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RV7ator

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

L.Adamson
 
RV7ator said:
What incantations and blood sacrifices must be made before the god Garmin so it responds NOW to operator inputs?
John Siebold
Click to expand...

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.
 
There really is a start-up problem

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
 
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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
 
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.
 
RV7ator said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
696 Power Up Problem Update

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.
 
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.
 
Update

Well, I took the thing home and messed with it a little. It powered up ok this time, but somehow the screen brightness was turned down to 2, which is completely unreadable in the sun. Unless there is a shortcut I'm not aware of, it takes about 10 keystrokes/clicks to get to that function, and then another 8 clicks to get from my previous setting of 10 down to 2. I would have to guess it is related to the "software not found" error mentioned earlier.

I'll keep you posted.

On a related note, is it normal for the 696 to initially confirm power up with a very dim screen, which switches to bright in a few more seconds? Not easy to tell if the power on switch actuation was "accepted".

Otherwise, they are a fantastic unit.
 
AlexPeterson said:
On a related note, is it normal for the 696 to initially confirm power up with a very dim screen, which switches to bright in a few more seconds? Not easy to tell if the power on switch actuation was "accepted".
Click to expand...

My 696 was only dim and unreadable once. I had forgotten that you can push the power switch on the top a few times to brighten the unit up. Since mine runs off of aircraft power lately, it's bright to start with. I don't remember how it was with battery only; but I'll check tomorrow if there are no reply's.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
AlexPeterson said:
On a related note, is it normal for the 696 to initially confirm power up with a very dim screen, which switches to bright in a few more seconds? Not easy to tell if the power on switch actuation was "accepted".
Click to expand...

Yes, this appears be normal - or it has as long as I've had my unit Alex. I suspect that if you are getting a message that essentially says it can't boot (can't find the software), then it isn't gettong to the point where it brightens up. Odd - but I think once or twice in my Beta testing phase, we got messed up software that caused odd problems. Probably a memory hit or something - I bet Garmin will fix you right up.

paul
 
L.Adamson said:
My 696 was only dim and unreadable once. I had forgotten that you can push the power switch on the top a few times to brighten the unit up. Since mine runs off of aircraft power lately, it's bright to start with. I don't remember how it was with battery only; but I'll check tomorrow if there are no reply's.
Click to expand...

After checking today. Mine does say just Garmin for a few seconds, which is dimmer, then it fully lights up with a page of all the whys and wherefors, and push the enter button to accept.

Nice thing about the 696, is that it never washes out in bright sunlight.......as long as the backlight is on. It's ALWAYS very easy to see! :)

L.Adamson ---- RV6A
 
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