My pre-"x" 60 series doesn't handle fresh lithium totally properly either. Now that I think more about it, I'm guessing it's the reset chip that gets a signal for over- (or under-) voltage from the regulator, and shuts the unit down. But I obviously don't know...

Thing is, quality alkaline have a shelf life of easily 7 or 8 years (practically speaking), and they last so long in these units anyway compared to batteries in the "old days" of GPS. Perhaps lithium are not a cost-effective choice here? These units have very low drain compared to a camera where lithium are great.

Sigh. Somewhat predictably, Garmin managed not to answer my questions.

I wrote:


They responded:


It has a option maked "Lithium Ion" in the menu for cryin' out loud. Can't they at least address what that means?!

In any case, I'm getting the idea that it is unlikely that we will see lithium battery support in the 60CSx. :-(

-john

Lithium-Ion batteries are manufacturer-made rechargeable battery packs. I didn't even see a rechargeable battery pack for that GPS unit, so maybe they planned to make one but scrapped the idea. The GPSMAP 76 series does not have the Lithium-Ion option in its menu.


On page 91 of the GPSMAP 60CSx Owner's Manual, there exists this little tidbit:

The new Garmin eTrex "H" series units use the relatively new MediaTek (MTK) GPS chip instead of the SiRFIII chip in the GPSMap 76/60CS(x) units.

From the comparisons I've read (I don't have either chips), the MTK looks good:
+ Slightly better under under heavy coverage and quicker acquisition than the SiRFIII.
+ Considerably better tracking accuracy than the SiRFIII.
+ Considerably lower power consumption than the SiRFIII.
+ More "stable" stationary signal (doesn't jump around) when you're not moving (though Garmin seems to filter some of this out for its normal display).
- Takes longer to "realize" you're moving (probably due to heavy filtering for that "stable" stationary signal).
- Tends to slightly cut the corner on 90 degree turns (bigger problem on the early bluetooth MTK GPS receivers).

The SiRFIII is still great and was quite a leap forward, but the MTK unit looks even better. A Vista HCx is definitely on top of my short list for receivers to pick up in the near future (Despite the CS(x) rebate).

Also, I don't know what kind of "DC-DC converter" is in that Vector unit, but I would suspect it is a LM317-esque linear regulator. While they have their use, they are at best 40% efficient in converting power (without the use of transistors).

Efficiency is probably even lower when you're trying to convert to a voltage much lower than the input at a low current (I'd estimate maybe as low as 25%).

If you're handy with circuits or know someone who is, there are some very efficient switching regulators (70~90%). Texas Instruments even makes some as efficient as (up to) 96% (needs a pretty heavy load to get that high, though): http://focus.ti.com/docs/prod/folders/print/ptn78060w.html

Some capacitors, resistors, a multi-pole rotary switch, connectors, a project box and you'd have a great efficient converter. I have a smaller TI converter in a cigarette lighter power plug like the Vector that I use for a USB-based power port. Works great.

Might be something to look into to get all the power you can out of those solar panels.

I forgot I signed up to this forum long ago.

I'm still playing with the capabilities of the one I just bought (Garmin eTrex Vista HCx)


1. I updated my firmware on it and it gives you the options of Lithium,NIMH or alkaline batteries. I will start running the Sanyo Eneloop ( http://www.thomas-distributing.com/sanyo-eneloop-batteries-aaa.php ) batteries

2. I had bought 4- 2 gig micro sd cards from Comp USA that was on sell cheap and loaded one with the entire US street level maps,the second one has all of the European maps on it, and the third has almost all the topos for the us on it and the fourth one is blank but I'll probably put the remaining topos on it. I had took out several areas of topos that I would probably never goto in my life to get it to fit on one card but since I have another card, I will probably load them all now.

3. I've been trying to get it not to pick up satellites and I only found 1 place so far and that's in a concrete bunker at work that's a story underground. So it picks up signal extremely good.

4. The only negative I found with it besides not being able to store all the maps on 1 Micro sd card was that when you power up the unit, sometimes the WAAS reiver is disabled in the setup menu (only on power up) and that is one fix Garmin said they were going to patch,(talked with them on the phone,known issue from many complaints) but it has been transparent to me because it always powers up and locks so fast, the only way I know is checking it and turning it on.

5. It has been really awesome with routes so far,great tracking and loud alerts before the turn and at the turn with big arrow displays.

So far I've been impressed with it and I'm still in testing mode. Oh yea and I used a whiteout pen to identify the SD cards and I'll look into your power supply circuit.
Thanks

Does it say "lithium", or "lithium ion"?

Thanks,

-john

According to Garmin, the new firmware replaced "Lithium Ion" with "Lithium": http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3709

Which makes sense. I think the "Lithium Ion" was either a long-term typo or some feature that was never rolled into many Garmin units.

If some have trouble running on full 1.7V L91 lithium primary batteries, there's no way a 7.2V LiOn battery pack is going to work, as there there doesn't seem to be any kind of "wide input" regulator to allow input voltage to vary much.

Will it use the 4gB SD Cards? Just curious as some items won't.
Thanks. Comanche7

JohnN, jewski is right, it now says Lithium with the new firmware I installed plus it did fix my WAAS problem of not coming on when first powering up. I noticed also that I use it as a back up flashlight for close range because the screen is so bright. (Set at full brightness of coarse I haven't tried Lithium batteries in it, I just switched to the eneloop batteries because of all the positive feedback of these batteries in GPS units. It allows you to store batteries up to a year with insignificant power drain plus longer run times.

Comanche7, I'm not aware of any 4 gig micro SD cards out yet, but the downside of this is Garmin limits how many maps you can store on the card, so even if you have room for all the topos on a 4 gig, the software won't let you do it. This is my biggest and now the only complaint I have far with this unit. You can get the 2 gig micro SD cards at Newegg not to bad, I bought one and the next day compusa had them on sell for $30, so I bought 3 more.

The whole intent of the unit is to give me total navigation world wide with street and topo capability. It needs to have the options of Solar or battery powered allowing me to navigate faster in unfamiliar areas and acquire water from lakes or whatever. Shows me where gas stations and food places are (in natural disasters restaurants and gas stations abandon their business and in a life threating condition (ex. Katrina), I know sometimes you can get food as long as it hasn't spoiled or gas from tanks that don't have generators to power there pumps, etc..
With the topos it shows me all the trails I need to navigate to a road or lake, etc..

So it has far more pluses than minuses so far, I'm just trying to find a real small FOB to put the extra Micro sd cards in so it will be waterproof and attached to the GPS so I don't lose them.

A single Lithium Ion cell would be around 3.6V - you need two of them to get 7.2V. So it's not inconceivable that the units could use one.

In fact, for a long time I wished they did. A big Li-Ion cell that replaced two AA cells would have a lot of capacity, and would be rechargeable without the self-discharge problems of conventional NiMH. Also, there's no such solution.

Now Eneloops are available it doesn't matter so much.