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235 Will No Longer Power Up and Turn On

Former Member
Former Member
So, a few weeks back I took a little spill and broke a bone in my non dominate wrist. I was placed in a cast, so I obviously removed my 235. It's been off for a couple of weeks now and I've noticed that I often look towards my wrist to see what time it is, so I decided to start wearing it on my dominate wrist. Here's my problem. The battery drained weeks ago and I've had my 235 charging for two days now and it will not charge and turn on. I've had my watch battery completely drain in the past, but it was always recharged within a day or two. Anyone have any ideas, or has my 235 seen it's days after 16 months?
  • Have you tried:
    • pressing and holding the Light button for 15 seconds or so;
    • pressing and holding both the Light and the Select buttons for; and
    • pressing and holding the Light, Select and Lap buttons simultaneously,

    to see if you can cajole any flicker or noise from the watch?
  • Former Member
    0 Former Member over 6 years ago
    Just tried your suggestion with no luck. I suppose it's possible my charging cable went bad during this time period, but I find that unlikely. I don't know of anyone who has one I could borrow and I really don't want to purchase a new one. I was hoping this happened to someone else and they would post their solution, or even lack of one. I think I may be out of luck since my warranty has expired.
  • Try a more powerful charger.
    If completely flat it can take quite a powerful charger to wake it from the dead.
  • The 235 uses a Lithium Ion battery and if this type of battery is allowed to totally 100% discharge it's dead beyond recovery. If you want to read more about this then type "bricked Tesla" into Google and read how much it costs to allow an electric car battery become fully discharged. That should make you feel a small bit better about what it will cost to replace your 235.

    BTW, you may want to do a search for "care of Lithium Ion Batteries" just to inform yourself on what is needed to maximize the lifespan of this type of battery. Basically you don't want to let them completely discharge but you also don't want to always "top them up" on a daily basis. What you should do is top them up frequently but about 1 time per month let them drain down to 20-35% or so and then fully recharge them in a single cycle.

    Finally, that "more powerful charger" suggestion will likely lead to the potential for a fire, so I would NOT advise trying to charge at a higher voltage than what the battery was designed for.
  • I had the same problem and... wonderful thank you it works ! just had to hold the light button !

  • OK - I had  the same problem in that the watch went completely blank - nothing and could get nothing to work.  Had it plugged in for 72 hrs to charge - nothing.  Your suggesting of pressing and holding both the light and select buttons simultaneously worked. The watch went to the "GARMIN (blue diamond) screen and apparently re-booted or something.  The battery did not charge during the 72 hrs it was hooked up - so if this happens to you - be sure to recharge soon. Didn't check to see if I lost any data.  THANX

  • Eureka! It works! Holding the Light and Select buttons simultaneously turned on the otherwise lifeless 235. It went blank when I plugged it in for charging into a USB port on my Intel NUC PC. Never happened before prior no matter where I plugged the USB into, wall or PC used to work fine. This is the first time it went blank after 1½ years of use. All is good now tho, thanks heaps. 

  • Yes, it does work!  I received what appeared to be a DOA from Amazon, but once I tried the above trick it started charging.  Previously I was getting the message that my computer didn't recognize the USB.

  • I had the same issue. However pressing and holding light button and select button wasn't working for me. I would get a flash of Garmin logo and then it would die again. I got it on the charger, and held the buttons again at the same time and that gave it just enough juice to start charging. It's fully charged now.