Garmin zumo 550 450 tech talk

[Magnum Magna]

Searching for how the 550 can display voltage. I found


"If you take the Zumo out of its bike cradle - and put your finger on the screen up in the right top corner - between the battery indicator and the time - and just hold it there - the Zumo goes into a diagnostic screen. Then place the Zumo back in the cradle - and you can read the voltage that is coming into it.

Might be a handy tool to know about if you are having charging issues and want to see if your rectum fryer / stator is about to poop on ya!"


http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/index.php/topic/52434-zumo-550-as-a-voltmeter/
It does work but the information is small so maybe hard to read while riding but I will try it today.

It does work mounted in the cradle also

[Magnum Magna]

It looks like the refresh rate is about every second and the voltage is 1.25 -1.5 low.

I am more than OK with that.

[TLRam1]

Good find Robert, I will need to try that out or you can show me as I doubt I will take the time at the moment.

[Magnum Magna]

Last night on the highway about 4500 RPM the headlight did not get bright but one time and it was a flash.  I believe it jumped to 16 which is 17.5 volts.  Today going down my street doing about 3000 RPM it jumped to a solid 17.00 (18.5 volts) a few times for a few seconds.  On the highway doing about 4500 it was 12.5 (14.0 volts)

So if someone has an opinion what that is telling me please let me know.

[lragan]

OK, I will venture a guess.  As mentioned above, the regulator works by shunting unneeded current to ground.  In your unit, this ground connection is intermittent.  Internally, there are three such connections, and it seems unlikely to me that failure of one would spike the voltage that high.  Sooooo.... I would check the connections from the rectifier/regulator, in particular the ground connection.  There are two connectors, one has four wires, the other three.  The three come from the alternator, and are yellow.  The two green wires in the set of four are wired in parallel and go to ground.  They tie together on both sides of the connector block, so both contacts would have to be corroded or otherwise impaired for it to fail this way -- or the contact to the chassis is loose.  If the chassis contact were loose, I would expect other deleterious effects, so my first bet is the contacts -- the second is the wiring harness between the contacts and ground.

Good luck.  Let us know what you find.

[Magnum Magna]

Thanks Lawrence

another update.  Just did a run about.  It also did it at 4000 and 4500 17.0 (18.5 volts)

Last week I changed my battery out so I will also go back and check all those connections again.

[TLRam1]

I mimic Lawrence's suggestions on connections, I have had dirty ones.

We can clean your connections first and if need be I have a used spare regulator you can put on and give it a whirl before you fork out monies for a new one. You can keep it on until you get another one.  If you need help quick, come on over.

[Magnum Magna]

I very much appreciate the offer and will take you up on the offer.

I put in a request for a relocation kit and will be looking into doing that after getting the kit.
The 18.5 volt spik is only for a second or two so at this point I am not damaging the battery so I don't feel the need for it to be a rush job.  Brenda and I will be trying to take a trip some time in September so I do want to do it before then.

[TLRam1]

Lawrence will need to chime in here for a more educational opinion.

Keep in mind....

Normally electrical spikes and electronics are not a good marriage, if you have a good regulator I don't know if these spikes might make a bad regulator out of a good one.

[guywheatley]

My third GPS navigator is my iPhone.

http://www.texarkanagazette.com/Bikers-Blog/