Powermonkey not charging

[Rob Hawks]

I have a powermonkey explorer that is sold as the 'Garmin external battery pack'. I've used it a grand total of 3 times successfully and when trying to use it for the fourth time it quit. Now I can't seem to charge it. Unplugged, I got the unit to turn on once and then it quit quickly. Now it won't turn on unless I have it plugged into some charging method, but that really doesn't do me any good as the unit still won't charge. Is this battery pack dead or is there something I can do to get it to charge up?

BTW, the instruction booklet that comes with the unit has all of 4 pages of text in English and none of them seem helpful for this problem.

rob hawks

[Nancy]

Hi Rob - I used my Garmin Power monkey successfully for many months but then it started acting up a few months ago.  It would charge and then lose the charge almost immediately afterwards.  I spoke to the Garmin folks several times.  They were very helpful even though they are not that familiar with this product.  It was still under the one year warranty & I was going to send it to them for a replacement.  I realized I had purchased it from REI and it would be easier to take it back to REI & get a replacement.   My new unit worked fine for  the Hopland 400km so time will tell.  Not sure I’ll willing to go through this process again if it happens within the next year.  I also purchased a small Anker external battery because I will need additional power for PBP but haven’t tested it on the road yet.  

Nancy Russell

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[rsthompsonian]

Hi Rob,

How would you rate your proficiency with a soldering iron? I have had a few battery-type things stop working, and 90%+ of the time it is simply due to a soldering joint that has come loose. It could be a simple fix.

Soldering joints have become slightly more brittle, as the world produces very few leaded solder joints these days. 'Tis a pity, too, as leaded solder makes very nice connections. Too bad it's not good for kids' brains (maybe not adult's brains either).

So, we've decided that less-robust electrical connections is a small price to pay for better young-brain development, and overall less violence in the world. I tend to agree with this tradeoff.

(Interesting side note: the Economist did a survey about a couple years ago of the places where leaded gasoline is still used in high percentages. Top of list: Syria, Iraq [until recently], and sub-Saharan Africa)

ryan
(thompson)

[C. Duque]

Not sure what is special about the Powermonkey but if is is just a battery pack with a usb connector there are tons inexpensive power packs with a lot more capacity. I think remember reading the issue with the Garmin units is they need a "special" USB cable. If I used a Garmin I would invest in the "special" USB cable so I could use any power pack, even those available at Walgreens.

my 3¢

Carlos