Portable GPS batteries drain  connected to D180

SammyQ2

Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
70
This is kind of a strange one. I have an old Garmin GPSmap 196.  I recently wired it to my aircraft, including my Dynon Flightdek D180.

The GPS 12V supply is wired to the ship endurance bus switch and seems normal.  When I shut the ship's power down I get a GPS message that says something like "External power lost, push any button within 30 seconds to run on battery power".  If I don't touch it, the GPS shuts down and the screen in blank, which is what I would expect.

The plug looks like this: http://www.gilsson.com/garmin_gps/cables/rb.htm

Two leads connect to ship's power, and the other two to ground and to  pin 19 on the EMS DB37 connector.

In spite of this, the internal AA batteries still wear down, even though the unit is turned off.  Is it possible that the data leads that go to/from the Dynon can permit the batteries to drain?  Any ideas what I might do to fix this?  Thank you.
 

dynonsupport

Dynon Technical Support
Staff member
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
13,226
Re: Portable GPS batteries drain  connected to D18

It that's happening, it's a flaw in the GPS's design in that it's leaking power somewhere when it's powered off. You can of course disconnect all your external wires to isolate which lines are draining power, if that's what's happening. It could also be that the device uses a bit of power, even when off, even when completely unwired(this is not uncommon). In the worst case, a manual switch would solve the problem.
 
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