Garmin 500 edge problems sending back

skinnydog1973
skinnydog1973 Posts: 114
edited August 2013 in Road general
Hi I bought a garmin edge 500 about 6 weeks ago and for the first 6 rides it was great but then i started to have problems with it, for the last 5 rides when i turn it on it picks up the satellites,cadence sensor and heart rate monitor but after about 500 metres down the road the speedo stops working( it jumps from 0mph to 20mph then back to 0mph then doesnt move) the auto pause constantly switches on then off then on again,even if i switch this off the speedo doesnt work, i get no elevation or distance also,i spoke to garmin and they said send it back, i did all the reset things on it but to no avail,i was wondering if anyone else had this problem or khew what the problem might be,luckily i had strava on my phone so didnt lose any of the rides cheers for any help

Comments

  • paulmon
    paulmon Posts: 315
    Remove the magnet for your speed sensor and just use GPS for speed. I have had the same problem occur twice and on the first occasion Garmin replaced the speed/cadence sensor and on the second time I just gave up and removed the magnet.

    The 500 will switch to GPS after the cadence/speeds sensor realises there is no magnet present. Spin wheel after it boots and detects the sensor.

    In my case it was new wheels with aero spokes that caused the issue (It had worked faultlessly for 6 months with my old RS10s). I cant get the magnet in the right position. Its either too far away from the sensor and I get erratic readings or its too close and the magnet ends up hitting the sensor arm.
  • skinnydog1973
    skinnydog1973 Posts: 114
    But then i will have no cadence sensor, that and the heart monitor still works its just the other stuff that doesnt
  • tartysurfer
    tartysurfer Posts: 25
    Hi,

    I had exactly the same problem with my Garmin 500. After initially being frustrated at my new toy I did a little surfing and based on that changed the battery in the cadence/ speed sensor. Since then, no further issues. I did read somewhere that if you leave the bike with the magnets near the sensor it will drain the battery quickly, so now I am more careful where the crank is etc.
  • skinnydog1973
    skinnydog1973 Posts: 114
    why did u change the battery what would that do, the battery life has been fine on it, is the cadence sensor mixing up the signal to the speedo
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    It does sound more like a wheel magnet/sensor positioning problem.

    Remove the wheel magnet and test it - it doesn't take long! It'll just help diagnose where the issue lies. No point sending back the 500 if the problem lies elsewhere!

    I prefer the wheel sensor to be working - not because of the cadence (lost my cadence magnet on my commute bike recently) but because the speed is less erratic. It is a case of getting it into the right spot - but I guess for some ppl that just isn't feasible.

    Eitherway, I'd test the gps with the absence of speed/cadence sensor. You could do it in the car if you wanted - just don't upload the results to strava! ;)
  • skinnydog1973
    skinnydog1973 Posts: 114
    Thanks for your replies i will take off the sensor and see what happens
  • tartysurfer
    tartysurfer Posts: 25
    I changed the sensor battery as I read that if the battery is not good the unit gets confused, resulting in the problems I was having, similar to yours. Whilst the unit etc was new to me, I don't know how long it has been sitting arround in a warehouse and in what conditions. Since changing the battery, some 500km ago I have had no further problems of any kind and I made no other changes to the set up. So for me at least it worked. Could remove at least one variable for you?
  • binsted
    binsted Posts: 182
    Had exactly the same problem on my 2 month old 800, tried changing the battery first but no difference.

    I e-mailed Garmin twice with the problem but their e-mail support is a waste of time, as in they didnt ever bother to reply.

    I then phoned UK support using the free phone number explaining the problem, by giving them the unit s/n they accessed my details, suggested it was a faulty cadence sensor and put me a new one in the post, which arrived the next morning. New one fitted, paired to the unit and no more problems.

    This does seem to be a common fault.
  • skinnydog1973
    skinnydog1973 Posts: 114
    Hi i took the speed sensor off the wheel and did a 18 mile ride to work this morning and everything worked perfect,looks like it was something to do with that, i had strava going on my phone and they both had same distance.will try again on way home see if its ok,thanks for the help
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    I'm reminded of an old saying that covers most endeavors, in particular anything related to computers.
    "Bullsh*t in - bullsh*t out"

    In other words, and I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm betting on human error on your part.
  • binsted
    binsted Posts: 182
    skinnydog1973 wrote:
    Hi i took the speed sensor off the wheel and did a 18 mile ride to work this morning and everything worked perfect,looks like it was something to do with that, i had strava going on my phone and they both had same distance.will try again on way home see if its ok,thanks for the help

    So the speed was not being calculated by the cadence sensor and reverted to speed from GPS

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