Garmin 178C GPS won't stay powered on

[Blue_Runner]

Bought this unit new about 8 years ago, never had a problem with it. Tried it out the other day on the lake and it would power on but only for a few seconds to a minute then power off. I have a brand new cable that I will install to see if that fixes it. I was wondering if anybody else has had this problem? There is a small amount of corrosion on the connector pins but doesn't look any worse than it has ever been.

Hoping to install the new cable this evening and will report back.

[Blue_Runner]

Just found interesting info via google. Here is what someone else said:

Garmin 178C Stays on for 20 secs then turns off

Had the same problem. Cleaned the connector which I thought fixed the problem. That was last year. Now I have to turn it on a dozen times or so before it will stay on. Turns on for 20 sec then shuts down. Turn on 12 x's and it finally stayed on. Don't know what will happen next time I'm out. Can't have this happening on a night trip. According to Garmin Website this is a discountinued model. Hoped someone else had problem and fixed. Thinking it maybe a thermal prob. W/O schematics hard to TS.

I had the same problem. In your settings you can set this thing to monitor your battery's power so it auto shut down if your battery goes below 11.2 volts or so. I disabled this and it has worked ever since.

Then another poster says this:

On mine, it was the power cable itself. I had been living with sporadic shut downs for several years. Then I sheared off my transducer. When I replaced the transducer, it forced me to a new power cable. Problem solved. I should have known better, my street pilot 3 and my colormap both had similar issues that a new power cable resolved.

I'm gonna install the cable regardless but curious about this battery monitoring setting. Come to think of it my battery was a bit week at the ramp that weekend....interesting.

[chumbucket]

I've had that problem with Garmin before. Twice I found that the 12 VDC + pin in the connecter gets pushed in a bit over time causing it to loose power. The new cable should fix it provided all your other connections are good and your battery voltage is okay.

[randlemanboater]

I have had that problem with my Garmin V, I called Garmin and they told me to go to their website and download the software update for my unit, that fixed it.

[tsubaki]

Well, I was gonna suggest checking the voltage to it but I really think you have it solved.
Bunches of the electronic stuff shuts off due to undervoltage.
Also use some dielectric grease at the connections when replacing the cables.

[phatdaddy]

same answers as above, i had the same problem and a new cable solved the issue. i took mine to west marine and had them hook it to a cable on the display unit, when that cured it, i bought the new cable from them.

[Orlando]

if it doesnt check the power coming out at the battery with motor running, its not just low voltage that will cause electronics to shut down, i dont know about garmin in specific, but i know the manual for my lowrance says it will shut off if voltage is high or low

[Blue_Runner]

Good info....thanks for all the replies. I was hoping to report back on the results of the new cable......looked everywhere for that darn thing last night. It isn't lost, I just can't find it! DOH!

[Blue_Runner]

Looking through some old stuff and realized I never reported back on my GPS issue. The issue was the battery did not have enough @ss. Also there is a setting in the GPS that tells it to turn off for low voltage (or something to that effect). I changed that setting and installed a new battery. Absolutely no issues since. The new cable I installed had no impact on the problem but now I have a new cable!