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Edge 130 Cold Weather Performance

ChrisInYpsi
over 5 years ago
Today’s ride was cold - around 11 F (-12 C). My Edge 130 worked fine for the first 30 minutes and then started automatically shutting down. I could restart it (once I noticed it had shut down), and when it restarted it knew I was still in the middle of a ride, but no data was saved between shutting down and restarting. Once restarted it would collect data for a minute or so before shutting down again. After futzing with it a number of times I gave up and resorted to the Strava app on my phone which worked fine (phone was in my inside coat pocket).

Garmin’s specs list the temp range of the 130 to be -4F to 140F (https://www8.garmin.com/manuals/webhelp/edge130/EN-US/GUID-19267AC7-DD98-4F6A-9761-AF88319B338F.html), so I would expect it to work normally at the temp of today’s ride. I suppose I could ride with it in my pocket to stay warm, but that shouldn’t be necessary given Garmin’s temp specs.

Has as anyone experienced anything similar on your device? Is there anything I can do to avoid this happening again?

Thanks in advance for any advice.
  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I am having the exact same problem in temperatures below 30°F. Has anyone come up with a solution? Other than putting it in a Ziploc with a hand warmer?

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    I just discovered this issue today. 
    Temps between 28ºF (-2.2ºC) and 32º (0º).  Started with a full charge and it shut down after about 15~20 min.   Ironically, I got the 130 as a back up to my 1000, which I've had problems with and the screen, and the 1000 performed flawlessly.  Firmware is fully updated (3.60).  Need a fix for this because my wife won't tolerate a loss in tracking Open mouth

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to IrrelevantD

    Short term fix I’ve found is wrap it in cling wrap to keep air from flowing through it at lower temps. I wrote to Tech Support about this issue, and they want me to swap it out for a new unit at $99. My 130 is about 2 years old. Angry

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to robfischer

    Thanks Rob, I'll try the cling wrap method next time I get out in these temps.  Not often here in Dallas.  Worst case, I suppose I could start it and put it in my pocket if I'm only using it for the live tracking.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to IrrelevantD

    Here in Colorado, most every morning from November to April is below freezing. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to George

    Search on 530 battery life ... that device doesn’t exactly have glowing reviews about its battery life either :-(

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to JimmyD_Cambridge
    JimmyD_Cambridge said:
    Search on 530 battery life ... that device doesn’t exactly have glowing reviews about its battery life either :-(

    Yes but you're starting from a higher level, approximately twice the quoted battery life. 

    Also, there are at least two different problems here.  One is duff batteries.  E.g. 's experience: if your battery only lasts 15 minutes in the cold then it's almost certainly faulty. This sort of fault occurs in all models and is probably a function of getting them manufactured in places where quality varies to cut costs. The second is a design fault.  This where the device really isn't up to the demands being put on it by a typical user. This second type seems to apply more to the 130. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to robfischer

    How helpful is that? I would not expect too big of a difference.

  • 0 over 4 years ago

    Hey guys, If you go to service menu, what was the lowest value for voltage that you have ever seen?
    (to access service menu, turn it off with power button and both bottom buttons depressed.)

    Today was a cold day (-2C, 28F) , I had 20min commute and started with cca. 30% battery (cca 3.7V). When I arrived turned it off, to go to service menu, to check the voltage it was 3.6V-3.65V and until it warmed  a bit, it was shutting down. That would indicate, that they have set the cut of voltage for the battery at cca 3.6V. In general, that is way to high for the Li-on battery. They are supposed to operate down to 3V. At 3.6V and low discharge currents, you should have around 50% charge left. And modern GPS chips can operate at lower voltages than 3.6V. Or. if they have some very weird battery...

    BTW, this is the garmin battery part number, that is in edge 130: 361-00086-02. It is Li-on 3.8V 180mAh battery, kid of small, Edge 20/25 have 110mAh batteries.

    According to the picture on the link below it might be possible to fit some slightly biger battery inside the housing?

    www.aliexpress.com/.../4000042915683.html

    Like this:

    www.aliexpress.com/.../33021222295.html

    or if it could be sligthly thicker:

    www.aliexpress.com/.../33018617183.html

    But if cutoff is really at 3.6V i am not sure how much better that would be. And also I don't realy know, how good these cheap Chinese batteries are.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to 5230008

    Great info!
    No matter how good battery the cooled the weather lower the voltage due to slower chemistry in the battery. But the potential is in the battery. I personally think it is very simple solution to use temperature senor that is already part of Edge 130 and adjust battery voltage threshold based on temperature.

    This will keep the limit as high as it is at 15°C but move it lower to about 3.2V  when temp sensor reads lower temperatures.


    If this issue will be solved I'll be more than happy to buy more expansive product from Garmin. At this point in time I feel like owning kickstarter product mostly supported by user base.