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Fix for Firmware 9.0 battery drain

Llancho
over 5 years ago
After installing the firmware 9.0 the battery lasts only 3,5 hours. No wifi, BT activated and GPS mode only.
The routes I use to do are between 3 and 5 hours.
With 8.80 version and with these settings, the battery duration was >10h.

Any suggestion? Anyone with the same problem?
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    I found the source (or one source) of the extremely poor battery life on my 820, Bluetooth phone connection. I experimented on a long rode yesterday, and while Bluetooth (phone) was set to "on" on the 820, I was losing over 2% of battery per mile. Once I shut it off, I was only losing 0.5% per mile.
    Keep in mind that poor battery life has been an issue for me for months.
    I also consider this a band-aid, because I like to use the phone connectivity on every ride.
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Good observation. I've turned off Bluetooth on my phone to extend its battery life and it makes a big difference so I don't know why I hadn't thought of that on the 820. I do keep the screen backlight off or at minimum levels. I'll have to try turning off BT on the 820. I don't enable any notifications and have just used BT for uploading activities.

    I image battery consumption goes with time rather than distance so what was your typical average speed while making these determinations so we can calculate battery percent per time rather than per distance?
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Good observation. I've turned off Bluetooth on my phone to extend its battery life and it makes a big difference so I don't know why I hadn't thought of that on the 820. I do keep the screen backlight off or at minimum levels. I'll have to try turning off BT on the 820. I don't enable any notifications and have just used BT for uploading activities.

    I image battery consumption goes with time rather than distance so what was your typical average speed while making these determinations so we can calculate battery percent per time rather than per distance?



    It does have a little to do with time, but I usually ride in a range from an average of 17-20 MPH.
    I guess that I posted the results of shutting off Bluetooth too quickly.
    An 13-mile ride at 16 Mph had my battery drop close to 30%.

    I'm forced to use this as a GPS & Blutooth off head unit, or to carry a portable USB charger & recharge several times each ride.
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Following up again: 3.5 hours on ride / on-time with routing and Bluetooth enabled used only 32% today. Battery issue seems to be OK, at least for me. Now I need to figure out why turn-by-turn has become spotty...
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    I suggest:
    When ride is ON then default Bluetooth is OFF and WIFI is OFF (unless you confirm that they must be ON)
    When ride is ON then type of battery saving should be OFF unless you confirm other (please change default setting)

    Garmin screen has acctual data (speed,HR,Power distance, ...) and I think when ride is ON screen must be ON unless your ride will be very long (and you want screen OFF) or battery is low.
  • 0 over 5 years ago
    Garmin solved my battery issues. Kudos to them.

    After contacting Garmin support and emailing some files from my unit, they sent me a refurbished unit to replace my battery draining unit.
  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Garageguy05

    changing to auto on brightness made my problem worse. ugh 

  • 0 over 2 years ago

    Same problem here. Does anyone still have some old firmware to downgrade for fixing this problem? I think that an older firmware before 9.0 should be fine