khedrei Posted May 24, 2020 Report Posted May 24, 2020 I have not visited the shop yet, and I know that is likely the only way to solve this but I figured I would see what kind of thoughts came up here first. Hoping someone has had a similar issue. Keep in mind that the entire panel is new and has been working fine for over a month. Before my flight yesterday while taxiing I noticed the G5 wasn't on which normally comes on with the master. Tried the power button, cycling the master, Reset circuit breakers. Nothing. I did the 2 hour VFR flight and flew it by hand (since the GFC-500 runs off the G5). The power trim also didn't work. Everything else in the system worked fine. I left to come home at night and same thing. But this time (because it was dark) I noticed that there was still some kind of power going to the unit. I could see the backlight around the knob and the power button. But it would not turn on. Flew the trip by hand with no other problems. I parked in the hangar and crawled underneath to see if any wires were loose. Nothing. I powered the master back on and wouldn't you know, the unit fired up. Tried three cycles and it fired up each time. BUT, the battery life was at 59%. Was it charging the whole time? How long do these things take to charge? and how did it become dead? in the 10 flights or so before I never once noticed a power warning or that it was running on battery so I would think I can rule out a power supply problem. And if it was at 59% why would it not have come on before? I also don't know how these interconnect with the trim circuit. I should mention that the only thing that I did that was out of the ordinary was that 2 nights before I updated the database using the wifi and flightstream 510. Most of it uploaded and synced while I was taxiing and during the flight but when I landed the flight charts had not been synced so I left the master on for about 45 minutes and let it finish. The battery is brand new and the voltage never dropped below 12.2V. I shut everything off like normal and it started perfectly fine the next time (which was yesterday morning) so I don't think I drained the G5 battery as when the master is on, is the unit not running off ships power not its own battery?? Any idea's would be welcomed. I am not legal IFR without it so it would be nice to be confident that this brand new system won't randomly crap out on me. Quote
Bob - S50 Posted May 24, 2020 Report Posted May 24, 2020 The fact that it started working after you checked for loose wires makes me think you have a loose wire. Even though it wasn't disconnected I'm guessing one of them (power or ground) probably does not have a good contact. When you wiggled them to check them it probably made the connection again. Let us know what the shop finds. 1 Quote
carusoam Posted May 24, 2020 Report Posted May 24, 2020 see if you can summarize... List the things that didn’t have power... When... expect.... Somewhere along the way, power to the G5 was cut while it was still running....until it’s battery drained... If you see 59%... looks like it started charging again.... Sounds like you may have a loose wire in there somewhere... logic may help drive what to look for... and where... PP thoughts only, not a mechanic... Best regards, -a- Quote
highlowfastslow Posted May 25, 2020 Report Posted May 25, 2020 I’ve had the same thing happen twice. Don’t know why it happened and only happened on my HSI. However, I was able to get it started by holding the power button and the knob down for several seconds. Maybe a software issue? Hoping it gets addressed in a future software update. 1 Quote
carusoam Posted May 25, 2020 Report Posted May 25, 2020 Anyone want to forward this over to Garmin’s customer service guy, Trek on BT? Sounds like it is more than one unit... Best regards, -a- Quote
khedrei Posted May 25, 2020 Author Report Posted May 25, 2020 https://beetlejuiceadventure.wordpress.com/2019/09/11/how-to-reboot-a-garmin-g5/ I should have done a google search first. Came up with the article above which says so hold the power button while turning on the master. Other forums say to hold the power button for 10 seconds. I definitely tried holding it in for a few seconds. Obviously not quite 10. I’ll try it next time it happens. thanks for the replies. My mind is more at ease that it isn’t an install error that we have to search for and also that it won’t randomly fail in flight. 1 Quote
carusoam Posted May 25, 2020 Report Posted May 25, 2020 Kh, You did a great thing! Getting the observation out in view where people can see it counts... Other people are starting to recognize they have the same challenge... Less surprises for everyone... Best regards, -a- Quote
MarkusM Posted May 25, 2020 Report Posted May 25, 2020 Just a small remark, you should not update the G5 while moving - neither while taxiing nor flying. After systems updates the G5 runs a couple of check routine, which will bust if it is confused by ordinary in-movement sensor readings. The G5 may have stayed in system check mode on battery after it got confused. 2 Quote
Bob - S50 Posted May 25, 2020 Report Posted May 25, 2020 6 hours ago, MarkusM said: Just a small remark, you should not update the G5 while moving - neither while taxiing nor flying. After systems updates the G5 runs a couple of check routine, which will bust if it is confused by ordinary in-movement sensor readings. The G5 may have stayed in system check mode on battery after it got confused. Better yet, according to Garmin, only an authorized installer is allowed to update a certified G5. Even though you can download the update, a non-installer pilot is not allowed to do the update. Others disagree, but that is Garmin's position over on BT. 1 Quote
Woodpile Posted February 7, 2022 Report Posted February 7, 2022 Just adding a bit to this thread. I just had my second G5 start-up failure. Both times occurred after a sequence of short start-up and shut down efforts. Same symptoms seemed to imply the battery was dead. My first failure I was still in warranty and sent it back to the seller (by their request). Only to be followed by "oh, nothing wrong - just a dead battery - you probably have a loose wire". It ran just fine until I just came out of annual and did a few starts - it ran the first time, then didn't on the 3rd start. on other web post noted that they thought it occurred when the G5 didn't have time to finish a boot. Maybe. Quote
IFLYIFR Posted February 7, 2022 Report Posted February 7, 2022 I had the same problem about 2 years ago. The avionics shop told me it was a known glitch in the G5 software that was easily corrected with a recent software update. He also said to hold the power button down on startup for up to 10 seconds until the screen illuminated. COVID happened and I never got the software update. It’s never happened again since then. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk 1 Quote
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