George in San Diego Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 My '08 CTLS has the panel mounted 496. A few weeks ago I went up and after a while noticed that I wasn't seeing much on screen. It appeared to have switched to Night mode. Mostly black background but still showing text for waypoints. TIS indications were working, and all normal GPS information was there. I was cruising along about 4,500'. A while later ATC asked me to climb to 6,000 for traffic as I was about to change headings. At higher altitude I got my color display back, but it was very pixelated, extremely low res. Descending toward the airport, it went dark again at lower altitude. On the ground, the runway diagrams looked normal. After that flight, I took it home, connected to PC and checked for updates. The only one seemingly available was the free database for auto use. Yesterday I took it up again and experienced the same things, so cancelled a planned cross-country today. I have no other nav system and figured this one may be on its way out. Power issues? Any ideas? -George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingMonkey Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 Not sure, but this really sounds like a hardware problem. Has it taken any hard knocks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Meade Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I do not have a solution. I'm willing to make a suggestion. One is make sure the power is on and the battery is charged. Another would be to let the unit totally run down and then recharge it. Any chance the unit got hot and then cooled at altitude? Try putting it in the refrigerator overnight and see what happens. I haven't had mine open but it's possible the connections to the dispaly may be getting corroded. Sorry I've only been able to make a few wild guesses. Good luck and I hope it is cured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George in San Diego Posted August 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 No hard knocks and, as the airplane is hangared, temperatures aren't any more than typical. When it happened first time, both internal and main batteries should have been charged. This time, the airplane sat 3 weeks and that seems to be the limit for the main battery. It started but I had to sort of "bump it" with the starter through first compression. There are a couple of avionics places at my airfield with Garmin signs outside. Someone there should at least be able to bench test it.-George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George in San Diego Posted August 12, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 One is make sure the power is on and the battery is charged. Jim, I'm not sure what you mean by "power is on." The system comes on automatically with the Master switch. There is always the "I agree" button that needs to be entered. The power switch will turn on the unit for practice with Master off, but I have never used the power button otherwise. -George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Meade Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I worded that poorly. What I meant was that the charger was on - yours almost certainly is as it is hard wired. Â Good luck in finding the solution and let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 It has never happened to me but I know of several people who have had their 496 drop satellite reception or power off in flight. One of them contacted Garmin in September 2006 and got these instructions for resetting the unit. The satellite reset is performed by turning the unit off then holding the Zoom Out button while starting the unit.  The Master Reset is fairly convoluted, so I’ll refer you to the document. It looks like it would be easier to reload or update the OS from the Garmin website. Keeping the unit updated with the latest operating system and antennae software can help prevent problems. Software updates are free at Garmin’s site, though database updates are not. You can now do software (but not database) updates on your Mac.  Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastEddieB Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I have done numerous database updates to my 496 with my MacBook Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George in San Diego Posted September 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 It's been a month since I wrote about the 496 issue. Unfortunately things got busy at work and the CT had to sit. We also had a long streak of hot weather of the kind I don't care to subject either myself or the airplane to. Then last week I went out to give it another flight test. Just at rotation I got the red warning light and a low fuel pressure situation. By the time I read the fine print I was up at least fifty feet. Engine ran well throughout but I landed easily on remaining runway. 5 years and 200 hours is it for the fuel pump apparently. So far Garmin has not replied to my inquiry online other than the auto-generated email. I guess I will call them on the phone next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runtoeat Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 George, I recently called Garmin tech center for help with my 495. On two occasions the tech people were able to help answer my questions. If you don't have the phone number, this will get you directly into the tech help. 866.739.5687. Side note - my friend's 496 will occasionally go blank and then re-boot. Seems to occur when he's on final approach at some airports. We think it may involve some sort of interference or incompatibility with the ILS system. Mike seems to also describe this problem in his post to this thread. I do not know if my friend has called the tech help center regarding this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George in San Diego Posted September 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Thanks Dick. I'll give them a call. -George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runtoeat Posted September 23, 2013 Report Share Posted September 23, 2013 Hi Mike. Do you know if any of the recommendations eliminated the "power off" concern with your friends Garmins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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