attached to the cradle.

My Bags Connection powered tankbag ring killed a battery once for me. I could remove the bag and it would be fine. With nothing plugged in, just the empty tankbag attached to the ring, it drew power.

The ring came with a harness to wire direct to the battery, so I had to modify it to wire to my PC-8 as switched power to prevent a current draw.
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
My 595LM has been hooked up directly to battery with no drain. Of course I have only done one overnight trip. This is good info guys. I wonder how long it takes for it to drain a battery if it's directly hooked up? In a few months I'm planning on getting a nice Neutrino Black Box and thinking on using the ignition to put power to the Garmin.

Mine will drain as well. I just remove from the cradle. I don’t want to put it on the ignition circuit. On off cycles are hard on electronics. These things cost. My last one went 10 years.
I have never heard of that before? I would think It would be be just like turning the power button off on the device.
 
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ballisticexchris

Guest
Direct connection to the battery and it’s charging your garmins battery.
Ahh I see. I guess I'l just take the chance for now. When I get my PDM it can be changed from ignition source to hardwire via bluetooth. My old 76CSX was always hardwired to my Beta and I never had a battery drain issue. Might have something to do with keeping my bikes on a tender at home.

Maybe some of the guys who do multi day tours can chime in if their batteries drain during a long trip.
 

Nikolajsen

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On a Garmin 595 the cradle it self, does not drain battery, just as Flat lander write.
Because all electronic (DC converter 12 to 5 vdc, and therefore also the 5 vdc to USB stick), is in the GPS it self.

@ballisticexchris , when I'm on week long tour, I just take the 595 out off the cradle when the days touring is finished.
Meaning I leave it in the cradle when I stop for coffee, food and gasstop, and I have the cradle connected directly to battery, because I am so quick to take off after a break, that the GPS don't have enough time to start again ;-)

No problem at all, with OEM battery.
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
On a Garmin 595 the cradle it self, does not drain battery, just as Flat lander write.
Because all electronic (DC converter 12 to 5 vdc, and therefore also the 5 vdc to USB stick), is in the GPS it self.

@ballisticexchris , when I'm on week long tour, I just take the 595 out off the cradle when the days touring is finished.
Meaning I leave it in the cradle when I stop for coffee, food and gasstop, and I have the cradle connected directly to battery, because I am so quick to take off after a break, that the GPS don't have enough time to start again ;-)

No problem at all, with OEM battery.
Thanks for that Kikolajsen! I'm planning a big Grand Canyon multi day ride ride and I will do just that for the overnight stays.
 

Thrasherg

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Dallas, TX
As a side note, Garmin also tells you to wire the GPS directly to the battery and NOT use a switched supply which seems odd, I have always wired them to a switched supply and never had an issue..

Gary
 

RCinNC

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I've never had a Zumo or any GPS with a powered cradle, but Now that I've read Nikolajsen's post, I do remember reading somewhere that the Zumo's cradle was 12 volts DC input and 12 volts DC output. Maybe they do that to avoid the whole issue of parasitic draw, so you can leave the cradle hard wired to the battery all the time.
 
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