Garmin units and dynamo power

[Mike]

Right I'm about to buy a new garmin however can someone who uses theirs with a dynamo hub for power clear this up please.

Does the unit have to have a battery inside it for it to work still? The one I'm looking at says it will charge from a usb however I was wondering if it's a case of taking the power from the battery pack and charging at the same time rather than just the unit running off the ext power from the hub??

[ScotRoutes]

My Oregon will work off a USB supply without the internal batteries installed. The problem with running it this way is that slowing down or stopping cuts all power to the GPS, so it just switches off.

[Pickers]

I think it depends on which model of Garmin you buy.
I use an Edge Explorer now (which I appreciate you're probably not likely to get), it's the first one I've had where the unit doesn't automatically shut down when the power supply is removed.

[pistonbroke]

Mike, if I were you, I'd get a small single cell buffer battery which has pass-through capability and run that in line between the hub and the Garmin. Then you're safe against over powering the unit causing an expensive fail and have a bit of reserve power for slower running. I realise it's of no use to you as they are no longer but I got a Juice Cube from Maplin for a fiver that does just that and holds 2,000mah and works well with my Edge Touring.
Pickers, for future ref, what type of USB does it take, the Touring is a pain as it is mini usb which as a standard seems on it's way out. Also, the Explorer doesn't have a card slot, I'd need to load it with Spanish mapping but not sure how to do it, can you clarify this?

[Mike]

Iv got the new charger from klite so hopefully the power doesnt cut out now as hes designed it to stay on...so far it works with my phone fab, even charges at low speeds so this shouldnt be an issue for power loss, im looking at the new 66s im sure it will run from an ext source maybe abit more research needed

[whitestone]

I've the Oregon and it's a pain to run it directly from the dynamo, even with batteries installed in the unit, as Garmin obviously decided that external power would obviously be something like a car or boat engine Consequently as soon as you stop or slow below the speed at which the dynamo outputs enough power the unit asks if you want to turn it off, if you don't hear the beep or see the screen then it turns off by default! There's no option that I've found to auto switch between external and internal power supplies.

I'd check with my Edge 510 but it's fubarred so unfortunately can't .

The least worst option I've so far found is to have two powerbanks, say 10,000mAh each, charge one and use the other either as an external supply to the Garmin or to charge it up at night. I prefer the second as the Oregon ignores your power saving settings when running from an external power supply so the screen won't power off after 30 seconds, etc. Having two powerbanks also introduces some redundancy if one fails.

[AlasdairMc]

The least worst option I've so far found is to have two powerbanks, say 10,000mAh each, charge one and use the other either as an external supply to the Garmin or to charge it up at night. I prefer the second as the Oregon ignores your power saving settings when running from an external power supply so the screen won't power off after 30 seconds, etc. Having two powerbanks also introduces some redundancy if one fails.

This. I reckon for rides of a week or less, batteries remain the lightest option when factoring in hub weights and the fact you’ll be carrying at least one battery anyway for charging other things. The Anker bricks are decent, just pick the size that works best.

[whitestone]

Following our trip to France in August I did a blog post about powering electronics http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2018/08 ... onics.html . Note that I've not yet done the test ride at 10-12kmh that I mention.

As ever when *you* are the power source it pays to be frugal in how you use it hence the phone being in Airplane mode as much as possible, etc.

There is a penalty with the two battery system in that you lose some charge when charging the battery and then again when using it to charge your devices but I think that overall it (or two batteries with dynamo charging for longer trips) is the best option.