The Garmin forum link that BDSteve put up has mention of someone trying to find out what the pins did, given that neither unit needs to twist through 90° means that each pin could have a separate use, not like Garmin to overly complicate things eh?
This thread has tempted me to upgrade my Edge Explore to a 530 or 830 or even a cheap 1030 although all the training metrics are wasted on me but seems the 530 and 830 have smaller screens than the Explore which is a deal breaker, anyone seen an offer on the 1030 that rivals the £300 that CRC/Wiggle had, unfortunately they're now out of stock.

I’m sure the cheap offer will come around soon enough. As a long term garmin hater I’d say it’s a decent bit of kit, in so much as it actually works for a change. The battery pack is a good feature but apparently it also plays nicely with a dynamo, I’ve not tried it but may pop out this afternoon and give it a go, my main reason for the battery pack will be to spare the micro usb on the unit.

Which brings us back to Craig's original question regarding alternatives to the Garmin power unit which is a lot of money for a 3,100mAh power bank. If Moff is successful in making a 5 pin adapter, I'm pretty sure he'll have a few customers for repeats.

Well it plays very nicely with a dynamo, went out with 84%, returned after 1 1/4 hours with 98% charge and no problems, the screen and backlight was on 100% brightness throughout. it briefly flashes up ‘external power lost’ when you stop then gets on with it.
In dry weather with a 90deg micro usb secured so not to impart any strain there would be no need for a backup battery.

So the stand alone 1030 plays nicely with a dynamo input directly via a micro usb? That's good to know.
Assuming you've not bought a Garmin charge auxiliary battery yet, what would be interesting is if the Garmin charge can be charged from a dynamo whilst attached to the 1030. What Craig was trying to achieve was keeping the 1030 powered using the 5 pin connecter as the micro usb port is too delicate (I've had 2 break) to withstand off road rattling about and once the usb port breaks, your £300-£400 unit is borked.

Apparently the battery pack is absolutely fine on a dynamo

Is your assertion based on the feedback from the Garmin tech guy on the forum you linked to or do you have additional info from someone who has done it in anger. I'm not doubting Garmin but it would be nice to have real world experience.

Ill let you know Duncan

pistonbroke wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 7:35 pm Is your assertion based on the feedback from the Garmin tech guy on the forum you linked to or do you have additional info from someone who has done it in anger. I'm not doubting Garmin but it would be nice to have real world experience.

When I’ve run the external battery down will plug into a mains charger and run the edge at the same time
Will be a test of the pass thru ability

I asked Garmin this very question sometime ago and was told the battery does not have pass thru ability
Wasn’t too bothered as the dynamo charging was utter rubbish, went back to packs and a mains charger

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 6:38 pm Well it plays very nicely with a dynamo, it briefly flashes up ‘external power lost’ when you stop then gets on with it.

Strange, mine doesn't. One of the things that I first noticed unlike the Oregon which would turn off unless you were really quick on the buttons

rufus748 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 11:53 pm

BigdummySteve wrote: ↑Fri Apr 24, 2020 6:38 pm Well it plays very nicely with a dynamo, it briefly flashes up ‘external power lost’ when you stop then gets on with it.

Strange, mine doesn't. One of the things that I first noticed unlike the Oregon which would turn off unless you were really quick on the buttons

Which model do you have? I’ve got the 1030 and it was perfectly well behaved. Admittedly it was a largely road based ride but I did stop several times and purposely rode at below 5mph as a test. To be honest I had to check the charge level to be sure it was actually getting power. I’ll do a few more rides to confirm.

Just to confirm 2nd ride on the dynamo and perfect, a little bar pops up briefly and it just carries on. Today I ran the light as well and still gained charge on a ride which was 80% road.

Another bump. Did anything come of the idea to 3D print an adapter to lock onto the 5 pins on the back of 530,830 and 1030 models. Steve has reported that the Garmin piggy-back battery supports pass through charging but having an adapter would open up use of bigger capacity power banks. £120 for the Garmin 3,000mAh power bank seems a lot of money to me.

Sorry to say. But its a lot of faff and expenditure to run a lovely (wanted to use the word 'crappy'... but Daves just bought one and I don't wanna fall victim to his mouth ) 530 unit and/or similar... Why not just sell the 'poor show' (joking... they're lovely, I'm sure) and buy 2 Wahoo Bolts or a bolt and a ROAM...

Then live HAPPILY EVER AFTER...

Same/ similar price

Apologies again in advance

Because I bought my 530 for less than the price of a Bolt. I tested it yesterday. Garmin have really done the business here. It is fast, easy to use, tiny, cheap, has excellent battery life and was flawless once I turned off some of the annoying default alerts. Phone integration was spot on and this may become my go to GPX in favour of the Oregon.

I just need to test OS mapping before giving it a massive thumbs up.

Duncan. I've not done anything as I am hopeless at 3D design.

Is anyone able to draw a pin out for the Garmin battery? I’m guessing that there will be +ve and -ve pins and probably a fixed resistance between one of these and the centre pin. Would also need to know what voltage the pack runs at, I’m guessing it’ll be 3.7v rather than 5v that you get from a USB?

Potentially could just drill some holes in a standard Garmin mount and put in these
https://www.mouser.co.uk/new/mill-max/m ... onnectors/
Would need to make sure they were wired up correctly first!

I tried OS maps on the 1030, 1:25k didn’t really work that well. As you zoom in they loose definition. I swapped to talklytoasters mapping which reveals more detail as you zoom, I believe one is raster based and one vector? Basically the OS mapping is a scan in one zoom level, zooming just makes it bigger. Zooming out just makes things smaller and difficult to read. With the TT maps zooming out reduces the detail level and makes it much clearer.
I still keep OS maps on my phone on a bar mount, sometimes you just can’t beat them, the detail and familiarity on a bigger screen is useful when things get jiggy.

BenS wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 9:46 am Is anyone able to draw a pin out for the Garmin battery? I’m guessing that there will be +ve and -ve pins and probably a fixed resistance between one of these and the centre pin. Would also need to know what voltage the pack runs at, I’m guessing it’ll be 3.7v rather than 5v that you get from a USB?

Potentially could just drill some holes in a standard Garmin mount and put in these
https://www.mouser.co.uk/new/mill-max/m ... onnectors/
Would need to make sure they were wired up correctly first!

Ben I’ll get the multimeter out today, I did fire a series of emails to garmin but unsurprisingly they wouldn’t divulge the info.

Cheers Steve

For another hobby I have spent some time making external batteries for battery drills. Newer drills have become more and more difficult as the batteries become smart. Currently it’s easiest to get a tired battery and strip the electronics out of it. I’m hoping Garmin haven’t gone down this route...,,

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 9:10 am Because I bought my 530 for less than the price of a Bolt. I tested it yesterday. Garmin have really done the business here.

Fair point Dave... To be fair I did have my 520 for over a year and was quite fond on it (didn't give it up easily after getting the BOLT a few years ago)... Hope it lasts you and everyone else well (I have heard good reports from other Stravaists too who've been through the other Edge devices so, well done Garmin )

BenS wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 9:57 am Cheers Steve

For another hobby I have spent some time making external batteries for battery drills. Newer drills have become more and more difficult as the batteries become smart. Currently it’s easiest to get a tired battery and strip the electronics out of it. I’m hoping Garmin haven’t gone down this route...,,

Ben... i have a lovely AEG drill. LiIon and about 6 years old. Small batteries. Do you offer that 'stripping batteries' as a service please

Duncan. I've not done anything as I am hopeless at 3D design.

I wasn't chasing you Dave, without trawling back, I think Moff was going to have a go at 3D printing an adapter. I've PM'ed you on the other matter.

View is looking down on battery as you’d view it when in the out front mount from a seated position on the bike

Resistance measurements taken with pack in a static state

C-1 OL
C-2 OL
C-3 OL
C-4 4-6 Mohm metering this connection causes the pack to activate similar to pressing to side button ie the capacity lights on the side cycle.

Voltage measurements- taken with a usb lead connected to output port on bottom and while charging my phone.

C-1 4.8v
C-2. 1Mv
C-3 81Mv
C-4 Unable to obtain an accurate reading, polarity was also switching.

Hope this helps

Who’s got the balls to whack 5V across C-1? On the garmin

C. APPEARS to be ground

Steve, does it work the same in both orientations (right way up and 180 degrees rotated)?


That would tell me that the 5 pins actually have 3 pins that do anything. I would expect a +V, gnd and Control.

If it doesn't work when 180 degrees rotated then all 5 pins are probably doing something (different)

I’ll be right back.......