Garmin 72h

[dougg]

I've seen advertised a car charger for the Garmin 72h.
If I put rechargeable batteries in it will they get charged up, when plugged in,Or will the car charger just run the unit and do nothing for the batteries?
Tks

 

[[70521]]

No. It will take the power from the car to run the unit not recharge the batteries; daft I know.

 

[Fantasie 19]

No. It will take the power from the car to run the unit not recharge the batteries; daft I know.

Not really... I mean if it had "Battery Charger" written on the front of it instead of "GPS" maybe.. but otherwise....

 

[nigelmercier]

If this is your emergency GPS, don't even think about using rechargeable batteries. AA Lithium is the best.

 

[Boo2]

If this is your emergency GPS, don't even think about using rechargeable batteries. AA Lithium is the best.

Lithium AA cells have a few advantages over Alkaline ones:

• They are around half the weight
• They maintain a higher terminal voltage when partially discharged
• They work down to lower temperatures than alkaline
• Their self discharge rate is lower

but I don't think these advantages make any particular difference for use in a hand held GPS, "emergency" or not. You can perfectly well use Eneloop rechargeables and just charge them every time you go on the boat.


Boo2

 

[nigelmercier]

You can perfectly well use Eneloop rechargeables and just charge them every time you go on the boat.

As long as you remember, and providing the GPS is happy to run at reduced voltage, and you don't mind the short life and sudden discharge.

 

[alahol2]

I've been running a 72H on Eneloop type batteries for the last couple of seasons. The GPS is perfectly happy, the batteries don't self discharge much if not used for a few weeks and they seem to last as well as any alkaline battery.
Maybe you should give them a try, they're far superior to the old NiCd or NiMH

 

[prv]

I don't think these advantages make any particular difference for use in a hand held GPS, "emergency" or not.

It seems unlikely that the GPS in the original question is an emergency GPS. Nevertheless, a low self-discharge rate is highly desirable for a device which will be stowed away and ignored most of the time, and then needed in a hurry. The batteries in my emergency kit have shelf-life until the end of 2018.

You can perfectly well use Eneloop rechargeables and just charge them every time you go on the boat.

Rather an absurd suggestion for something packed away in a grab-bag, surely?

Of course, this is all entirely irrelevant to the OP, who wants to plug his 72H into the ship's batteries and thus is probably using it as his main GPS. No real objection to rechargeables for that.

Pete

 

[nigelmercier]

Maybe you should give them a try, they're far superior to the old NiCd or NiMH

Worth a punt, I've got a torch that I've modified to take 5 NiMH batteries, instead of 4 Alkaline, but never happy with the result for the reasons above.

I guess Amazon is a good source? 4x AA in case Product Name HR-3UTGB-4BP

Note, the B in the product name is important, an A here means the old type.

Do you use a special charger, or a standard NiMH one?

 

[alahol2]

I've actually been using these for the last couple of years. You can use a normal NiMH charger but I got a new one when I bought the batteries only because it would allow me to charge individual batteries rather than in sets of 2 or 4.