Garmin Edge 305 - Uncommanded Power Down

I moved the battery wires to the main board, bypassing the spring contacts. No doubt my warranty is voided but at least the thing works now.

The problem is with the spring contacts between the two halves of the unit that carry power from the battery (back half) to the computer (front half). If your unit is outside warranty, you can follow instructions here: http://forums.motionbased.com/smf/index.php?PHPSESSID=000a201aaa94d328628ad489c9067181&topic=6566.msg42076 I did this, and it helped some, but I am still dropping power on very rough descents (like stairs), so I'm going to try adding a capacitor to the computer side so it can tolerate the brief disconnections from the battery. Making the contacts perfect seems to be a more daunting task.

I've done a repair along the lines mentioned in the Motionbased forum thread:

• solder wires to connect the battery leads directly to the GPS board.
  
• add a thin rubber spacer to the existing spacer underneath the small board that contains the USB port (on the battery side)

Using magnet wire (thin, coated, plastically deformable) to solder the battery leads provides a very reliable contact IMO - since I've fixed my Edge I've taken it on numerous hard bumpy mountain bike rides with good result.

The extra spacer adds some compression to the springs and improves the reliability of the contact. Besides the battery leads, also the USB contacts are guided through this connector to the GPS board, so you want to have this connector in good working order.

I've posted a bunch of photos and more detailed instructions on my site (below are a few)...