Odd Question regarding the Garmin 35-HVS Receiver Antennae

Nuvi,

I think we may have a winner here.
As I said, I charged the three good ones for three days weekend before last, reprogrammed them again, and let them sit for the last 6 days.

I tried one of them today and it is still holding the update so I think this will work. We have never had a power outage for more than 2-3 days in the 30 years I have been here so odds are this will work.

As far as the other two, I did not check them today to see if they still retained the update. We have had a very long hard day and I am too tired to test the other two today.
But I will check them tomorrow.

As far as doing a quick disconnect on the GPS units, it just isn’t possible to have the quick disconnect outside where the unit is.
But I do have another idea which may be just as effective.
It would involve using the same type of tie bar you pictured but instead of having it outside, it would be inside the mechanical room where the GPS wire enters the building.

I would have one long cable going through the conduit from the mechanical room to the clock controller and the connector between the cable going through the conduit and the wire from GPS would be connected using a tie bar like in your picture but it would be inside the mechanical room instead of outside.
it is hard to describe but it would work exactly like your picture, only it would be inside so it would not require a water proof housing.

With that setup the GPS unit could be swapped for a new one in less than an hour.

Or an easier way may be if it ever does lose the update and as long as the battery is still good in the GPS I could run the update again from inside the office using the controller as a power source.
It would just mean running the white and blue wires about ten feet from the controller to the laptop so I could re-run the update from inside the office.

As long as I never lose the update software, the instructions, and my old laptop I think I will be fine. Assuming of course the GPS batteries never die for good.

Thanks for all your help.
I will check the other two tomorrow to see if they held the update and let you know.
I will recharge all three again this coming weekend.

I will try to reinstall the GPS to the clock controller next week and will let you know how it went.

Again, I want to thank you for all the time and trouble you have gone to on my behalf. I was ready to give up but it looks like your perseverance may have paid off and the clock will have a GPS unit again after all.

Thanks, and I will keep you posted.

 

I will send you pictures of how it was installed and the tie strip as far as where it is and how I decided to connect it.

You have mentioned the yellow wire as the "standby" and in your diagram you have it connected to the Controller. But I am really not sure how it should be connected or used.
I have looked at the Controller manual wiring diagram and can not see how it could be used. I am including a copy of the manual.
If you have any ideas how to use it I would like to know.
It would be nice to rig up an independent backup power supply for the GPS but I have no idea how to use the yellow wire to do it.

 

Nuvi,

I can read a schematic ( in a fashion) and know the symbols.
You have three resistors
Two diodes
One Zenar diode
One Transistor
and a 7.2 volt Lithium Battery.

The question is would the circuit charge the battery and what mAh battery capacity would you recommend?

I can probably build it using a blank circuit Board and wiring the components on the back of the board and putting it all in a project box.
What I don't know is the values of the various components.

Would you happen to have that information?

Or even better, from your experience would this even be worthwhile under the circumstances?

The units are well over a decade old so I know they have a lifespan and since the units are well over 13 years old and two would not charge or accept the update they have to be reaching the end of their useful lifespan.

I just wish I could get to the batteries inside of them.
But Garmin did a good job of ensuring that getting to the batteries results in destroying the units at the same time.

 

Yes,
I do have a multi-meter and will provide you the voltages.
But if you don't really think it is necessary I will trust your judgement on the matter.
But I will give you the voltage at the Controller if I can find 5 minutes to sit down and take a breath.
We are still working long hours trying to catch up from the lock down.

 

Nuvi,
I got around to testing the other two to see if they held the update and only one of the other two held it. The other one lost it but would accept the update again.
That is only two of the three that held the charge for two weeks.

The last thing I need right now is another project and granted two of the three did hold the update for two weeks but the older these units get the older the batteries are going to get as well.

I wish they hadn’t built this stupid receiver where the only way you can get to the battery involves destroying the whole unit. Or better still if they had used non-volatile memory instead of what apparently is akin to computer ram.

I guess a reasonable question would be if once the battery goes completely dead in one of these units will they accept the update again or is that the end of the road anyway?

And could that possibly be the reason why only three of the five would update even though they had all been charged for three days.

If that is the case I am wondering if it is worth building a backup circuit at all.
Because one day the remaining two will have the battery finally die for good and since the unit I install will probably last for years what would be the point if the batteries in the remaining two have completely died by then and would not accept the update at that point anyway?

Have you ever gotten the feeling after messing with something for weeks that the end result your looking for is probably more trouble than it is worth?

That is the way I am starting to feel about this.

Probably what I should do is just install one of the working units and let it last as long as it will last and be done with it.
When it finally dies then I will just let the internal clock take over.

After all it had been running that way for years without me even realizing it and I never noticed and nobody cared anyway.

Besides who knows if I will even be here five years from now?
I don’t know what it is like in England but every time my wife and I go out we see throngs of idiots not wearing masks or even trying to keep their distance from each other.

Every time my wife and I go into the room to work on a patient we now feel like we are playing a game of Russian Roulette.

Dental Offices were never meant or designed to be isolation wards and there is no way we can make ours into one. We take all the precautions but there is no way to protect ourselves if a Covid-19 patient comes into the office.

You know where our office is and that it is in a small town.
Last week there was a Funereal at the Funereal Home across the street.
We watched over 150 people coming in and out and all talking and hugging in large groups without a mask in sight.

I told my wife, “Look carefully, those are the kind of morons that are going to be responsible for us eventually catching this mess”.

I know you people in England think Americans are crazy and you are probably right.
But we didn’t start out that way.

We are watching our cities being looted and burned to the ground without people uprising or saying “enough!!!”.
But when it comes to masks they think their rights are being violated and will not comply.

I think I am just going to put the good unit in and be done with it.
At least if the GPS lasts longer than I do people will at least get to my Funereal on time since they will have an accurate clock to check right across the street.

And by the way, your Country makes much better Documentaries than we do.
The best Documentaries I have ever seen came from your Country.

I will let you know when it is finally installed for good.


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Nuvi,

After writing the above Post I finally decided I have had enough of this clock, the GPS, and messing with the whole thing.

I hooked it back up and it works and it will work until it doesn't and after that it can use its own clock to tell time. I finally reached my limit with this thing.

But I do have one last question:

In the settings on the controller there is a menu for Daylight Savings Time.

The options are:

1) Table
2) Rule
3) off

I know the US changed when DST starts and ends after the clock was installed but it will not let me into "Rule" mode with the GPS hooked up.
Since it knows what time it is right now it must have some way of knowing when the time changes from the satellites.

Is that right?

I figure the satellites must have that kind of data built into them or all the GPS's would get confused if they arbitrarily changed DST as they did a few years ago without some means of letting the various units out there know when it was.

 

Nuvi,

It is working perfectly off the GPS and showing the right date and time.
As far as DST, I called the company and they programmed the new dates right before the unit was sent so as long as they don't change them again I should be okay.

But with the GPS working the controller will only read its pre-programmed table.
It is not possible to change the dates using the Rule option.
But since it does have the right dates programmed and as long as they don't change them again it should be fine for years to come.

Nuvi, I think we have reached the end of this long road.
I want to thank you again for all your help and patience assisting me to get this to work again.
You will never know how much I appreciate your help and the time and trouble you went to on my behalf.
If you were not on a different Continent I would take you out for the best dinner you have ever had.
I think it is time for me to ride off into the sunset on this one but I will never forget how much time you spent helping me.
I hate to admit it but I am going to kind of miss you.
You're a good man.