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Full sun in winter & not charging - normal?

MSMS
over 2 years ago

Hi all,

This is my first winter w/ my Instinct Solar. I live in (most of the time) sunny Southern California. I bought my watch in March of 2021, I believe. I'm used to seeing the entire solar charging indicator light up if the watch was being hit w/ direct sun. Now, 2 weeks or so past winter solstice, I am not seeing *any* indication of charging occurring - even in direct sun.

Can no charging occurring in full, direct winter sun be "normal"?

I don't have a lux meter to test measure. I do note that the highest UV index I've seen is 3.

Thanks.

-MSMS

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Does not seem normal.  I have no issues charging in the sun; winter or otherwise.  In the middle of cold Indiana.

  • +1 over 2 years ago

    It is definitely not normal to see no solar charging. Check your Solar Intensity Widget on your watch after you have left it in the sun for a few hours. If you do not see any charging on that graph, please reach out to Outdoor Product Support in your region.

    - Ensure your software seen in your Settings > About menu shows up to date at version 16.00. If not up to date, update your software to v16.00 and test your solar charging one more time before reaching out to Product Support.

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to Garmin - Chris

    Thanks for your response, Chris.

    I did what you suggested. My Instinct Solar was at an old firmware version of v14.20. I updated it to the latest, v16.00. After that, I left it out in the sun for 2 hours. Unfortunately, doesn't look like that helped. Hardly any charge registered. I left it out today for 1.5 hours with a clear sky and full sun, and no charge showed on the graph.

    On the collage above, bottom right shows the stopwatch of how long the watch was outside in direct, full sun. Top right shows present battery charge (46%). Left shows the Solar Intensity Graph.

    Note that on the Solar Graph photo, when I initially switched to the graph, the watch momentarily displayed maybe 6 segments of the circle in the upper right. After a moment, it went to as shown in the picture: no bars.

    Very sad. I have reached out to Garmin Support and eagerly await a response!

  • 0 over 2 years ago in reply to MSMS

    To close the loop, Support had me run some on-watch diagnostics. Based on that, I was sent an RMA. I mailed out my the same day, and 11 days later, I received a new replacement watch. Based on 3 days of usage, everything appears to be working perfectly - including solar charging. Sunglasses

    Thank you, Garmin!