My 10 yr old 430 has suddenly started powering up in maximum zoom out on the moving map. And then yesterday, it had to re-locate all the satellites at power up, something it’s never done before.
Does this sound like the well known internal battery problem, or could it be something else? There is no ‘low battery’ indication. There are plenty of articles on changing the battery, but I don’t want to do that if it’s having to go back to Garmin anyway.
Any advice welcomed.
I have not seen those specific symptoms on a 430, but in general it sounds like symptoms of a dying internal battery. Which is not surprising after 10 years. Does it also “forget” your stored FPLs, custom waypoints, and things like internal settings? In addition to the “low battery” warning, those were the symptoms of a dying battery on our 430.
If you’re handy with a soldering iron, changing out the battery will cost you less than 10 euros for the battery, and about 45 minutes of your time. I would do that anyway before considering any other actions.
FYI, the “low battery” warning normally shows up in the message log, accessible via the MSG button. But you probably knew that already.
Nice trick, but I wonder if it’s practical in this case. A 430 memory battery is soldered directly onto the board and there is no room whatsoever to have two batteries connected at the same time.
You may be able to use a third battery as a temporary power supply, and solder that onto the board somehow with some long leads, but I doubt that’s going to work.
It is only a temporary trick, done with the circuit board out, to avoid losing the unit’s configuration.
Yes; the long-leads solution is another way.
There should be multiple threads here on which battery to buy, etc.
I wrote something about this about six months back, and put it onto the Flyer forum. http://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80813&start=30
There are other posts out there on the internet as well, with pictures.
It is only a temporary trick, done with the circuit board out, to avoid losing the unit’s configuration.
If it already lost its configuration (as evidenced by starting up with the wrong map setup etc), I don’t see what purpose this method serves…
Not intended to rain on anyone’s parade, but …
There are strict regulations that prohibit “working on” or “tampering” with VHF radio transmiters in the US and/or installed in US registered aircraft without proper licencing from the FAA (Repair Station – Radio) and FCC.
Is there not such an equivalent in the UK and/or EU ?
Obviously there’s equivalent legislation in the EU. And from my gut feeling, it’ll be even more stricter than in the US.
However, you’re not opening up and recalibrating the antenna portions. These are actually separate modules in the 430, and lift straight out. What you’re doing is replacing the memory battery on what is essentially a PC motherboard – it’s even got two 80386 processors on it.
So whether this is legal depends on the exact definition of a “VHF radio transmitter”. Is it just the radio module, or does this definition cover the whole 430 unit? Most people just seem to ignore that question though and apply common sense.
The US rules are very concise and you cannot so much pull the cover off a VHF transmiter.
Most people just seem to ignore that question though and apply common sense.
I would be very careful with that .
Did it ever occur to you that Goverment Employees actually read this Forum ?
Ask me how I know …
