Extending garmin 500 battery life

dragratchet

doing a hiking event this weekend and want to track my progress using my 500, mainly interested in time distance and heart rate. looking at an 8-11 hour day. any ideas if the trusty 500 will stay alive that long, or are there settings worth tinkering with to give it a bit more juice. longest ive had it going on the bike is about 6 hours (i lost the book before anyone points me there)

ford2600

dragratchet wrote: »

doing a hiking event this weekend and want to track my progress using my 500, mainly interested in time distance and heart rate. looking at an 8-11 hour day. any ideas if the trusty 500 will stay alive that long, or are there settings worth tinkering with to give it a bit more juice. longest ive had it going on the bike is about 6 hours (i lost the book before anyone points me there)

Yes had for 14 hrs on bike two weeks ago. 30% left at end.

Wasn't using cadence or hr monitor though.

TheBlaaMan

Fully charged, I think an Edge500 is easily good for 11-12 hours, perhaps more. I guess that the battery degrades over the years, so if it 4-5 years old, that figure will probably be less. Mine is 2 years old and a 4hr spin never uses more than 20% battery. I had it on indoors with just the HRM working (ie not accessing satellites) and it easily lasted 15 hours with loads of battery capacity remaining.

dragratchet

no its new enough, about 8 months old. got it after my garmin running watch kept dying before the end of sportives

lennymc

ive had mine running for over 15 hours with no problems.

Zorba

I thought i read somewhere that Garmin say there's 18 hrs battery life

Inquitus

Aye the 500 is plenty good for 12 hours and more, its the more fancy 800's and higher that struggle.

ford2600

Zorba wrote: »

I thought i read somewhere that Garmin say there's 18 hrs battery life

Spec on garmin site say 18hrs

dragratchet

that's monstrous, my running garmin usually gave up the ghost around 5hours. in fairness though, most people wouldn't be running that long

Wishbone Ash

Inquitus wrote: »

Aye the 500 is plenty good for 12 hours and more, its the more fancy 800's and higher that struggle.

Just wondering how this chap managed 650km (21 hours) on an 800?

http://www.strava.com/activities/127938500

(PS - the ride looks tiny on a US map!)

ford2600

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just wondering how this chap managed 650km (21 hours) on an 800?

http://www.strava.com/activities/127938500

(PS - the ride looks tiny on a US map!)

Dynamo maybe

looking at his speed definitely not. Probably switched, it was a multi lap ride

Wishbone Ash

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

(PS - the ride looks tiny on a US map!)

ford2600 wrote: »

... it was a multi lap ride

Ah yes - looks like 18 laps of a circuit. That would be pretty tedious.

Ryath

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Just wondering how this chap managed 650km (21 hours) on an 800?

http://www.strava.com/activities/127938500

(PS - the ride looks tiny on a US map!)

Could have used a usb battery pack as back up.

thekooman

one of these would charge it i would imagine.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/EasyAcc%C2%AE-Brilliant-Ultra-Slim-Bluetooth-Smartphones/dp/B00H9BEC8E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397119336&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+backup+battery

Mefistofelino

Perhaps Garmin have made a hardware or software change on newer models of the 500, but the older ones will shut-down if a battery pack is plugged in. Not a huge problem if you are going to be stopped for a while, but not so good if you're planning to keep moving.

Battery life can be extended by turning off the backlight and not using sensors such as heart rate.

Ryath

Some mixed info online about the edge 500 think it depends to the set up of the usb charger. The 705,800,810 should all work fine with most usb battery packs.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Waterproof-Dustproof-Shockproof-Carabiner-Smartphone/dp/B00HY44VTQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_sg_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=17REFYEADK6WN6792FDD#productDetails

Like the look of this one. Would be handy if cycle touring and camping. Enough power to charge garmin a couple of times over a phone once. I have a cheap duracell one it's only 1500 mAh or so and a few years old but should be enough to get me through the Easter Fleche along with topping up the charge at stops.

Was going to get a B&M luxos u light with usb charging for my dynamo but ended up getting a SON edelux 2 so trying to decide what to get now.

Looking at case like this for 18650 cells as well. Have two 18650 batteries already for a light. A sealed unit is probably a better option for the road though.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cylindrical-Portable-Battery-Charger-Samsung/dp/B00HVUZF16/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1397125846&sr=8-11&keywords=18650+usb+charger