• Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Posted: **Thu Mar 19, 2020 7:04 pm**

Anybody found an alternative battery pack that fits the Edge 530/830/1030 devices? No way I'm spending north of £100 for the official Garmin branded battery.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Externa ... B077C45BGN

I know I could just run a standard external power pack (and have successfully done this with previous Garmin and Anker battery in the top tube bag), but it would be neater to use something specifically designed for the device, and put less dependance on the crappy micro USB charging slot - weakest link in the whole thing!

Posted: **Thu Mar 19, 2020 9:32 pm**

They were £75 recently at cycle republic. Prices seem to fluctuate if your in no rush.

Posted: **Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:03 am**

The best way I’ve found to minimise loading on the usb slot is to use a 90degree usb cable,

Much neater and easier to zip tie a short section of cable to the stem.

Don’t think there’s a neat 520/30 compatible power pack as they don’t have the pins that the higher spec devices have

Posted: **Fri Mar 20, 2020 2:00 pm**

I beg to differ substandard, the 530 does have the pins for their proprietary battery the same as to 1030, I suppose the only way the Garmin monopoly could be broken is for something to be 3D printed but it's questionable whether the numbers justify it. Seems Garmin are following Apple, Shimano etc etc in making products difficult to copy then screwing their customers.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:09 am**

Yes, the bike industry has being doing ‘bespoke’ (=non-compatible) solutions for years to tie-in customers. I did see something on YouTube the other day that a guy had 3D printed to store a small power pack in the steerer tube. Looked very neat.

Edit: found it:

https://content.playsportsnetwork.com/5 ... 0010f85ace

I think the Cannondale Lefty head tube is a bit different to most, providing more room to install this.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 12:36 pm**

Probably easier said than done but the ideal solution would be an adapter that attached to the 5 pins of the 530, 830 and 1030 with a male 1/4 turn underneath that wired them to a USB plug via a shortish lead. This would allow the use of a wide range of battery packs and to have the packs tucked away in a top tube bag away from water ingress.

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:15 pm**

Is the socket on the 530 the same as on the 520? If so it's a standard USB micro socket so any cable will do. The angled cable referred to earlier is known as a "90 degree angle down", here's the first one I found when searching - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Degree-angled- ... B01HOB7C76

Posted: **Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:36 pm**

Bob, there are 2 ways of getting power into the 530,830 and 1030 specifically. First is the crappy micro usb that pretty well all Garmins have for charging, data transfer which will eventually break if roughly handled. The second is a 5 pin setup on the lug where you attach it to mounts. This can be mated up to a proprietary auxiliary battery that triples the battery life of these units and sits between the unit and the mount and costs about £100. The 520, Explore, etcetc don't have this.

Posted: **Mon Mar 23, 2020 10:47 am**

Aah I’d assumed the 530 was the same as the 520 and 520plus that came before it which are all I’ve ever had, nice feature to have the pins then :)

Posted: **Sun Mar 29, 2020 12:44 pm**

Garmin battery packs back in stock £74.99
https://www.cyclerepublic.com/garmin-ch ... y8EALw_wcB

Posted: **Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:20 am**

AFAIK the Garmin battery will also only work with their own out front mount costing £30 as it sits underneath the mount with the gps on the normal top bit rather than connecting directly to the gps. I've seen a few big discounts on the 1030, the cheapest being €340 but not sure I want the memory hungry whistles and bells over my Edge Explore which has all the features I need but no more. Also, I've not been able to get any info on how many mAh this battery unit has, only that it gives an additional 20h use. Also no info on whether it can be charged on the go with a dynamo. I'm intrigued how the riders who do multiple day/night rides without access to mains charging nor the stopped time to recharge lights and gps manage, they must eat a lot of carrots. Anyone know their secret?

Posted: **Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:30 am**

pistonbroke wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:20 amI'm intrigued how the riders who do multiple day/night rides without access to mains charging nor the stopped time to recharge lights and gps manage, they must eat a lot of carrots. Anyone know their secret?

Either dynamo and/or careful usage. Two years ago in France touring on MTBs I could keep GPS (Garmin Oregon) and iPhone charged. I had one 10,000mAh and one 3,200mAh powerbank. Charged alternately during the day via dynamo and used at night to charge GPS then phone. Didn't use much light as we didn't really ride at night but on the HT550 I used an Exposure Joystick and it still had half charge after five days - I rode through the night on the last night but otherwise it was an hour to two hours per night.

I wrote about it here - http://bobwightman.blogspot.com/2018/08 ... onics.html and here's where I found the settings to change for power usage https://www.navigation-professionell.de ... -settings/ and some more power saving notes - http://www.gpsrchive.com/Oregon%206xx/P ... urces.html

Posted: **Wed Apr 01, 2020 1:26 pm**

This one’s got me thinking.... I have a 530, CAD software, a 3D printer (turning up this week) and time to spare while furloughed.
Now does anyone know the pin outs on the back of the 530 and how these need to relate to a USB connector?
I guessing the central pin is a common connector, with the surrounding pins allowing connection in each of the 90deg orientations?

Posted: **Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:00 pm**

Probably easier said than done but the ideal solution would be an adapter that attached to the 5 pins of the 530, 830 and 1030 with a male 1/4 turn underneath that wired them to a USB plug via a shortish lead. This would allow the use of a wide range of battery packs and to have the packs tucked away in a top tube bag away from water ingress.

That's the spirit Moff, all you want now is someone who has the Garmin battery thing to tell you the polarity of the connectors and which does what, I guess you're correct that the middle is the common one but Im not sure about your assertion that the outers are all the same as the out front mount that it sits on only allows 2 positions which are 180° apart.
I suppose you could cannibalise a usb lead and attach the charging wires to your partly charged 530 to see which changes the battery charge icon but this could be an expensive trial and error exercise.

Posted: **Thu Apr 02, 2020 8:32 am**

pistonbroke wrote: ↑Mon Mar 30, 2020 10:20 am AFAIK the Garmin battery will also only work with their own out front mount costing £30 as it sits underneath the mount with the gps on the normal top bit rather than connecting directly to the gps. I've seen a few big discounts on the 1030, the cheapest being €340 but not sure I want the memory hungry whistles and bells over my Edge Explore which has all the features I need but no more. Also, I've not been able to get any info on how many mAh this battery unit has, only that it gives an additional 20h use. Also no info on whether it can be charged on the go with a dynamo. I'm intrigued how the riders who do multiple day/night rides without access to mains charging nor the stopped time to recharge lights and gps manage, they must eat a lot of carrots. Anyone know their secret?

I have a 1030, and purchased it specifically for long duration bikepacking
On its own will last approx 20ish hours.
The external battery pack adds another 20ish hours.
On last year’s BB200 a single external battery lasted 20hours on the mapping page (typically uses more power) with the backlight on for much of that.
Following the tip above about the cycle republic have purchased a second battery pack; idea being when the first is empty can swap.
Also have an Oregon 700; I find the lack of faffing with the Edge 1030 suits me better, and like the out front mount.
Very atypical for Garmin, the software on the 1030 seems fairly robust

Posted: **Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:59 am**

have a look on thing universe, there were a few stl's for a battery holder combined mount on there a while ago.

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:38 am**

Bit of bump, I saw a review of the 530 on DC Rainmaker yesterday and he also showed the Garmin Charge attachment. The out front mount features a locking lever rather than having to turn the unit 90° as per all the others I've seen. Anyone know whether this mount comes with the GPS unit or the Charge unit? Is it available seperately, when I've searched even on the Garmin website, all the out front mounts are quarter turn. Also any news on the 3D printed adapter mentioned earlier?
This video shows the connection https://youtu.be/khTngGOSAms

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:56 am**

That looks interesting. I've just started having a look on the garmin site but there appears to be a separate adapter?

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/59198 ... 0-12563-01

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:01 pm**

sean_iow wrote: ↑Wed Apr 22, 2020 8:56 am That looks interesting. I've just started having a look on the garmin site but there appears to be a separate adapter?

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/p/59198 ... 0-12563-01

When using an Edge 1030 with the external battery pack the Edge no longer quarter turns to secure in place.

Instead the quarter turn insert is removed and replaced with the above.
Battery pack is secured from beneath and contacts go through the hole
Edge secures are above
Both are held in position with a lever

Can take photos if you wish..

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2020 2:14 pm**

I think the video I linked to makes the connection method clear thanks.

Posted: **Wed Apr 22, 2020 3:26 pm**

After doing some internet research I think I’ll be getting one of these. Yes it’s expensive but according to garmin it will be ideal, if changing from a dynamo it will always supply power, the micro usb of the 1030 won’t take any strain and also due to being firmly mounted the power pack usb should be safer than a standard battery rattling around in a pack. I’ll also be able to use the pack USB output to power my beacon or change my iPhone effectively using it as a neat cashe battery.
With some 30cm leads it will make my whole power system much neater and lighter.

Some good information here
https://forums.garmin.com/sports-fitnes ... -questions

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:58 am**

Can anyone who has this battery confirm that it will charge an iPhone from the usb output? I’m thinking of a switch power flow from both the battery and Dynamo, I’ve a few charging circuits kicking about which don’t supply the required current to the data pins which means an iPhone won’t charge.

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:35 am**

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:58 am Can anyone who has this battery confirm that it will charge an iPhone from the usb output?

external battery is charging an iPhone X

When battery is drained a little (currently fully charged) will test the pass-thru charging claim

one slight oversight of Garmin, they don't provide a cover for the Edge battery terminals. having two packs such a cover would be useful

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:34 pm**

Haven’t got too far on it so far, have been trying to get some stuff done around the house.

Going to explore it a bit more now, working out the pinout for the connection could be the stumbling block at the mo!?

Posted: **Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:57 pm**

Asposium wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:35 am
BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:58 am Can anyone who has this battery confirm that it will charge an iPhone from the usb output?
external battery is charging an iPhone X

Thanks, I shall be investing in one shortly

Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack

Re: Garmin Edge 530 External Battery Pack