Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Die neuen eXploristen auf WinCE Basis. Details, Hintergrundinformationen, Tips, Tricks, Erfahrungsaustausch

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dimonster2
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

OK. I have got an eXplorist 310, inserted a couple of AA batteries into it and get it to find a satellites. After the GPS device got a satellite "fix", I switched it off and removed the batteries. And the navigator was unpowered during one night. The navigator was placed in my house and could not receive satellite signals. After that I inserted the batteries into navigator again and switched it on. And the internal clock of navigator showed me the correct local time.
So, I decided that the internal clock was powered by this small internal accumulator, because, as far as I know, there no other electric power source inside the navigator. And I assumed, that the purpose of this small internal battery is to be a power supply for internal clock.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by Karli »

Hello Dimonster2,

OK, so the small battery powers the clock. But the real question is this: Does this small battery also power a RAM which holds vital data needed for the startup of the eXplorist?
The only way to find this out would be to remove the battery and disconnect the small battery for a while.
If after this the eXplorist still starts, then we know that the RAM does not contain data which is needed for startup.
But it is a risky experiment. If the RAM contains needed data, the eXplorist will be dead after this experiment. So I would do this only if you have enough eXlorists, and killing one would not make you :flennen

Greetings

Karli
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

Nice joke, Karli :)
But I have another idea. My eXplorist 310 is switched on now. And internal clock show correct time. I will remove AA batteries and I will wait some days. In some days the internal battery will be probably discharged. After that I shall put AA batteries into the navigator again and I will try to switch it on.
If the navigator will start to work and will show correct time, then I repeat the experiment again increasing this "power off" time interval.
If the navigator will not start, then I will assume that internal battery discharged and the information in RAM was wiped. :-(
If the navigator will start and the internal clock will show incorrect time (I suppose the time will be resetted to default 12:00), then I will assume that the internal battery is discharged, but this situation is not harmful for navigator.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by Karli »

Hello Dimonster2,

this is a very good and interesting idea! I can give you some numbers for this: I measured the battery current when my eXplorist 310 is switched off, it is 38µA. The internal small battery has a nominal capacity of 5.5mAh. If these 38µA would flow from the small battery if the main battery is removed, it would take about 6 days to discharge the internal battery. But I suspect that most of the 38µA is used to keep the internal battery charged, so the actual consumption will be much smaller. So it may take weeks or month to discharge it until the clock stops. It will be interesting to see if you can reach this point.

Greetings

Karli
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

Today I inserted AA batteries in my 310 and switched the unit on. And I see correct time at internal clock.
So, six days is too short time period to discharge the internal battery.
I removed AA batteries and will wait some days again.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

Ok, guys.
I performed barbarian experiment. :twisted:
I removed AA batteries, unscrewed six screws and removed the back part of navigator's body and touched contacts of internal battery for 10 seconds, performing short-circuit.
After that I inserted AA batteries and switched the GPSr on.
The navigator working fine, but the internal clock was resetted to 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and current date was set as 01 june 2008.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by S1G »

As you see, left side of the battery connector, it looks like SD-memorycard slot contacts, dosn't it? - Isn't in the service-screen the "Update from SD-Card" option? ;-)
__̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡._
ColorTrak, Triton400 Carbon Edition, eXplorist110, eXploristGC, eXploristTouch, eXplorist710
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

Yep. This is for SD card slot. I think, somebody planned to make SDMMC slot, but finally the Magellan refused to make it.
I can ask our local "electronic-repair-man" to install SDMMC slot, but unfortunately, there also missed some unknown additional details (resistors, capacitors, etc) to make this slot to work. Moreover, I am not sure, that the WindowsCE assembled for this device will be able to work with SD slot.
By the way, there are also some other disabled functions. Not only missing SD slot.
There are also should be "geo-fencing", "barometer", "tide and currents" functions. I found some words "geofence", "tide", etc. inside the "Compass2WinCE.exe" file and I found several text phrases about geo-fencing, tide, currents and media (pictures, video, voice) inside the international localization files at \APP\Lang folder. I used Radialix software to open that localisation files and to fix some mistakes in russian and ukrainian interface localization (Atlas_RU.qm and Atlas_UA.qm files at \APP\Lang folder and mgnshell_ru.qm, mgnshell_ua.qm at \APP\mgnShell folder ).
(I use eXplorist 310 firmware at GC because this firmware have more functions than original GC firmware. I use ver. 1.19. My friend said that 1.19 is more stable than 1.64. Unfortunately, every version of eXplorist 310 firmware have several bugs and strange "features").
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by S1G »

I guess, the language terms are for all explorists (110 -710) the same. In the 510-710 software are also references to traffic controls for example.
Geofencing features has been on the 710. (I don't know, if this feature is still there...)

As the windows CE should be complete, I don't know why, if the hardware is able to, the SDMMC slot should not be working...
I guess, it would show up exactly like the memory card on the 510-710 devices...
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ColorTrak, Triton400 Carbon Edition, eXplorist110, eXploristGC, eXploristTouch, eXplorist710
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by Karli »

Coming back to the experiment of Dimonster2: it seems to show that the RAM does not contain information needed for startup. This is good news, meaning that it is not necessary to worry too much about discharging the internal battery. But then then question remains: Why so some eXplorists do not start?

The problem could be caused by some other failure, for instance by a bad flash-memory as suggested. Because the problem seems to occur after long storage without power, it may still be caused by the internal battery. There is a potential catch22 situation there: For starting the eXplorist, probably the clock must be running, because the delay of the power-button possibly is produced by counting clock-pulses. But also the charger of the internal battery needs the clock running, because the battery needs 3.1 V for charging, and the two AA-batteries cannot deliver this, in particular not through the necessary decoupling diode. So a good design probably would use the clock-pulses to step up the voltage.

But then with a fully discharged battery, it is possible that the battery cannot be charged enough to start the clock if the clock is not already running. And then the unit cannot be turned on, and it seems to be dead.

This of course is only wild speculation, but if I had an eXplorist which does not start, I would use an external
3.3 V power supply and try to charge the internal battery with some probes through a 1 k resistor for a few minutes. Possibly then the eXplorist will start again.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

There is a broken navigator with this problem on e-bay. But the seller do not want to send it to Ukraine.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magellan-eXplor ... SwnbZYE2Oy
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

Oh, guys. Now I have the same problem :(
My eXplorist GC do not want to power on after a month of resting at a shelf. The 2AA batteries are fresh, the internal battery is charged to 2.2V, the power key is OK, but the device is not react to holding "Power" key.
It is a pity.
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by 3toner »

dimonster2 wrote: same problem :(
Versuchst du ihn zu reparieren oder wirst du einfach ein neues Gerät kaufen ?
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by Karli »

Hi dimonster2,

With 2.2V on the internal battery, it is nearly discharged. I would apply 3.3-3.5V on the battery connectors and watch if it will bring up the internal battery to at least 2.5V. If this does not work, I would try to charge the internal battery by applying 3.1V to it through a 3k9 resistor (it may take 6 hours or more). Possibly the 2.2V is already too low to start the oscillator or to make the on-button work. I keep my fingers crossed for you - good luck!

Karli
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Re: Achtung: Interner Akku eXplorist 110/GC/310

Post by dimonster2 »

I removed the batteries and battery compartment. I connected my eXplorist to PC using USB cable. I have been waiting ten minutes. The internal battery voltage became 2.8 V.
But the navigator still does not work :-(
3toner wrote:
dimonster2 wrote: same problem :(
Versuchst du ihn zu reparieren oder wirst du einfach ein neues Gerät kaufen ?
I shall be honest. I have bought four eXplorist GC devices from different sellers at ebay. At different time. From different countries.
For me, for my friend and for resale.
So, two of four devices are dead in same manner (unable to be powered on after they rested at a shelf for some time). In my opinion, it is a shame for Magellan.

I was in some degree a fan of Magellan. I even made ukrainian translation for eXplorist's interface, russian translation for VantagePoint interface. I converted some vector maps for Magellan and wrote the small software tool to unpack and hack .imi maps.
But this pitiful situation with this dead devices makes me forget about Magellan.
Yesterday I bought an old Garmin Oregon 300.
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