Garmin 2720 will not find Satellites

[h2000fb]

Unfortunately, Garmin has no weekend or after hours support. So, can anyone help? Just received new Garmin 2720 and while it turns on and lets you go thru menus, hunt around and play with menus and settings, will let you look up addresses, but it will not recognize or find any satellites. Obviously, when you hit map button, no map is shown. This has been tried in open area, the indoor setting is off, and I have tried both the standard and WAAS settings. I am assuming this has to be a defective unit? Or, have I missed something? The Garmin FAQs on their support sight of no help-surprised?

[Shaman97]

Does it keep proper time? If the time is off, the unit won't know what should be overhead. Also, have you set it up for the general location? It needs to be in the general vicinity (Midwest, Pacific, etc).

[Art..]

Sometimes it takes a while when the gps has been relocated to a new, far-away local.

 

Did it prompt you to input your location?

 

Try letting it sit, powered up, for a few minutes.

 

You don't have the built in antenna covered with something, do you, like a rag or sunshield? Are you under heavy tree cover? Carport?

[h2000fb]

It did ask me if I had moved it over 1000 miles, I replied NO. Maybe I should have said yes since it was shipped to me. I changed the time to Central Standard time from Mountain time but it is approx 5 hours off. Don't know how to set time past time zones, and don't know how to set the location to Crawford Texas. I am in a large open area in the country. No trees or anything over head.

 

[h2000fb]

Also, I don't see anywhere in book or in menu where specific hours or minutes can be changed - only time zones.

[steve.foote]

Just turn it on and let it find itself. It can take up to a half hour the first time. Once it knows where it is, it only takes a half minute or so.

[Stan Walker]

As others have said, give it a clear view of the sky, turn it on, tell it you have moved it, and let it hunt.

 

Stan

[h2000fb]

Thanks guys!!! You all are OK! I did not know I had to be patient on this end, and it never occured to me that even if I did not move it 1000's of miles, shipping did... duh! Anyway, it "sees" satellites now. Thanks

[John Bentall]

and it never occured to me that even if I did not move it 1000's of miles, shipping did... duh!

 

yup, home was Taiwan!

[Art..]

That's what I was thinking. When you turned it on, most likely it thought it was in the Far East.

 

And you are right, there is only an adjustment for timezones, not actual time. The actual time (GMT) comes from the satellites.

[Rudley]

Glad you're up and running!! When I first tried my 2610 I kept getting a Tiawan map as my "home"; nearly drove ne crazy when I programmed it to route "home", (tough getting across the ocean, ya know!). All it took was the same fix as you've encountered: just let it hunt for abour 20 minutes.

[Mainuh]

Thanks guys!!! You all are OK! I did not know I had to be patient on this end, and it never occured to me that even if I did not move it 1000's of miles, shipping did... duh! Anyway, it "sees" satellites now. Thanks

 

Tom,

 

When the GPS first turns on in a region far from where it "thought it last was", it has to update 3 key pieces of data in the unit, which, as you found out can take a fair amount of time. The last one I bought, a 276C took a little over 20 minutes.

 

Here's what's happening in case you're interested:

 

A GPS signal contains three different bits of information — a pseudorandom code, ephemeris data and almanac data. The pseudorandom code is simply an I.D. code that identifies which satellite is transmitting information. You can view this number on your Garmin GPS unit's satellite page, as it identifies which satellites it's receiving.

 

Ephemeris data tells the GPS receiver where each GPS satellite should be at any time throughout the day. Each satellite transmits ephemeris data showing the orbital information for that satellite and for every other satellite in the system.

 

Almanac data, which is constantly transmitted by each satellite, contains important information about the status of the satellite (healthy or unhealthy), current date and time. This part of the signal is essential for determining a position.

 

More info here on the subject if you're interested.

[Scarecrow]

Just turn it on and let it find itself. It can take up to a half hour the first time. Once it knows where it is, it only takes a half minute or so.

My 2610 sometimes takes 5-10 minutes to 'find' itself even after it knew where it was when I pulled into the garage, shut it off, and then turned it back on two weeks later. Don't know why, but it always seems to take a long time when in front of my house. I have good line of sight to southern sky and overhead. Sometimes I can see it can find 2 satelites and then it hunts for the (minimum) third one for some time before finally locking in. I've learned to just start riding and know that eventually it will catch up to me.

[Shaman97]

Also, I don't see anywhere in book or in menu where specific hours or minutes can be changed - only time zones.

 

That's correct. My question was more to check to see that the clock was working at all. I have a handheld Magellan that initially had my location on the frontage road. It eventually progressed to being about a half-mile away, then nothing. I checked the clock and saw that time was ticking away at about five times tha actual timespan - sorta counting in dog-minutes. With that type of timekeeping, the receiver didn't know where the satellites were located and couldn't triangulate my position.

Glad to hear it's working now.

[Mainuh]

My 2610 sometimes takes 5-10 minutes to 'find' itself even after it knew where it was when I pulled into the garage, shut it off, and then turned it back on two weeks later. Don't know why, but it always seems to take a long time when in front of my house. I have good line of sight to southern sky and overhead. Sometimes I can see it can find 2 satelites and then it hunts for the (minimum) third one for some time before finally locking in. I've learned to just start riding and know that eventually it will catch up to me.

 

Here's an explanation from a gps info site on the net for why it takes longer to acquire at times:

 

"When ephemeris and almanac data are stored in the GPS receiver, it depends on their actuality how long the GPS needs for the first position determination. If the receiver has not had any contact to the satellites for long time, the first position determination will take longer. If the contact has only been interrupted for a short time (e.g. when driving through a tunnel), the position determination is restarted instantly and we speak of reacquisition.

 

If position and time are known and the almanac and ephemeris data are up-to-date, we speak of a hot start. This is the case when the receiver is turned on at approximately the same position within 2 – 6 hours after the last position determination. In this case a position fix can be obtained within approximately 15 seconds.

 

If the almanac data are available and the time of the receiver is correct but the ephemeris data are outdated, this is called a warm start. In this case it takes about 45 seconds to actualize the ephemeris data and obtain a position fix. Ephemeris data are outdated when more than 2 – 6 hours have elapsed since the last data reception from the satellites in view. The more new satellites have come into view since the last position determination, the longer the warm start takes.

 

If neither ephemeris nor almanac data and the last position are known, we talk of a cold start. Then in the first step all almanac data have to be collected from the satellites, this procedure takes up to 12.5 minutes. This happens when the receiver was switched off for several weeks, was stored without batteries or has travelled approximately 300 km or more since the last position fix.

 

In the last case no almanac data have to be collected, but as the “wrong” satellites are in view, the receiver has to screen all satellites till it finds the ones in view. For a lot of receivers the duration of a cold start can be shortened when the date and approximate position are entered manually."

 

Here's the source.

 

I think your mileage could vary slightly from the above based on your GPS unit and it's processing power.

[Scarecrow]

If neither ephemeris nor almanac data and the last position are known, we talk of a cold start. Then in the first step all almanac data have to be collected from the satellites, this procedure takes up to 12.5 minutes. This happens when the receiver was switched off for several weeks...

Thanks for the reference Mainuh; This sounds exactly like what happens; I use the unit after a couple of weeks and it takes ~10 minutes to start up. Maybe I should just plug it in while I'm packing the bike, and then when I unplug it and put it on the bike, it will work quickly.