Garmin 296 GPS Internal Battery

[jepropst]

If you own a Garmin 296, 396, or 496 GPS you know that there is an external rechargeable battery. What you may not know is that there is also a very small internal rechargeable battery on one of the circuit boards. After several years of operation the internal battery will begin to loose its ability to hold a charge. When this happens you will notice that after the unit has been off for several days without being connected to an external charger, the unit will have the incorrect time and date when it is powered up. After being powered up for a considerable period of time the unit will eventually figure out its location and download the correct date and time from the satellites. I first noticed this problem with my unit after about 5 years. If you connect the unit to the external AC power supply when it is not in use it will retain the correct time and date.

When my unit was 6 years old it would only retain the internal charge for a couple of days.
If you Google “replace garmin 296 internal battery” you will find a number of good websites that cover the procedure for replacing the internal battery. I downloaded information from several of the sites and decided to take on the job myself. The other option is to return the unit to Garmin and they will replace the battery, but they have a flat repair rate of $250 for any work done.

I personally found the website http://home.newwavecomm.net/bobbyhester ... attery.htm especially helpful in that they provided a source for ordering a replacement battery. I ordered the Sanyo SY103-ND battery from Digi-key. The battery only costs $2.51 but with shipping the cost for two batteries was $17.53, which is still better than the $250 factory cost for replacement.

I followed the instructions that I downloaded from the internet and everything worked out well. The unit retained all the routes, waypoints, and other internal data.

The biggest surprise that I had was seeing the size of the battery. From the internet photos I had somehow thought that the battery was about the size of a typical watch battery. This is not the case. The battery is about 1/4 “diameter. I mention this primarily to warn anyone taking on this task to be ready for soldering a very small component to even smaller terminals on the circuit board. My sight is not what it use to be so I have several sets of Optivisors for working on small items. From what I read if you botch the job up and it doesn’t work, you can still return the unit to the factory and they will fix your problems for $250.

[joea]

John,

Thanks for the heads up. I have a 496 and have not used it for a couple of months so better plug it in and see how its doing.

Joe A