696 Power-up Problems

RV7ator · #1 02-17-2009, 08:31 PM

A piece of 696 junk I panel mounted doesn't do what it's told to do. Like turn on. Have any of you run into this:

The manual says applying external power causes it to boot up for use. Wrong. Only sometimes. If operating on external power when shut down, it usually will not restart, certainly not quickly, as I have found it restarted some time later on battery power after giving up attempts to immediately restart by reapplying external power or pushing the power button in various manners to effect a restart on battery.

This device has no place in an aircraft when it doesn't respond immediately to operator inputs. What's wrong with it? What incantations and blood sacrifices must be made before the god Garmin so it responds NOW to operator inputs?

John Siebold

L.Adamson · #2 02-17-2009, 09:03 PM

I guess they were in a good mood, when they built mine. It always boots up when external power is applied.

L.Adamson

MNAv8or · #3 02-17-2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV7ator

What incantations and blood sacrifices must be made before the god Garmin so it responds NOW to operator inputs?
John Siebold

A small furry animal usually works for me. Something like a chinchilla or something of the like. All the while chanting "O praise you Garmin god, O praise you. May your data streams rain down in abundance!"

Then clean up the blood and give Garmin a call with your current Serial number or current update. Even though these are new to market, they may already have an update already for the thing. Its worth a shot.

RV7ator · #4 02-19-2009, 08:25 AM

Here's some insight into powering up my 696. It doesn't like its 232 line connected to the Dynon D-100 at power-up.

The avionics - including the 696 - are on an avionics master. If my DPDT 232 source switch is set to the Dynon at power-up, the 696 gets terribly confused and won't start. It's o.k. with the 232 line connected to the SL-30. Also, if at power-up the 232 is set to the Dynon, switching to the SL-30 causes the 696 to power-up.

Thanks MNAv8or, it was something to do with the data streams! This took two gerbils and a chicken to find out. My wife has learned to stop asking, "What's for dinner."

John Siebold

mburch · #5 02-19-2009, 08:53 AM

I bet if you call Garmin product support, they can fix you up:

http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/hom...supportcontact

mcb

USCANAM · #6 02-25-2009, 12:51 PM

I keep my panel mounted 696 plugged into my 12V aux supply (cigarette lighter plug).
It turns on when I put the master on, and it shuts off 25 seconds after I turn the master off.
Have never had a problem.
One tip: although the unit works very well with the internal antenna, it works even better with the external antenna.
Jack

mcattell · #7 02-25-2009, 12:57 PM

Mine works every time at power up and down just like it's supposed to also. Sometimes I hit the button to keep it from powering down so I can keep the running while I'm working on something else.

Airhawk1 · #8 03-23-2009, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV7ator

A piece of 696 junk I panel mounted doesn't do what it's told to do. Like turn on. Have any of you run into this:

The manual says applying external power causes it to boot up for use. Wrong. Only sometimes. If operating on external power when shut down, it usually will not restart, certainly not quickly, as I have found it restarted some time later on battery power after giving up attempts to immediately restart by reapplying external power or pushing the power button in various manners to effect a restart on battery.

This device has no place in an aircraft when it doesn't respond immediately to operator inputs. What's wrong with it? What incantations and blood sacrifices must be made before the god Garmin so it responds NOW to operator inputs?

John Siebold

I just installed Anywheremap Samsung SST Q1 in my RV6A very simular to the Garmin 696 lighter and smaller. I had the same problem right out of the box under warranty understand the frustration! Had to replace the Solid State hard drive. Haven't had any problems since. Have been using Anywheremap software for the last three years. Approx $500 a year cheaper for updates than Garmin.

mcattell · #9 03-27-2009, 02:51 PM

There was a previous complain about the Garmin 696 GPS not powering up. At the time I thought my 696 was working fine on power up. I then re-configured it to power up with the rest of the avionics and it would no longer power up with everything else on the common avionics master. With a little testing I determined that it was result of the transponder. If I powered down the transponder, the 696 would suddenly pop on. I assumed it was because of the serial input connection to 696 from the 330 transponder. I have that for TIS traffic on the 696. I finally got around to calling Garmin support today. The tech immediately knew what I was talking about. He indicated that there is a software patch that needs to be made and he needs to manually do the patch from his end. It's not a simple matter of a software update from the website. He said he'll actually have to connect to the GPS through my computer to do the patch and expect it to take 20 minutes. So this weekend I'll put it out of the panel so I can call them back on Monday to do the update. At least they know about the problem and can fix it.

AlexPeterson · #10 04-11-2009, 03:02 PM

Mark, how did this process go?

Guess what, my 696 is mis-behaving also. Similar power up problem - mine will very, very faintly read "can't find software" or some such message. When I finally do get it going, it is still extremely faint, completely unusable. I'll try to get in touch with their tech service Monday.