GPS Repair

China made GPS sounds good for the price paid. A common problem is battery life. They use cheap battery which does not hold charge. Therefore it is annoying and cannot be used outside the car.

Opened the GPS and as expetced, a cheap no brand 3.7 Volt rechargeable battery. It can hold charge for half an hour only..One can only agree that "Cheap is cheap = you get what you pay for".

So here is a battery belong to Sony PSP. That PSP was lost in the mall, and the battery remained unused for a few months. Open the cover, you will find a regulator circuit, and a 3600 mAh rechargeable battery. disconnect the battery from circuit, identify the + and - polarity.

Test battery voltage, if it is 3.7 or close to it, means it is still alive. If it is below 2 volts means it has gove dead because not used for a long time.

This one is 3.6 Volts so it is OK.

The only challenge here was whether it will fit inside or not.

And yes it fits quite tight but no cut or modification is required. Just fit.

Desolder the old battery and solder new battery make sure of polarity match.

After installing new battery. Charge for 6 hours battery holds charge for 2 hours of nagivation, not bad for first charge cycle.

Please consider the following:

1- You see here we recycled 2 items instead of throwing them . The GPS navigator and the battery.

2- RRR = Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

3- Please DO NOT throw old battery in trash. throw it in dedicated battery recycle bins in malls & gadget shops etc.