New Garmin Montana

[levain]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

The 476c (or was it the zumo) had a power option to stay on or power down when loss of power was detected. I've asked Garmin to give us this option on the Montanan too.

Maybe, I'm misunderstanding, but do you not get this screen?

[Yossarian™]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

It would be worth trying an experiment - my mount is connected via SAE plug - if I leave the Montana in its mount with the power connector unplugged, I wonder if it will die the same way?

You have yours wired like mine. You could just pull the mount off the bike, bring it in the house, and pop the Montana into it. If it's disconnected, it doesn't matter if it's on the bike or not.

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

I'm guessing there is something in the mount that is drawing power.

There are no active electrical components in the Cable that attaches to the AMPS Rugged Mount. In addition, I have left my Montana in my mount for the past 24hrs with no reduction in battery charge. My mount is wired to the CANBus on my 2011 GS Adv so I know that the power will be completely disconnected when the CANBus power is shout done 45sec after I turn the key off.

If I had the electrical schematics for the Montana power management system I could tell you if there was any possible way to have "leakage current" from the Montana; e.g, if there were a "drain" on the 12vdc external lines. But alas, I don't have those schematics. Disconnect your Mount power at the source (battery?) and see if you have battery drain with the unit in the mount - as Emmbeedee suggested.

Cheers,

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by levain

Maybe, I'm misunderstanding, but do you not get this screen?

Yes I do. And if you pick the "Turn off" or just let it turn off via the timeout it will still run the battery down. The 476c had a configuration option in the system menu that let you answer the External Power lost question with something like, Always Stay On, Always Turn Off or Ask me. Can't remember the exact wording as it's been to many years since I owned one

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

There are no active electrical components in the Cable that attaches to the AMPS Rugged Mount. In addition, I have left my Montana in my mount for the past 24hrs with no reduction in battery charge. My mount is wired to the CANBus on my 2011 GS Adv so I know that the power will be completely disconnected when the CANBus power is shout done 45sec after I turn the key off.

If I had the electrical schematics for the Montana power management system I could tell you if there was any possible way to have "leakage current" from the Montana; e.g, if there were a "drain" on the 12vdc external lines. But alas, I don't have those schematics. Disconnect your Mount power at the source (battery?) and see if you have battery drain with the unit in the mount - as Emmbeedee suggested.

Cheers,

I would have to agree that there should not be any active electrical components in the cable. My thought was that the Montana sensed it was in the Rugged Mount and just stayed on/when into sleep mode - or something.

May take more than 24 hours to drain the battery. I know I've left mine in for a day or two and it still had power; meaning it turned on. But for sure after a week or two its dead. Come to think of it, I've not tried this with the lastest firmware - maybe something has been fixed I'll go stick it in the mount and see what happens.

Oh, I thought Emmbeedee was going to try the disconnected mount experiment for us as I would have to get out the soldering gun or wire cutters to disconnect the power from my mount.

[DRTBYK]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

I would have to agree that there should not be any active electrical components in the cable. My thought was that the Montana sensed it was in the Rugged Mount and just stayed on/when into sleep mode - or something.

May take more than 24 hours to drain the battery. I know I've left mine in for a day or two and it still had power; meaning it turned on. But for sure after a week or two its dead. Come to think of it, I've not tried this with the lastest firmware - maybe something has been fixed I'll go stick it in the mount and see what happens.

Oh, I thought Emmbeedee was going to try the disconnected mount experiment for us as I would have to get out the soldering gun or wire cutters to disconnect the power from my mount.

The only way the Montana would know if it were in the mount would be if there were an active component in the cable or even a resistor between input lines so that the Montana's power management circuitry could detect the condition. I've disassembled a Montana mount cable end-to-end and there are no such components. So, the only way the battery can drain in a short (few days) amount of time is if the battery is bad or there is a problem in the Montana itself.

The Montana does completely shut down when power is removed and the unit is "told" to power off. Just like if you remove the battery. There is no circuit board battery that keeps the "unit" alive when the external battery is removed.

Cheers,

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

Oh, I thought Emmbeedee was going to try the disconnected mount experiment for us as I would have to get out the soldering gun or wire cutters to disconnect the power from my mount.

Ok, I put a freshly charged Montana on one of my rugged mounts, and let it turn on completely, then pulled the power cable off, let it shut down, and brought it in, all in the name of science. I'll leave it off like that for a couple of days and see if the battery goes down at all.



Don't say I never do anything for you.

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

The only way the Montana would know if it were in the mount would be if there were an active component in the cable or even a resistor between input lines so that the Montana's power management circuitry could detect the condition. I've disassembled a Montana mount cable end-to-end and there are no such components. So, the only way the battery can drain in a short (few days) amount of time is if the battery is bad or there is a problem in the Montana itself.

The Montana does completely shut down when power is removed and the unit is "told" to power off. Just like if you remove the battery. There is no circuit board battery that keeps the "unit" alive when the external battery is removed.

Cheers,

Ok then if it doesn't drain the battery while on my desk for weeks at a time without power but it does drain the battery when left in the unpowered mount (which it doesn't know it's in) then the unit is bad? Not sure I follow that logic.

Anyway, it's in the mount now with 97% on the battery meter - we'll see what it looks like after a few days. BTW, the 97% is from sitting on my desk being lightly used over the past 3 weeks.

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Ok, I put a freshly charged Montana on one of my rugged mounts, and let it turn on completely, then pulled the power cable off, let it shut down, and brought it in, all in the name of science. I'll leave it off like that for a couple of days and see if the battery goes down at all.



Don't say I never do anything for you.

And with mine sitting on the bike powered off at about the same time we should have a good test

I'm going to have to send you another ear plug so you can have a matching set

[atlas cached]

Originally Posted by Emmbeedee

Ok, I put a freshly charged Montana on one of my rugged mounts, and let it turn on completely, then pulled the power cable off, let it shut down, and brought it in, all in the name of science. I'll leave it off like that for a couple of days and see if the battery goes down at all.



Don't say I never do anything for you.

Wow, you can live without your Montana for that long?

Thanks for taking one for the team!

[levain]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

And with mine sitting on the bike powered off at about the same time we should have a good test

I'm going to have to send you another ear plug so you can have a matching set

I'll do the same. I know that I won't be on my bike the next couple days. Actually, I'll charge it overnight via USB. Tomorrow, I'll put it in the mount, turn the bike on, let it charge for a second then turn the bike off and let it sit for 24-48hrs.

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by atlas cached

Wow, you can live without your Montana for that long?

Thanks for taking one for the team!

I'm retired with nowhere to go. Not until Friday, anyway.

[moto-treks]

Originally Posted by atlas cached

Wow, you can live without your Montana for that long?

Thanks for taking one for the team!

Emmbeedee must have 5 or 6 of these laying around. I don't think he will be without

With levain joining the scientific testing team we're going to have some great results

[Emmbeedee]

Originally Posted by moto-treks

Emmbeedee must have 5 or 6 of these laying around. I don't think he will be without

I've only got one Montana but I could always use my wife's 650, my 62S or the Nuvi 780 in the car if I needed something to navigate by. Can't use my iPhone 'cause it's got Apple Maps and they don't know their you know what from a hole in the ground.

[GH41]

I'll try to kill another myth while we are watching batteries die!! My rugged mount is wired directly to the battery on my F650GS (Girls bike for those that care even though a am well hung). The bike hasn't been run for two weeks and I won't crank it again before three weeks pass. I put the Montana in the mount and it booted up giving me the option to turn it off. I did. Anyone wan't to bet on if the bike will start in three weeks????? My money says it will not kill the bikes battery!! GH