What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

G5 battery issue

777Dave

Well Known Member
I’m working with Garmin on this but here’s the situation.
G5 installed about a year ago with backup battery. All good from the get go. Battery was initially about 20% but charged up nicely.
My airplane was stuck here in Florida while I was up north this summer, upon return, I have discovered that there is no longer any indication that I have a battery on any of the setup options....just shows blank.
I have flown about 6 times thinking it might charge but nothing.
The Garmin tech asked me to install the latest update which I did yesterday and that caused further issues....unit would not boot up at all. All connections checked btw.
I’m gonna talk to them tomorrow again but just curious if anyone else has had any trouble with their G5?

Thanks
 
I bought a new G5 from a guy on this forum. I installed it and the battery was dead and would not charge. Similar indication of No battery installed. THe seller said that he tested and it worked fine; I believed him. Called Garmin and they sent me a new battery and it worked fine ever since.

Larry
 
I've had similar issues with a fairly new G5 (180 days old w/<50 hrs operation). If the back-up battery is faulty, it will prevent the G5 from operating at all. If the BU battery is removed, it works fine.

Working with Garmin and dealer on the issue. Battery seems to be warrantied, but shipping back and forth is on me and proving to be costly due to Garmin's shipping requirements.

George
 
I had that problem with my G5. I would strongly recommend NOT leaving the battery installed in the G5 if you are not applying any power to the system for an extended period (ie>3 mths).
The battery will hold the charge when not fitted, but there must be some small drain even with the unit depowered. When the battery is fully drained, the unit does not recognise that a battery is installed so you will need a replacement. If it's out of warranty then it gets costly.
 
Just an additional data point. My G5 battery has not been powered since sometime prior to Aug 1 when the panel was being built by Aerotronics. Battery has been in it since I received the panel and has not been powered.
I just checked the battery level and it is at 97%. I removed the battery just incase as it will be a couple more months before it is powered up.
 
Battery issue

Ok, thanks everyone for replying so quick. The Garmin tech I spoke to was leaning toward a battery issue. Covid 19 rears it’s ugly head once again! I didn’t think the airplane would be grounded for so long this summer.
Hopefully a charged battery will solve this issue, I really like the G5!

All the best.;)
 
Follow up

Mike at Garmin echoed what we decided here, that the battery had discharged over the last 6-7 months and consequently the G5 unit was not behaving itself. They sent a new, fully charged battery which I have just installed and everything boots up normally and I am also getting a normal battery charge level indication on the top left. Plan to fly tomorrow to verify all good but not anticipating any issues.
I will be removing the battery if storage is required in the future to preserve the charge.
All under warranty btw.

Cheers
 
I'm having the same issues. I got a warranty replacement battery from Aircraft Spruce and it seems that it's not working either.

I'm emailing back and forth with Garmin and hopefully it'll get resolved.
 
Isn't this one of the reasons Garmin added a diode to the power wire going to the G5? I thought that they found out when the aircraft was parked for a long time the G5 backup battery would send voltage out to the bus it was tied into and as a result the load from the rest of the bus would slowly drain down the G5 backup battery. New G5's come with what they call a "LPM" module built into the D-Sub backshell with the diodes and resistors built into it. Prior revisions of the installation manual had the installer added a diode plus resistors to the CAN Bus. The resistors were for lighting protection. That's where they got the "LPM" acronym name from for the custom backshell.

So what I do with a G5 installed prior to the diode requirement is pull the G5 breaker when the aircraft is parked for the night. Then the power bus can't trickle back-drain the G5 backup battery.

You will notice that most Garmin STCs for type certificated aircraft ("certified aircraft") for newer products (G3X, GI 275 etc..) have a requirement to add an LPM or the diode/resistor mod to any G5 in the aircraft or the installation won't comply with the new STC. It's kind of a "catch all" clean up by Garmin to get all the G5's updated for lighting strike bus back-drain problems.
 
The battery I just got from Aircraft Spruce (supplied by Garmin so I had to wait weeks for it) is Ver2 and was made a couple of months ago. Still the same problem.
 

Attachments

  • C734824B-A40C-47E4-9B0A-CA808AB945B9.jpg
    C734824B-A40C-47E4-9B0A-CA808AB945B9.jpg
    301.6 KB · Views: 54
Mine is one of those certified equipment installations and it's still happening. Here's my troubleshooting and what I sent Garmin today :

https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=197455

So you are saying that yes, you have either the separate diode or the LPM installed? Because there are certified installs that don't have either and are legal. It depends on the version of STC installation instructions used when the G5's were installed and 337'd.
 
Isn't this one of the reasons Garmin added a diode to the power wire going to the G5? I thought that they found out when the aircraft was parked for a long time the G5 backup battery would send voltage out to the bus it was tied into and as a result the load from the rest of the bus would slowly drain down the G5 backup battery.

No, there is no truth to this whatsoever. The G5 has internal diodes on both the Power 1 and optional Power 2 incoming power lines which (among other things) prevents current from flowing out of the G5.

The external diode and resistors required for certified installations, which are now incorporated into the lighting protection module (LPM), were not required to solve some mysterious battery draining problem, and were never required or needed on non-certified installations.

jliltd said:
So what I do with a G5 installed prior to the diode requirement is pull the G5 breaker when the aircraft is parked for the night. Then the power bus can't trickle back-drain the G5 backup battery.
This is totally unnecessary since it is impossible for a connected power bus to drain the G5 backup battery (see above).

jliltd said:
You will notice that most Garmin STCs for type certificated aircraft ("certified aircraft") for newer products (G3X, GI 275 etc..) have a requirement to add an LPM or the diode/resistor mod to any G5 in the aircraft or the installation won't comply with the new STC. It's kind of a "catch all" clean up by Garmin to get all the G5's updated for lighting strike bus back-drain problems.
Sorry, wrong again. There is no such thing as a G5 "bus back drain problem".

Steve
 
Garmin has had a few battery issues with the G5, I think the new Ver 2 battery has addressed most of the problems.
In every cases I've seen Garmin has replaced the defective batteries no charge.

Well it looks like the Version 2 was a flop too and didn't correct the G5 issue (yep I'm still dealing with it since June) so Garmin has just come up with a Version 3 battery.

Version 1 (010-12493) is 3.6 volts
Version 2 (010-12493-01) is 3.3 volts
Version 3 battery (010-12493-02) is back to 3.6 volts but updated electronics, plus your G5 must have at least version 6.30 software, and they're up to 7.30 last time I checked mine.

I was told by Garmin that, now with the Version 3 battery fixing everything, they've stopped offering the modifications to the G5.
 
Back
Top