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Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | I have a 10+/- yr old garmin GPSIII (handheld) with several hundred waypoints stored within that wont power up. Garmin has told me they wont work on it and cant get parts for it. It's too old. The tech on the phone was very helpful though. I am looking for someone who services electronic devices. The circuit to the power source has likely been compromised. If I can find someone who can get power back in to the unit I can retrtieve my waypoints. I have about 80% of them logged on paper which I generally do after every 2 or 3 outings. Then I can shop for a new GPS which will also have a sonar and be mounted in my boat. Yadda Yadda Yadda...... Any way, Who knows a good electronics geek/service/repair guy? HELP!!!
Karl
Edited by KARLOUTDOORS 12/1/2006 1:45 AM
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Posts: 401
| I do not know if he will be able to help or not on this issue but the guy from Action Fish Electonics in Anoka MN is really good with that kind of stuff.
763-422-4890
I hope he can help you out.
Keith |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Keith,
Thanks for the number but they were unable to help. Anyone else????
Karl |
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Posts: 96
| google. musky39 |
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | perhaps too much information though couldnt find any about GPS. be more specific. |
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Posts: 2752
Location: Mauston, Wisconsin | Hi Karl- A quick note. I got your GPS unit about 2 hours ago.
The good news- I think I found the problem. It looks like a manufacturing defect, i.e., bad solder joint.
The bad news is- I can't fix it, i.e., I don't have the necessary tools. Nor, are my old hands steady enough to attempt to make the necessary solder repair. The printed circuit board (PCB) is all surface mount. This means you need some very high magnification optics (to see what your are doing) and some very specialized soldering equipment to repair it.
Here's what I found-> there is a solder bead on the circuit trace at pin #3 of an integrated circuit (IC) chip (see attached photo below). The presence of the solder bead indicates a bad/defective solder joint, i.e., the circuit trace is not solidly connected to the IC pin. This IC chip is the DC to DC converter IC chip (Linear LTC1435) that takes the 6V from the regular batteries (4 x 1.5V AA battery = ~6V) and converts it to ~1.5 volts for the CPU & the rest of the circuits including the display. If this chip is not working nothing works. It's obvious this came out of the factory this way and vibration or whatever caused the connection to finally fail.
The other good news is the internal memory battery is OK - I measured it at 2.948V and the new memory battery you sent with the unit measures 2.946V . That means your stored waypoints are probably safe. Under no circumstance should anyone disconnect the internal battery! If so you will lose your waypoints.
Here's a link to the LTC1435 chip data sheet-> http://www.datasheetarchive.com/search.php?q=LTC1435&sType=part&Exa...
What next? Find a local repair shop in Chicago area that does surface mount PCB work and have them repair the joint. There is a remote chance this may not be the problem. Better yet have Garmin repair it. As an electronics/electrical engineer who has done a lot of forensic investigations, this is definitely a "factory defect". I am suprised their QA people didn't catch it, i.e., it is clearly visible to the naked eye.
It's also obvious that whomever you talked to for potential repairs brushed you off. Call me so we can discuss how to approach Garmin direct.
Al
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 Garmin GPS2 005-1.jpg (134KB - 144 downloads)
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Posts: 956
Location: Home of the 2016 World Series Champion Cubs | Al,
Thanks. Please check your PM.
Karl |
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