Garmin GPS 48 Battery Replacement

[JackFrobisher]

Has anyone ever replaced the internal battery in a Garmin GPS48? The unit is (allegedly) sealed and nitrogen-filled so I've avoided trying to do anything about it but the loss of all stored data amost as soon as I switch it off is vexing.

 

[pvb]

There was a quality issue with the lithium batteries in Garmin 48s, and Garmin used to replace them free. However, the 48 is quite an old product now, and Garmin may no longer be so generous. You could always try putting in a new set of alkaline batteries and leaving it for a couple of weeks - some people have found this cured the low memory battery problem - but as yours is probably quite old it may actually need a replacement battery. If Garmin want to charge you, it might be worth trying to open it up yourself (although I think it's ultrasonically welded together). The actual battery is just a little soldered-in 3v lithium cell.

 

[JackFrobisher]

I've tried leaving it connected to the boat's battery for several weeks but the internal refuses to hold a charge.

Since it's quite old I am considering cutting it open. Is the battery likely to be easy to obtain?

 

[hightech]

Whilst the unit might have initially been Nitrogen filled, it is highly unlikely that after the first year or so that this would still be present. So go for, open it up and change the battery yourself, you have little to lose.

 

[pvb]

[ QUOTE ]
Is the battery likely to be easy to obtain?

[/ QUOTE ]I believe it's a VL1220 - if you Google for VL1220 lithium, you should find lots of suppliers at about a tenner.

 

[mikejames]

The case is ultrasonically welded. Simply squeeze firmly on both sides near the middle and it will crack open. Problem will then be to ever get it to re-seal properly - case is ABS so can use solvent cement, my GPS48 also has silicone or similar in the fillet between the two case halves.

It has a dead lithium battery because I connected it to a reversed DC input as an external power source and it did not blow the fuse in the power lead. I got the impression this was a known problem.

I have used mine for several years in this state and I just ignore the low backup battery warning , but make sure it always has a set of good AA batteries in it at all times.

I keep mine as it is a fair bit quicker when laying racing marks to press mark-enter-goto-scroll down-enter to mark a new waypoint and immediately navigate to it, rather than lots of scrolling through menus or playing hunt-the-waypoint on the screen for the later GPS60/72/76 versions.