Montana 600 won’t charge on the bike

[Lonerider]

Does anyone have any ideas as to why my Montana 600 will not charge whilst using the usb on the bike. It used to charge fine on my xt600e usb socket!
I have tried 3 cables and all it does is read them as data cables and puts the device in data mode

Thanks
Wayne

[Threewheelbonnie]

Does a phone charge off the USB ?
If you plug the GPS cable into a phone charger does it go?

Andy

[Turbofurball]

Does it not give you a choice? When we put ours on a charger other than the official Garmin one it usually asks if you want to go to mass storage, and if you say no it'll continue to boot normally and charge ok.

[Lonerider]

Originally Posted by Threewheelbonnie

Does a phone charge off the USB ?
If you plug the GPS cable into a phone charger does it go?

Andy

Yep, the usb is working fine, had my phone on charge over the last 2 days on a run out

I have also tried a cable from a mate, which was plugged in and working on his devices, we also tried his usb charging socket.

[Lonerider]

Originally Posted by Turbofurball

Does it not give you a choice? When we put ours on a charger other than the official Garmin one it usually asks if you want to go to mass storage, and if you say no it'll continue to boot normally and charge ok.

No, no choice, i can’t remember if i ever had a choice even when it was charging from the bike

[Turbofurball]

Originally Posted by Lonerider

Yep, the usb is working fine, had my phone on charge over the last 2 days on a run out

I have also tried a cable from a mate, which was plugged in and working on his devices, we also tried his usb charging socket.

In that case it's something on the Garmin itself. If you connect it to a computer does it communicate ok?

[Neavey]

Sounds like your USB is not supplying enough current to charge the Montana. I am no expert but some USB ports source less current than others, that's why phones take a lot longer to charge.

Is this a USB port you added? Does it have a current rating on it, i.e. 1.0A or 2.5A?

[Threewheelbonnie]

I bet if you use your mate's device with either cable on your USB that works fine?

Look in the back of the Garmin box. Do Garmin still use round sockets with about a quarter of an inch of pin exposed? (It's 20 years since I ditched my last one, so hopefully not). These pins were unsupported, so not correct for a situation where there is vibration. Bent or broken pins will probably only confirm the diagnosis that it's the unit. "bent" pins are usually only displaced and will break the first hard (soldered) joint.

I did open up an old Garmin and fix it by resoldering pins, so could be worth a try, especially if it can't end up more broken.

Andy

[Lonerider]

Thanks for all the replies, problem solved
I spoke to Garmin and….To use the device normally when it is connected to an external power source, the device needs to be changed to Garmin Spanner mode:
Open the Main Menu.
Select Setup.
Select System.
Select Interface.
Select Garmin Spanner.
From this point on, when the device is connected to the USB cable, the device will power on with the statement "USB cable detected. Would you like to go to Mass Storage?"
If Yes is selected, the device enters USB mass storage mode, which allows data and updates to be transferred between the computer and device
If No is selected, the device does not enter USB mass storage mode and remains operational while connected to the computer. However, no data or updates can be transferred between the computer and device until the device is unplugged and plugged back in, then Yes selected to enter USB mass storage mode
Whether or not the battery charges while the device is being used on external power depends on the power being supplied to the device. If the power supplied exceeds the power being used, then the excess power will charge the battery.

I don’t know how my Montana changed its setting, possibly my sausage fingers but all is good and tested

Wayne