An odd thing happened a couple of days ago. I turned on my Garmin 12XL GPS unit to check it out and discovered that it would no longer retain data when turned off. It acts as if the lithium backup battery is no longer working. I don't know why, unless it had something to do with the immersion test I gave it a few months ago. Fortunately, I was able to drive across town to the Boat/US store where I bought it and exchange it for a new one. The exchange took about five minutes -- not even any paperwork. The moral, if anyone here needs it, is that one should never depend on a GPS unit as one's sole means of navigation. Learn to use a compass and chart, and practice your dead reckoning skills. Also, be aware of the limitations of your compass. I installed a new Ritchie X-10 compass on my wife's Romany Tuesday, and after an hour or more spent trying to compensate it properly, I'm still not certain it is accurate within 10 degrees in some directions. Part of the problem is that I did not replace the mount from the old compass (which was installed by the dealer), and I think that the original screws are slightly magnetic. After our trip this weekend I will replace them with brass screws and try again. Chuck Holst *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
> An odd thing happened a couple of days ago. I turned on my Garmin > 12XL GPS unit to check it out and discovered that it would no longer > retain data when turned off. It acts as if the lithium backup battery > is > I finally finished the docs on mine. The only reference about the lithium batteries I found was that they're there and used to for retaining data. Any idea how long they're supposed to last? I presume they're in the back by that round screw thingie. I also assume that if you open it up you'll void whatever warranty it comes with. I further assume the battery gauge is for the alkaline batteries and not the lithium one(s). I also didn't see any reference to what kind of lithium batteries are being used. > The moral, if anyone here needs it, is that one should never depend on > a GPS unit as one's sole means of navigation. Learn to use a compass > and chart, and practice your dead reckoning skills. > I'll be using one to check out the other since I don't do either very well yet. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Lithium batteries has become the generic word for "internal backup batteries". It may or may not actually be lithium based. Whatever it is, a reputable GPS manufacturer should be using batteries with an operating life of 4 to 7 years. Typically, this battery is soldered to the main receiver board and is not user replacable. In addition to saving your waypoints, last position, setup data (knots vs MPH etc.) the battery saves GPS almanac data. When you turn the GPS on it looks at your old almanac data and does a sky search based upon where it thinks it is. If you havn't moved more than 100 miles or so from the position that it last had, and your almanac is less than 30 days old, you usually get a fix within a minute. If the battery dies and the GPS can't retain data, you may see a 20-60 minute delay before it can start giving you position. Any battery guages are relative readings of the main operating batteries. There is really no way to check your internal backup battery. So much for science.... It is kinda fun to run a couple types of navigation simultaneously ie. compass/chart/DR/GPS. Really feels good when all solutions work out properly. Thats real navigating! TM *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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