Dead Garmin Varia?

[Dadam]

I've had my Varia RTL515 for 18 months now and it's been largely fine. Though it has occasionally thrown a wobbler, each time resetting it and re-pairing it has sorted it. This time however it's toast.

Nothing particular has happened to cause this AFAIK. I turn it on and the light comes on, and the LED goes into the flashing purple "ready for pairing" mode. However within about 5-10 seconds it then changes to the rapid green flashing (normally indicates charging) but turns itself off completely in 2-3 seconds.

This has happened gradually. At first I tried resetting by holding down the button for 8 seconds then re-pairing it as normal, and this seemed to work but the flashing purple light didn't go out and it stopped responding to the Edge 530 after a few minutes and turned off. Tried this a couple of times, but it stopped responding after a shorter time. I've also tried fully recharging it. When plugged in it shows the flashing green light for maybe 5-10 minutes, then shows constant green light indicating fully charged. I've left it on for a few hours to make sure but this hasn't changed it.

 

[Dadam]

Typical, it must have seen me type this. Just turned it on and it stayed in pairing mode. So I paired it and after about ten minutes of randomly turning itself on and off it seems to have settled into "smart mode", the infrequent blue flashing light where it's controlled by the Edge. 🤷‍♂️

 

[geocycle]

Glad it is sorted. Mine froze once and it wasn’t clear what I could do with no obvious reset button. Unpairing and re-pairing with the Varia app on my smartphone fixed it.

 

[Dadam]

Glad it is sorted. Mine froze once and it wasn’t clear what I could do with no obvious reset button. Unpairing and re-pairing with the Varia app on my smartphone fixed it.

I wouldn't call it sorted. If it throws a wobbler again it's going back to Garmin
To reset hold the (one and only) button down for 8 seconds. 1 second for on, 2 seconds for off!
It causes no end of confusion as my Cycliq camera/light has a 2 second press for on and off! 😩

 

[Dadam]

OK so as I suspected I'd spoken too soon. It's doing the same. I think it went off at some point during the next ride. Might have been 1 minute, might have been 17. I actually suspect it's not charging properly as it gives the solid green LED for full charge after a few minutes regardless. So if I'm right however long I leave it on charge it gets a very small charge in it, which then rapidly dissipates. Maybe last time it had got enough charge to go through the pairing process and look like it was working but then died soon after. Don't know, don't care, it's fubared.

Return arranged with Garmin support, and I should get a replacement unit sent out as soon as they receive mine. Pleasantly surprised with the support from Garmin thus far.

 

[Dadam]

So new unit just been delivered. Paired it with the Edge ok and now topping up the charge.
It's supposed to be a "Recertified device" i.e. a refurbished returned item but it looks brand new tbh.

Again, a thumbs up for Garmin's after sales service. Mine was an 18 month old device that had a lot of use and a couple of knocks.

 

[Dadam]

Just ordered a protective case with tether for the replacement. I have form for dropping accessories onto the flagstones outside work when taking stuff off the bike and faffing around looking for my swipe card in the backpack!