Has anyone managed to find the correct cable to use the Garmin Edge 500 and charge simultaneously? Normally when you plug the USB cable in to charge the unit goes to standby mode. I believe it can be done but never managed to find the correct cable. This will be a 20hr+ ride so really needs power input.

Thanks.

You can buy a genuine Garmin cable on Amazon (other sites too I’d guess) for a few quid. I bought a really short one for exactly this purpose then never actually used it as my Garmin decided it could do a full day without a second charge.

Tah-dah

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Cable-nuvi-zumo-Navs/dp/B000BM8RFM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443165451&sr=8-1&keywords=garmin+usb

I just plugged my 800 into the fag lighter I grafted to my motorcycle. .
I asked the same question and it the answer seems to be to do with the cable. Use one that’s kicking around from something else.

Every cable I’ve tried with my 800 powers it whilst using it.

I used my Edge1000 for work (archaeological survey) and have it under constant charge with a solar panel on the back of my rucksack. Works and, more importantly, LOOKS AMAZING!

The 800 and 1000 are different though, the OP was specifically asking about the 500 which annoyingly when you plug in a normal cable shuts itself down and resets the data.

It requires a “missing pin” cable which fools the unit into thinking it’s not connected.
And no, I never managed to find one. In the end I actually completed the ride I was doing in about 15hrs and it just about lasted so I stopped trying to find the right cable.

oh right, weird. good to know….

Same applies to the 800 as 500. Plug it into the wall or the PC with the supplied cable and it won’t switch on. My is currently doing that in front of me.
Swap cables and it works. I assume that the data part of the cable is the switch if you see what I mean.
Sounds daft but thinking about it, any cable works with 12v.
Maybe the 810 is like the 1000?

800 doesn’t have that issue, I have one and use the stock cable with an external battery no issues

It’s called a garmin OTG (on the go) cable you need OP

This post http://www.joewein.net/blog/2013/03/04/garmin-edge-usb-power-hack/ describes the problem (Pin X not tied to ground) and the solution.

The 800 and 1000 are different though, the OP was specifically asking about the 500 which annoyingly when you plug in a normal cable shuts itself down and resets the data.

It requires a “missing pin” cable which fools the unit into thinking it’s not connected.
And no, I never managed to find one. In the end I actually completed the ride I was doing in about 15hrs and it just about lasted so I stopped trying to find the right cable.

Exactly right. It’s a disappointing feature from a good GPS unit. (Still not really found a good reason to upgrade)

My 800 won’t switch on as I play with it here and now. Plugged in. Never has with the mains or PC.

The 800 and 1000 are different though, the OP was specifically asking about the 500 which annoyingly when you plug in a normal cable shuts itself down and resets the data.

This post http://www.joewein.net/blog/2013/03/04/garmin-edge-usb-power-hack/ describes the problem (Pin X not tied to ground) and the solution.

Useful + interesting, Ta. Slight hijack sorry but on a similar topic – I usually charge my 800 from a dynamo (ie has a variable power output from a B+M USB-Werk converter that has a small inline battery to prevent the ‘charge lost’ screen). I use a charge cable rather than a data cable, as far as I’m aware. When I’m moving at >12-15mph and plug the charge cable into the 800 it picks up the charge and carries on recording or navigating as before. No issues.
But when I plug it in at a standstill then move off, it shuts down, re-starts and has straight-lined my tracking from the start point to the current point, has recorded total odo, time, etc though. Seems to do this when I start riding with the cable’s plugged in after I’ve been stopped for long enough to drain the in-line cell also, electronically it’s the same situation.

I’ll have a read of that link Whitestone, but does anyone know why there is this difference in how it responds to being plugged into the charge cable?

It’s to do with the “active device” – when you connect the Garmin with an ungrounded pin x USB cable to a computer then the computer is the active device and the Garmin acts as the slave so that the computer can move files to and from it. If the Garmin is to remain active then pin x needs to be grounded so that the Garmin remains “in control”.

Basically the state of pin X tells the device whether to be the master or the slave. So even though a charger or battery can’t really be a master, the Garmin doesn’t actually know at the time of connection what’s on the other end of the cable it just acts in the indicated manner.

What whitestone said ^^. ONe of the tiny little pins in the connector here:

tells the Garmin that it’s connected to a computer and should put itself into the send/receive files mode which in the case of the 500 turns it off completely and resets all the data.

They did a firmware fix for the 810 and later which sorts that out completely. You can however fool the 500 into charging up while still staying on if you use a cable with the data pin missing. It’s called an OTG cable and although they are apparently sold online I got confused with all the various descriptions online and never bought one.
There are various hacks described on forums about chopping open the cable and removing the pin and resoldering it but I wasn’t prepared to try all that!