GDL52 battery dead

TimRF79

TimRF79

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Dec 10, 2017
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Tim
I had not used my GDL 52 for a while and went to charge it today.
The lights just kept flashing, even after being plugged in for one hour.

Called Garmin support and they are replacing the unit under warranty.

However, may be good practice to not let the battery fully discharge
 
The state of affairs with portable ADS-B and XM weather receivers is sad. I bought an SXAR1 from Sporty's a year ago and it is already obsolete. There are battery and other issues with my SXAR1 now and Sirius will only exchange for a refurbished unit -- which will not have a new battery. The units are sealed and cannot be serviced. The refurbished unit is simply one that has been returned but still works.

Upgrading to the GDL52, if I return the SXAR1 to Sirius they will credit me $200 for future subscription fees and there is a $200 rebate on the GDL52 with purchase of a Sirius subscription (the offers can co-exist -- I checked). So, in theory there sort of be a $400 discount on the GDL51 or GDL52 so the net purchase price would be about $300 (GDL51) or $800 (GDL52).

The state of affairs with GDL52 is not much better. Garmin says the unit is sealed and the battery cannot be replaced. After the one year warranty expires they replace the unit for a service fee. Once it goes obsolete it may be the same situation as with the SXAR1 -- only units with old batteries may be available.

All GDL52s are still in warranty so they could not tell me what the service fee would be. However, the predecessor GDL39 has a service fee of $275.

I've got half a notion to clamp my SXAR1 in a knee mill and see if I can get it apart for battery replacement...except then I'd lose the $200 return credit from Sirius.
 
Hardwire them. Problem solved. I never had a battery for my GDL-39 and after several years it still works fine. Not much different than any portable Garmin GPS I've ever had. I connect them to the radio master and forget all about whatever batteries they have.
 
Once I got my GDL52 back it works like a charm.
I thought the GDL52 has currently a $400 rebate.

Issue with hardwiring the GDL52 in my case would have been that the power draw on power up with an empty battery exceeds the power that the micro-usb provided, causing the unit to turn off.
The unit was cycling on/off on a USB power outlet (high output) for several hours with no change.
The GDL-39 has a removable battery, if the GDL52 battery could be removed, that would be an option.
 
Plugging into a USB plug isn’t hard wiring. Snip the plug and wire into a a breaker that has capacity to share. Mine share the GPS breaker in both planes.
 
I think I might know why these Sirius XM receivers are sealed (first from Sporty's, then Garmin). Maybe there is an edict from Sirius requiring it. Perhaps they want to keep nosy engineers from trying to hack the data encryption. Would Garmin build an un-serviceable unit otherwise? Don't know, but it could be...those pilots are a devious bunch.
 
Same thing just happened to mine. Any fixes out there? I tried all sorts of plugging and button tapping.

TimRF79 said:
I had not used my GDL 52 for a while and went to charge it today.
The lights just kept flashing, even after being plugged in for one hour.

Called Garmin support and they are replacing the unit under warranty.

However, may be good practice to not let the battery fully discharge
Click to expand...
 
13 months after getting my SXAR1 it died. I learned later that if you turn it on with a dead battery, even if on power, the unit is dead. It was quickly replaced. The replacement has work for 2+ years without issue. However, I was always careful to make sure the battery had some charge before pressing the one button. About 6 months ago, I decided to move to Garmin App and therefor got a GDL 51.

My guess is that the sirusxm engine is the same for both units and will have the same defect.
 
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