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Varia Radar RTL 501 no more powers off automatically

Former Member
Former Member over 7 years ago
After the recent updates (RTL to 3.60 andEdge 1000 to 14.20) the RTL seems not to shut down completely, when you power off the Edge.
Does anybody else experience this problem?

Before applying the updates the I've seen following behavior:
- RTL and Edge are switched on
- As soon as I switch off the Edge (or put it to standby) the light on the RTL went off and the blue LED started flashing
- After about a Minute or two the RTL completely switched off (no more flashing blue LED)

Now I see this behavior:
- RTL and Edge are switched on
- As soon as I switch off the Edge (or put it to standby) the light on the RTL went off and the blue LED started flashing
- The RTL keeps flashing the blue LED until the battery is empty

This does not happen all the time. I did a "dry run" in the office and was not able to reproduce this issue, but after my 45Minute commute ride back home it occurred again.

Any ideas how to solve this? I'll try downgrading the Edge next week and see if this fixes the issue.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Your explanation seems to justify the RTL battery drain, but I suspect that the problem in on the EDGE. F935 handles correctly the RTL.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I did some additional tests. If you want your RTL to automatically power off completely about a minute after the Edge has been powered off, you have to change the Light Beam Activated setting to Device Power Up, instead of Timer Start. I don't know if this is the behavior intended by Garmin but this is the behavior that i am used to. So like me, if you keep forgetting to manually turn off the RTL and find the battery completely drained when you want to use it, change the Light Beam Activated setting accordingly. The RTL remains in standby mode if the Edge goes to sleep.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    What i described in the previous post regarding the RTL automatically turning itself off (instead of going into standby mode) is apparently temporary. For my past few rides, the RTL remained in standby mode. Thanks a lot Garmin.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    Did anybody test the 3.80 Firmware, if this bug has been resolved?
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    I'm not sure if this is a bug. The standby mode behavior of the RTL now matches that of the HL500 & UT800.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Both the RTL and UT800 charged to 100% before my ride after my ride powered off the Edge 820 both lights powered off as well with blue lights flashing, this morning the UT800 has about 60% charge the RTL is 0%......awesome! RTL is on the latest firmware so im my opinion it's still broken.
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 7 years ago
    I'm not sure if this is a bug. The standby mode behavior of the RTL now matches that of the HL500 & UT800.


    The HL500 and UT800 don't have radar, do they?!

    With the RTL the problem is, that only the light is turned off and the radar remains active (though there is no more head unit)
    This results in
    this morning the UT800 has about 60% charge the RTL is 0%......awesome!

    So this probably not what you want..

  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Nope, when I intentionally turn off my head unit I want the radar to power off as well. I'll give Garmin a call and see what they say :)

    Update: Garmin Tech is going to setup a UT800 and Radar in the office and try to reproduce the battery drain and then consult with the engineers to see if that's the intended result and why. He said he would email the results, so let's see.
  • 0 over 7 years ago
    The HL500 and UT800 don't have radar, do they?!
    ....


    I was only refering to the behaviour of the lights

  • 0 over 7 years ago
    Garmin Tech responded a couple of days back he said the engineers believe the issue was with my Edge 820. There was a new Edge 820 release it appears after installing the new software now when I power off my head unit it completely powers down the RTL 500 looks to be solved in my case :)