But I am sure it's almost time for the battery replacement. Hopefully it can last at least until after my SCKLM in 2 weeks time ! Fingers crossed !!
In the meantime, I found some interesting sites that talks about replacing the battery on our own. Here are 2 which I think is most appropriate.
https://sites.google.com/site/ctorunner/dismantleforerunner205
http://www.jimandkatrin.com/CodeBlog/post/Forerunner-305-Battery-Replacement.aspx
Dismantle the Garmin Forerunner 205
No tools are required. Just use your finger-nails to pry off the case along the line (red arrow). It's amazing that Garmin only used glue to assemble the unit.
The display and the bottom are separated. There are no wires in-between. They are connected thru some pins.
I also found no O-ring between two cases. Well, as I can pry it off easily, you can imagine its capability in water-resistance...
Indeed, I found water inside the case. The up/down-arrow keys (the soft-plastic keys) stored some water (not moisture only). It's not on the circuit board or battery anyway.
The GPS antenna is at the left-hand side, wrapped in silver plate.
The battery is sticked by 2-sided tape. It's a 3.7V, 750mAh Li-ion battery.
Does it look like the 4th-generation iPod battery?
Believe it's the SiRFIII chipset under. Note the golden contacts for connecting to the battery.
The micro-switches (up/down arrow, and enter).
I wiped the water and let it dry for a week. Then I temporary fixed the case with scotch tape. When I turned it on again, amazingly it worked again (although the up-arrow key didn't work at all).
I used it to have a 20km test run...
Unfortunately, because of the hot/humid weather, my sweat 'melted' the tape and suddenly the cover fell on the ground. I had 3 pieces... the cover with the display, the attenna, and the remaining battery with the wrist strap.
I thought it was a 'total loss' and packed everything back home.
Then I found all parts weren't broken and it's just the connector loosen between the attenna and the display.
Again, there were plenty of moisture (sweat) inside. I removed the battery this time and found the speaker (buzzer) was totally eroded. Ah... that's why I found the level of 'beeping' sound went lower and lower.
The salty water (my sweat) actually went it from the 4 tiny holes at the back, eroded the buzzer and then the micro-switch.
I cut the wires of the buzzer and blocked the holes with strong glue.
To disable the up-arrow key, I used a knife to cut out the switch.
Again, I put everything back and tried, haha, it's still working. This time I carefully cleaned the case and then glued them together with silicone sealant (the one for decoration, usually used in the bathtub, kitchen, etc).
Now the unit is survived. Without the up-arrow key, most of functions could still be used (navigated with down-arrow instead). The only problem is that I cannot increase the screen contrast as it requires the use of up-arrow.
Without the beeping sound is not a big deal at all. At least I can keep using it until the new model is out...
Forerunner 305 Battery Replacement
Aug 15, 2009 1:31 PM
My Garmin popped open on a ride recently. They want $79 to repair it, and I didn’t want to be without it for a while, so I did some research on fixing it myself.
A Look at the Case
Since the Garmin popped open of its own accord (probably because of the swelling battery,) I can’t give any advice on opening one - but you can find some here. There are no screws or clips; the two halves are just attached with some kind of adhesive.
Here is the bottom half of the case. Battery wires are soldered to the little circuit board, which presumably has the charging circuit in it. This board is also attached to the pins which go through the back of the case to the changing cradle, and it doesn’t appear that it can be removed.
The Battery
My battery was attached with a spot of some liquid adhesive; others may be attached with double-sided tape. I pried it out with a flat blade screwdriver with little effort, then clipped the wires near the battery, leaving as much as possible in the case.
I don’t think the battery is supposed to look like this :-) It was clearly on the way to exploding, and needed to be replaced.
Finding a battery to replace the original one is the hardest part of this whole process. After much fruitless searching on the internet for an exact match, I gave up on finding anything. These Lithium Ion batteries require special charging circuitry, which is typically packaged with the battery cell. It’s hard to find a battery cell without the circuitry, never mind in this exact size.
In desperation, I decided to take apart the battery in my old Samsung Hue phone, which was sitting around, having been replaced by a Blackberry. Any Lithium Ion battery should work, from an electrical standpoint. They’re all 3.7 volts, because of the chemicals used, and the mAh capacity shouldn’t matter. This Samsung battery is rated at 800mAh, while the original Garmin was 750. So I should get a little more battery life.
It’s a little bigger than the Garmin battery, but it looks like it will fit, so I decide to go for it.
Preparing the Battery
After cutting off the plastic wrapper, we see the charging circuit on the top; the leads are flat metal strips that come around from either side of the battery.
After cutting the metal strips with snips, I determined the polarity with a voltmeter, and soldered a short wire to one side, to get closer to the original wires in the case. The flat lead strips look like steel, but they aren’t – it’s very easy to solder to them.
The case is the positive terminal, and the negative terminal is a pin that goes into the middle of the battery. I was careful with the existing insulation, and wrapped electrical tape around my little creation. There are exposed electronics and foil in the top of the Garmin (see the above picture.) I didn’t want any of this shorting to the battery case.
Installing the Battery
This starts simply enough – just solder the leads to the wires in the case. A short length of heat shrink tubing insulates the wire, and the exposed positive lead is so close to the battery it can’t go anywhere.
At this point I discovered something I hadn’t noticed earlier; there are a couple of little plastic pins molded into the bottom of the case, which prevented the old battery from moving around. I had to cut these with a sharp knife in order for my new battery to fit flush in the case. It’s a little wider than the original.
Red arrows point to the location of the left and right pins, which had to be cut. The green arrow is a bottom pin, for comparison; these can stay.
The Moment of Truth
It fits! I pop the top on and power it up, and we’re looking good.
Sealing the Case
Now I just have to put it back together. The original adhesive is some kind yellow, slightly stretchy stuff. I’ve seen it before, but I don’t know what it is. After reading others’ posts, I decided to go with silicone adhesive, which I found at the auto store for a few bucks. We want a watertight seal, but nothing so permanent that we can’t reopen the case.
I applied a little to the edges of both the top and bottom of the case with a toothpick.
The whole thing is wrapped in a cocoon of tightly stretched electrical tape and left for a day. The edge came out looking pretty good.
I’ve been for a couple of runs and a bike ride, and it works just fine. The battery I put in it was used, and I haven’t tested the battery life. If or when that becomes an issue I’ll just buy a brand new battery, now that I know I can get one that will fit.
Update - 2010.05.12
Ciccio and others note in the comments that the problem might be a short, rather than a bad battery. His advice is to check the battery with a voltmeter, which is of course a good idea. It might be good to clean the contacts between the front and back of the case, check for continuity where you can, and then reassemble and see if the battery charges. I like to clean contacts with a pencil eraser (the pink abrasive kind.) Here's a picture of Ciccio's fix for his bad contact:
A Look at the Case
Since the Garmin popped open of its own accord (probably because of the swelling battery,) I can’t give any advice on opening one - but you can find some here. There are no screws or clips; the two halves are just attached with some kind of adhesive.
Here is the bottom half of the case. Battery wires are soldered to the little circuit board, which presumably has the charging circuit in it. This board is also attached to the pins which go through the back of the case to the changing cradle, and it doesn’t appear that it can be removed.
The Battery
My battery was attached with a spot of some liquid adhesive; others may be attached with double-sided tape. I pried it out with a flat blade screwdriver with little effort, then clipped the wires near the battery, leaving as much as possible in the case.
I don’t think the battery is supposed to look like this :-) It was clearly on the way to exploding, and needed to be replaced.Finding a battery to replace the original one is the hardest part of this whole process. After much fruitless searching on the internet for an exact match, I gave up on finding anything. These Lithium Ion batteries require special charging circuitry, which is typically packaged with the battery cell. It’s hard to find a battery cell without the circuitry, never mind in this exact size.
In desperation, I decided to take apart the battery in my old Samsung Hue phone, which was sitting around, having been replaced by a Blackberry. Any Lithium Ion battery should work, from an electrical standpoint. They’re all 3.7 volts, because of the chemicals used, and the mAh capacity shouldn’t matter. This Samsung battery is rated at 800mAh, while the original Garmin was 750. So I should get a little more battery life.
It’s a little bigger than the Garmin battery, but it looks like it will fit, so I decide to go for it.
Preparing the Battery
After cutting off the plastic wrapper, we see the charging circuit on the top; the leads are flat metal strips that come around from either side of the battery.
After cutting the metal strips with snips, I determined the polarity with a voltmeter, and soldered a short wire to one side, to get closer to the original wires in the case. The flat lead strips look like steel, but they aren’t – it’s very easy to solder to them.
The case is the positive terminal, and the negative terminal is a pin that goes into the middle of the battery. I was careful with the existing insulation, and wrapped electrical tape around my little creation. There are exposed electronics and foil in the top of the Garmin (see the above picture.) I didn’t want any of this shorting to the battery case.
Installing the Battery
This starts simply enough – just solder the leads to the wires in the case. A short length of heat shrink tubing insulates the wire, and the exposed positive lead is so close to the battery it can’t go anywhere.
At this point I discovered something I hadn’t noticed earlier; there are a couple of little plastic pins molded into the bottom of the case, which prevented the old battery from moving around. I had to cut these with a sharp knife in order for my new battery to fit flush in the case. It’s a little wider than the original.
Red arrows point to the location of the left and right pins, which had to be cut. The green arrow is a bottom pin, for comparison; these can stay.
The Moment of Truth
It fits! I pop the top on and power it up, and we’re looking good.
Sealing the Case
Now I just have to put it back together. The original adhesive is some kind yellow, slightly stretchy stuff. I’ve seen it before, but I don’t know what it is. After reading others’ posts, I decided to go with silicone adhesive, which I found at the auto store for a few bucks. We want a watertight seal, but nothing so permanent that we can’t reopen the case.I applied a little to the edges of both the top and bottom of the case with a toothpick.
The whole thing is wrapped in a cocoon of tightly stretched electrical tape and left for a day. The edge came out looking pretty good.
I’ve been for a couple of runs and a bike ride, and it works just fine. The battery I put in it was used, and I haven’t tested the battery life. If or when that becomes an issue I’ll just buy a brand new battery, now that I know I can get one that will fit.
Update - 2010.05.12
Ciccio and others note in the comments that the problem might be a short, rather than a bad battery. His advice is to check the battery with a voltmeter, which is of course a good idea. It might be good to clean the contacts between the front and back of the case, check for continuity where you can, and then reassemble and see if the battery charges. I like to clean contacts with a pencil eraser (the pink abrasive kind.) Here's a picture of Ciccio's fix for his bad contact:
I can get u a 310XT for $175 US or another 305 for $135 US...easier than attempting to replace the battery, although more expensive...
ReplyDeleteCool.. I think that's cheaper than getting them via marathon shop locally.. Magically, my watch was ok after a day's of coma.. Still alive now. Just pry that it can last til SCKLM. Will keep you posted on the new watch purchase !
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteThis is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know about this topic. You know You definitely put a new spin on a subject that's been written about for years. Great stuff, just great!
Leather Watch Band Replacement
Thanks,