K9JRI

I lost the audio capability of my GARMIN CF-Q 1620/Dell Axim X5 (GPS device) several times during a two day trip from Indianapolis to Hilton Head Island. It would usually occur as the unit powered down while we were out of the car. A soft reset of the X5 was required to regain audio capabilities of any kind on the Axim. The audio out of the X5 was always plugged into the audio "AUX" jack in the glovebox of the 2004 E320 mercedes when the problem occurred. It never occurred when the audio cable was not plugged into the car audio system.

Power was always being provided by the front ashtray 12V jack which is turned off with the ignition. Possibly a ground loop problem through the audio and power cables?

Mike - K9JRI

scorchie

Possibly a ground loop "problem" but there is no guarantee that audio and power grounds are both "grounds". Audio is generally a common, not a ground. In the past, the common would be ground... same with the speaker outputs... these days it should not be assumed. If your equipment is expecting this, it's not very well designed.

I would suspect something else, but I don't yet know what it would be.

-s-