430 internal battery Question

Rick6a · #1 11-24-2009, 05:28 AM

Some 2 or 3 months ago, a casual conversation with the owner of an avionics shop revealed to me something I was completely unaware of. When he asked how long my 430 was installed, I replied with something like "over 5 years now." He said the internal battery in the 430 was due to fail any time now. What he described as its costly replacement procedure both surprised and angered me. We agreed Garmin could have easily made the battery field replaceable but instead chose a design that has the battery soldered to a board buried deep within the internals and requires the unit to be disassembled.

Sure enough, yesterday prior to a local flight the 430 warned "memory battery low."

My question is this: Since I don't really store waypoints or other data, with a dead internal battery, will the unit still allow me to point and fly my airplane towards the nearest or next destination that I happen to program into it on a moment's notice?

Capflyer · #2 11-24-2009, 06:44 AM

Not completely sure on the 430 but last year in the 480 yahoo group there was a very long discussion on the internal battery. One of the guys was able to identify the difficult locally available to find battery but it was readily available from online specialty houses. Another guy took photos as his local avionics shop did the replacement and gave a full description on the proceedure. In all, it was a fairly easy task for someone that didn't even build their airplane. I would imagine that there were/are similar discussions on one of the 430 groups.

The flat rate Garmin charges on the 480 is $700 plus the shipping with insurance which is in excess of $100. That battery is one expensive little sucker if you need to send it back!

With the unit way out of warranty I'm surprised your local avionics shop would not change it for you if your not into doing it yourself.

BlndRvtr · #3 11-24-2009, 07:36 AM

My question is this: Since I don't really store waypoints or other data, with a dead internal battery, will the unit still allow me to point and fly my airplane towards the nearest or next destination that I happen to program into it on a moment's notice?

Rick,

The answer to your question above is most likely, yes. The battery in most GPSes is there to keep the shut-down position known to the unit. So the consequence of a dead internal battery is longer initial satellite acqusition time. The 430/530 might also use the battery to keep user defined waypoints, but the data on the data card (which is most everything; airports, fixes, approaches, etc.) should be unaffected by a dead battery.

I'm sure our resident avionics guru Stein will have the definitive answer, but that is my semi-educated guess. Keep us posted on what you end up with, as I'm sure this issue will be coming up more often.

Fly safe and keep that sectional handy!

George

n468ac · #4 11-24-2009, 07:54 AM

I can tell you based on our KMD150, you need the battery replaced. The battery on the KMD150 holds all the settings, the unit will default back to the original factory config. So if you have it connected to anything or have any other custom settings its a big pain in the XXX. It also took over 5 mins to find our position and the battery warning message seemed to come up every 20 mins to beep in your ear.

Ironflight · #5 11-24-2009, 08:54 AM

Hi Rick,

I went through this about a year and a half ago on my 430, and as I recall, the answer was that eventually it would become such a pain that you'd have to get it changed. I think it failed to acquire a couple of times, actually - at least in a reasonable time. If this were an inexpensive portable, I'd put up with it, but with what we pay for a 430, I want the full capability - and if it is throwing messages, I'm not sue I'd trust it for what I intended it to be - an IFR navigator. All opinion, of course!

I did learn one thing about the "field replacement" idea from Garmin customer service, and it may not be applicable in your case (because of the unit's age). Garmin pointed out that the battery should last at least five -seven years, and if it doesn't, then you don't just have a battery problem, their experience was that you had a problem with the charging circuit for th battery. So folks that changed them in the field in a year actually had a different malfunction in the unit that needed to be fixed. Now this might just have been Garmin drumming up business, but I'll tell you, the list of things they did to my unit to bring it back to full certification standards (they won't let it leave the factory without full capability) was pretty impressive. There have been LOTS of mods to the package over the years, and they will roll them all in.

Just info for you to consider. I went from "Mem Bat Low" messages to long acquisition times in about a week BTW.

Paul

Rick6a · #6 11-24-2009, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironflight

.......Now this might just have been Garmin drumming up business.....

Hi Paul,

I have to wonder about the veracity of Garmin's explanation simply because the same avionics guy told me that another GPS manufacturer's design (name escapes me) allows field replacement of the internal battery. In operational practice, I actually manipulate and refer to the handheld 496 far more often than I do the 430. I do like having the GPS 's displaying different pages. Oh well, I'll just have to see how much an inconvenience I am willing to put up with before I decide to pull the 430 for a round expensive (and unanticipated) periodic servicing.

Ironflight · #7 11-24-2009, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick6a

Hi Paul,

I have to wonder about the veracity of Garmin's explanation simply because the same avionics guy told me that another GPS manufacturer's design (name escapes me) allows field replacement of the internal battery. In operational practice, I actually manipulate and refer to the handheld 496 far more often than I do the 430. I do like having the GPS 's displaying different pages. Oh well, I'll just have to see how much an inconvenience I am willing to put up with before I decide to pull the 430 for a round expensive (and unanticipated) periodic servicing.

Definitely let us know what happens as the battery degrades - I admit I replaced mine because I maintain the box to FIR standards, so I didn't let it die all the way. I am not surprised that they didn't give a thought to a five-seven year life span...for "consumer electronics", that is an unheard of length of time for someone to keep a device. They just weren't thinking avionics, pilots, and the costs associated with replacement.

Or they just flat screwed up on the design...

Paul

n468ac · #8 11-24-2009, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ironflight

I maintain the box to FIR standards Paul

FIR?? some NASA standard?

videobobk · #9 11-24-2009, 02:53 PM

Another concern might be the battery causing damage to a circuit board. That was a problem with certain computers way back when.

Bob Kelly

ArizonaAero · #10 11-24-2009, 03:40 PM

The battery is not a huge deal to replace I have found myself doing a lot of them lately, the problem is possible damage to other EXPENSIVE components while attempting it. If your good with an iron and you take your time following the maintenance manual it's not impossible but it's touchy work.
Charlie
Mesquite Avionics