I live in upstate NY and have a Garmin 65 LMT with the standard
charger -- TA 20 P/N 320-00239-70.
I bought the unit about 5 years ago. I leave it and the charger
in the car all the time. After the second spring, I noticed that
the metallic tip of the plug that goes into the GPS was corroded
and all the contacts were gone. I bought a replacement charger
and the GPS worked fine .... for two years.
Last weekend, I found that the same had happened to the
replacement charger.
Now, my questions.
1) Has anyone living in the colder parts of the world had a
similar experience?
2) Since it seems to happen only in the spring, when the
temperatures (and hence the humidity) are rising, is there
some condensation going on that causes the corrosion? I
keep the charger in theclosed storage compartment between
the front seats, but not enclosed in something like a zip lock bag.
From now, I intend to bring the charger into the house,
But it is a real nuisance as one never knows when one
needs the GPS and I might have forgotten to take the
charger with me! But, finding that it is corroded just when
one needs it is just as irksome!
Also, there have been no issues with the connectors on
the GPS unit itself -- at least, so far. The other mettalic
parts of the charger (the cigarette lighter part) also have
no problems. It is only the the mini USB plug that has this
issue.
Any tips to prevent the corrosion while the charger sits in the car
would be most welcome.