I now have my Zendure A3 Power Bank and as I'd just got in from a ride when I opened the package I tried it with the first thing that came to hand, my Garmin Edge 500. I plugged it in and it started charging but, when I came back to it after a couple of minutes it had stopped charging and the Garmin had turned off Tried again and the same thing happens each time.

I then tried the Zendure with my smartphone and it continued to charge and topped this up to full no problem. A look at the manual what came with the Zendure says there is a minimum current draw required for it to sense it is charging a device so could the Edge not draw enough current? I'm not planning on using it to charge the Edge but curious to as to what is going on, plus it would be nice to have the option if I wanted to.

As well as charging my phone the other use I plan for the Zendure would be to power my Etrex 30 if the batteries were low and I didn't have spares, so I wonder if this draws enough power to remain on? Anyone got any experience of using a Zendure to power an Etrex?

I used mine to power an Edge 20 without any trouble. I'm assuming the 20 has less draw than the eTrex?

The fact the Edge 500 turned off rather than remained charging might be a particularity of the 500 as it works differently to the others when charging (cant be charged and used at the same time) but it does stay on the charging screen when plugged into a mains charger.

I would think the Etrex uses more power than the Edge 200. I could always put the back light on constant and turn it up to the brightest setting to use more power.

Shoot me down if I am wrong but you cant charge etrex batteries in situ.
I carry a usb charging pack that takes AA & AAA (SPOT) batteries which I plug into the power bank.
Prepared to be wrong on this but that is my understanding.

Mariner wrote:Shoot me down if I am wrong but you cant charge etrex batteries in situ.
I carry a usb charging pack that takes AA & AAA (SPOT) batteries which I plug into the power bank.
Prepared to be wrong on this but that is my understanding.

You're right, perhaps I worded my use badly. It is not to charge the batteries in the Etrex but to power it directly. I think the Etrex will run off an external power source connected to the USB? I'll have to give it a try tonight.

Noting interest here, I ordered an A3 model yesterday. One of the primary uses will be to keep an Edge Touring going over a few days. It should arrive today - I'll plug it into the Garmin later and see what happens.

sean_iow wrote: I think the Etrex will run off an external power source connected to the USB? I'll have to give it a try tonight.

That's right, although you're then potentially causing water ingress problems as USB port will have to be open. I just carry spare batteries (and run off high capacity rechargeable ones which will last around 60 hours)

AlexGold wrote:I just carry spare batteries (and run off high capacity rechargeable ones which will last around 60 hours)

The battery pack would only be for backup if I run out of batteries. Interesting that you get 60 hours from rechargeables, I don't think I get that from the lithiums I use. Is this in an etrex 30 and do you know what the capacity of the rechargeablee is? I keep meaning to do this to save having to use lithiums.

sean_iow wrote:

AlexGold wrote:I just carry spare batteries (and run off high capacity rechargeable ones which will last around 60 hours)

The battery pack would only be for backup if I run out of batteries. Interesting that you get 60 hours from rechargeables, I don't think I get that from the lithiums I use. Is this in an etrex 30 and do you know what the capacity of the rechargeable is? I keep meaning to do this to save having to use lithiums.

I'm currently using amazon rechargeables which are 2400mah, I've also been recommended the eneloop pro's which are 2500 (but twice the price!)

Bear in mind this is road use with the backlight set to 30 seconds timeout and only turning on at junctions, if you're doing anything needed the map visible a lot you will get significantly less time. I've also played with the idea of charging the AAs from a powerbank, but haven't needed that level of power yet! (and there's always a petrol station for emergency batteries)

I set my backlight to only turn on when I press the toggle and it only stays on for about 30 seconds but obviously battery life is shorter the more I check it. The screen is on all the time though.

Just tried the Zendure with the Etrex, plugged it in and the plug symbol comes on the screen to show there's external power. After about 30 seconds the 'external' power lost message comes up. Tried again and I had to press the button on the Zendure to get it to start powering the ETrex, the blue lights went out after about 10 seconds and the external power lost again after 30 I'll contact Zendure but I fear there might be an issue, see 'the postman's been' thread for how much of a pain a warranty return will be

Probably not much help now (and I don't know if the A3 model is any different to the A2 that Stu has). My A3 arrived, it's charged up, I've plugged in my Garmin. It's been on for 3 or 4 minutes and appears to be charging properly - all's good here.

Pickers wrote:Probably not much help now (and I don't know if the A3 model is any different to the A2 that Stu has). My A3 arrived, it's charged up, I've plugged in my Garmin. It's been on for 3 or 4 minutes and appears to be charging properly - all's good here.

Out of interest, which Garmin? A Google search showed up the eTrex 30 as only needing 90mA so that would be below the charging minimum for the Zendure. That wasn't from the Garmin website so may or may not be true?

Just out of interest I tried my etrex plugged into the power bank and it worked fine.
I did take the batteries so give it another go without batteries.

Out of interest, which Garmin? A Google search showed up the eTrex 30 as only needing 90mA so that would be below the charging minimum for the Zendure. That wasn't from the Garmin website so may or may not be true?

It's an Edge Touring - built in lithium battery.

I contacted Zendure and explained that the A3 will charge my phone but when plugged into my Garmin it automatically turns off. I received the response below

Our A-Series power banks include an anti-drain technology which requires devices have a minimum power draw of 120 mAh to keep charging on. Plugging in your phone or a device with a power draw of more than 120 mAh and then your Garmin into the A3 should keep the charging on.

Are you also experiencing this when using the A3 with your phone?

We are currently developing X6, our 20,000 mAh power bank designed to be used with low powered devices. We except it to ship in June.

So it may be that the Garmin doesn't draw enough power to not turn off, but odd that others can get theirs to work fine. I've ordered an USB power meter to put in-line and measure the current draw of the various devices

I've one of the USB multimeters - (Muker TM-103, was about £7 from Amazon), I'll have a play and see what current my various devices try to pull when I plug in a powerbank to charge them.

My USB meter arrived so I've tested the current draw of the eTrex. It only uses 80mA which is under the 120mA which is the minimum the Zendure requires to stay on so that confirms why it shuts down. I only really bought the A3 for charging my phone so not a big issue but something to be aware of if you want to use one to charge or power things with a low power demand.

Using the results from the meter I should now be able to work out the expected battery life for various rechargeable AAs in the eTrex based on thier capacity.

sean_iow wrote:I contacted Zendure and explained that the A3 will charge my phone but when plugged into my Garmin it automatically turns off. I received the response below

Our A-Series power banks include an anti-drain technology which requires devices have a minimum power draw of 120 mAh to keep charging on. Plugging in your phone or a device with a power draw of more than 120 mAh and then your Garmin into the A3 should keep the charging on.

Are you also experiencing this when using the A3 with your phone?

We are currently developing X6, our 20,000 mAh power bank designed to be used with low powered devices. We except it to ship in June.

So it may be that the Garmin doesn't draw enough power to not turn off, but odd that others can get theirs to work fine. I've ordered an USB power meter to put in-line and measure the current draw of the various devices

My Garmin was better with batteries that had a physical on/off switch. What caused grief was when using auto on/off batteries, the Garmin reached 100% and the battery pack switched off as it presumably wasn't drawing current, which then caused the Garmin to start it's 15 second countdown as I'd just removed it from a power source....