Garmin Zumo 665

[sds20721]

Hope someone can help me with this one... I purchased a Garmin Zumo 665 GPS last year, installed to the bike via the RAM mount with no problems. The unit worked fine for about a year. However, recently the Zumo stopped taking the charge from the bike's battery, and would switch over to operate off the units internal battery or shut off altogether. Initially, thought the RAM mount went bad but tested the wires and power was getting to the mount. Decided to put another unit (same type) on the bike and it worked fine e.g. used the bike's battery to charge unit. Thought the problem was the unit itself, even though it worked fine when connected to the computer and/or wall outlet. Garmin agreed to replace the unit. When the new unit was put on the bike, it also powered on using the bike's battery. I didn't check to see if the the GPS or music worked on the system, assumed it did since it powered on immediately. This was not the case, when I did try to use the GPS and MP3 player on the unit, there was some serious type of interference coming through the Aux system that would increase the more the throttle was turned. The interference prevented hearing the directions given through the unit or listening to any music; but I could at least see the directions on screen. After riding for about an hour, the unit suddenly shut off and/or switched to it's own internal battery or the screen just went blurry (like a bad TV signal). I turned the unit off and turned the power on again and the unit came back on - and on an intermittent basis operated off the units internal battery and/or the bike battery. Never was able to her the GPS directions or listen to the music. It was suggested the problem was being caused by interference coming from the CB, and I should not use the Zumo while the CB was on. I don't agree this is the problem because the original unit I had on the bike for the last year, I had no problems and the CB remained on at all times.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what the problem might be? Already changed the RAM mount just in case but now the volume is very low when listening to the directions or music

[PastoT]

I'd check for chaffed and pinch spots along the cable, clean the contacts from end to end and see if that helps before I spent too much. I've been through the same with my Sirius and police scanner, a pain but you might find a cheap solution.

[sds20721]

Thanks. Cleaned post and changed all cable and mount. Going to check a couple more things when I take bike out this evening. Also plan to be riding for a few hours so will definitely be able to tell if everything tried so far has helped.

[dadztoy]

A couple thoughts come to mind here - a few questions first

does the unit function properly off the bike???

how close is your 665 XM antenna mounted to the GPS unit??? Garmin recommends at least 6" and 12" is better... I used an extension cable and mine is mounted on my truck rack...

what type CB are you using now - the OEM Clarion or Bike MP3???

have you tried using different grounding points on your bike for the ground on the Garmin unit... Your problem almost sounds like a ground loop issue...

the cruise control unit can cause some types of interference... here is the fix for that...

http://www.pbase.com/fredharmon/cruisefix

I just fixed a year long nagging problem on my buddies bike by reworking the grounding system on his 2007 bike... That involved pulling the fuel tank and removing the master G1 ground, cleaning up all the surfaces of that ground and associated lugs, then soldering them all together and adding another ground that effectively ties together G1, G2 and battery negative... I also included external tooth star washer for good metal to metal contact... That ground rework solved a nagging, irritating intercom/cb problem that the dealer has been unable to repair for the last 1 1/2 years...

It may be worthwhile to do that to your machine if other remedies fail to resolve the issue and the unit itself appears to be working correctly...

Les

[sds20721]

Les, yes the unit works off the bike. Do you mean 6-12 inches or feet? The unit is installed on the left side over the swith assembly, but the GPS antenna is mounted on top of the trunk. I'm using the Honda CB unit. As for the rest, I'm not mechanically included but I am going to pass your suggestions on to me mechanic. Now the unit is powering off intermittently. At least...so far it will turn back on by pressing the power button or remove battery and reinstall, but its crazy never had problem with the first one, until it went crazy too. Now directions are crazy sometimes, wrong location, exits etc.

[dadztoy]

I meant inches not feet... Garmin's suggestion for antenna separation is 6" minimum and 12" as the ideal... More distance of course is even better...

Powering off intermittently almost sounds like a cradle problem or at least a contact problem within the Garmin cradle... Is there anyone you can swap Garmin cradles with and see if that is any better???

Question - Your description of the unit working off the bike - - - - does that mean the GPS power leads are going directly to the battery or to some other source of 12 volt bike power???

Try charging the GPS unit and then power it up without having it on the bike cradle and see if it responds properly... If not,you have a defective unit... If it does respond properly, you either have a cradle problem or a wiring issue in terms of high noise level coming from some other area of the bike that is effecting it's operation...

You might also try a master reset of the unit - see your manual for those instructions or I can look them up for you... That's kind of a long shot but might be worth a try anyway... Be aware that all defaults you have set and your favorites and recently found items will be lost after the reset... Also make sure you are running the latest firmware for the Zumo 660 ver.5.10 as of 6/23/2014...

You might want to look at the Zumo Forums just to keep up with what's going on with your 660... I always check in on those forums every few weeks to see if anything is new...

http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php

Les

[WingAdmin]

I'm going to focus on the audio side of the connection - the reason being you stating the "interference" noise on the AUX connection.

How exactly are you connecting the GPS to your audio system? I suspect you're connecting it by plugging it into the AUX connection on your GL1800 audio system. If so, you've likely got a ground loop issue. Try purchasing a ground loop isolator like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-1-3-5-3-5 ... ingdocs-20

This will remove the direct electrical connection between the output of the Garmin's audio section, and the input of your bike's audio system.

It's entirely possible that this direct connection is creating an electrical bias of some sort that is overloading the GPS and causing it to shut down the charging portion. I've seen stranger things happen.

[dadztoy]

I'm going to focus on the audio side of the connection - the reason being you stating the "interference" noise on the AUX connection.

How exactly are you connecting the GPS to your audio system? I suspect you're connecting it by plugging it into the AUX connection on your GL1800 audio system. If so, you've likely got a ground loop issue. Try purchasing a ground loop isolator like this one:

http://www.amazon.com/PAC-SNI-1-3-5-3-5 ... ingdocs-20

This will remove the direct electrical connection between the output of the Garmin's audio section, and the input of your bike's audio system.

It's entirely possible that this direct connection is creating an electrical bias of some sort that is overloading the GPS and causing it to shut down the charging portion. I've seen stranger things happen.

That could be happening but I would expect to see many more complaints among 1800 owners if that were the case... Of course, it could be an isolated incident too with the OP's bike...

Defining "interference" would be a good start.... Is the alleged interference ignition noise, alternator whine, a loud buzzing (caused by cruise control on some bikes) or other type of noise...

The ground loop isolater will help with alternator whine and perhaps ignition noise depending on how it's being generated (radiated or conductive)... The 1800 is famous for ground loops, usually caused by a bad G1 ground under the fuel tank... I just finished a job on my buddies bike tying all the grounds electrically together by soldering all the grounds at the G1 location together and extending that ground to the G2 location and then extending that to the negative battery lead... That took care of his audio and cb issues... Yours bike may fall into that category depending on what type of noise it is that is interfering with the GPS...

You might try hand holding the 665 and boot it up on it's own battery power and see if that helps with the noise... That at least will tell you if the noise is coming up the power feed...

Les

[sds20721]

Thanks for the feedback. So far I have changed the unit itself, Garmin sent me a refurbished unit. Changed the mount. A friend even wired the headlights to operate via an on/off switch. All of this (not sure which one) stopped the loud whining sound like something you would have when your getting CB interference. He also suggested that I turn of the CB when operating the GPS; which I'm not really happy about because I use the CB often while riding. Anyway, the Garmin is working but at least 1/2X during a trip it will automatically shut off. If I hit the power button it will come back on without having to take it off the mount or stopping. The volume is lower than it use to be; but it works. I still think there is something else wrong because I had the Zumo for at least a year and had absolutely no problems with it without any of the above fixes.

[az1103]

Don't plug that thing into the aux. Connect it properly with this: http://cyclemax.com/inc/sdetail/gps_inp ... 120/137230. You'll love the sound. As to your intermittent power problem, Try changing the power source, use power from fog light wire , lighter wire or even run a temporary wire from the aux terminal at the fuse box and just in case change the fuse.

[dadztoy]

Don't plug that thing into the aux. Connect it properly with this: http://cyclemax.com/inc/sdetail/gps_inp ... 120/137230. You'll love the sound.

Connect it properly??? There are literally thousands of people connecting external devices thru the aux input on the 1800 without any issues at all... The OP's issue is unusual and hopefully he will find the problem but the aux input on the bike is normally used for this type of device and should work assuming there aren't any operational defects in it...

You can use the Hollsco Auxiliary Input Device you mention in your post and it will work, but forget about getting GPS prompts and MP3 music thru your speakers if you do... That device also is a mono device so no stereo to your headsets from the GPS MP3 stereo player...

Les

[az1103]

Les, an i-pod connects perfectly in the trunk as does any usb player, and can then be perfectly controlled by the console. And since I don't need to inform all the traffic around me where my next turn is, I don't need GPS instructions in stereo or on the speakers, I want them in my headset.

[dadztoy]

Understand your method of usage... The OP is riding an 2010 so he doesn't have that option you do on your 2015 in terms of I-Pod or USB drives... Actually, wish I had that option too on my 09 and I would love to be able to load custom routes on my 09, which is why I use the Zumo 665... I actually direct my GPS and tunes thru my headset most of the time like you do, but I like to have the option to switch to speakers on those occasions where I might be running my video camera and want to hear the GPS tunes, directions, or even CB transmissions for entertainment purposes on the video I am recording...

Anyway, the Hollsco unit works well as far as I know, but my preferred method of attachment is thru the aux input... A few disadvantages when doing so in terms of listening to FM/AM and GPS at the same time but still my preferred method of attaching my Zumo 665...

I believe that the OP has a unique situation going on there, as my Zumo 665 and a few of my buddies Zumo 660's (same unit without XM) have worked well for years... If the Zumo is shutting down randomly, there is a problem either with the unit, the mount, or the wiring... Could be an intermittent 12 volt connection that is causing the Zumo to run on it's internal battery and then shutting down when the internal battery is exhausted, and then the connection makes again and all is well until the next time it breaks and runs down the internal battery again...

Could also be a bad mount and/or one of the spring loaded pins is not making a good connection causing a random reboot... Additionally, if you read the OP's post carefully, it would appear that he has more than one issue... Sounds like he is also suffering from alternator whine or perhaps ignition noise or could even be noise from the cruise control unit too, in addition to the random rebooting of the Zumo...

Wish he was here, I could probably isolate the problem for him as I have done a lot of work on various buddies GPS systems and their integration on to their bikes...

Les