# Any Trimble EZ Guide 250 Owners



## Havoc (Aug 3, 2010)

Hello,

I just purchased one of these and am just starting to learn to use it. I have a question for any other Trimble EZ Guide 250 owners about the power supplied to the unit. I noticed that if my tractor is off and the GPS unit is powered up, when I start my tractor, the GPS unit powers down instantly and then powers right back up. Not a big deal but then it takes 5 to 10 minutes for the GPS to find the satellites again which can be annoying if you don't want to keep the tractor idling. I tried getting power directly from the battery but when the engine starter engaged, the battery voltage dropped to 9.5 volts for a split second and the GPS shut down and then restarted. I knew my current battery did not have much life left in it so I picked up a brand new group 31 battery and tried that. With the GPS unit hooked directly to the new battery, the GPS again powered down as soon as I started the tractor and the battery voltage dropped to about 10.5 volts for an instant.

Is this powering down of the GPS just something I am going to have to live with? Or is there possibly something wrong with my starter or something else I should check out that would be causing my voltage to drop far enough to shut the GPS off? My tractor is a 1992 White American 80 cab tractor and the engine starts almost instantly when the key is turned, no long cranking to start.

Thanks for your time, John.


----------



## carcajou (Jan 28, 2011)

Sounds like a built in safety feature. I think you may have to live with it. I have a couple but they go through a master switch first so i have never had that issue.


----------



## lfc (Jun 23, 2010)

My Ez-Guide 250 does the same thing on my Ford 7710. I power it via alligator clips to the starter hot terminal. I'm afraid you will have to live with it.


----------



## Havoc (Aug 3, 2010)

Thanks guys. I am going to check the positive and negative connections on the starting system just to make sure I don't have a connection problem causing excessive voltage drop upon starting.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

We have a 750 screen and the an ez steer, monitor poewers off an on itself and the ez steer has a rocker switch, it doesn't reset when the tractor is started but its in a 4`175 White with two batteries. I've had starters draw more than they should but they still started what we thought was good.


----------



## TJ Hendren (May 12, 2017)

I did this with my Matrix 430 because i did not want to wire it direct. I set a spare battery on the floor and connected the unit to it. They draw very little power and there are no issues with the unit turning off until you turn it off and there are no worries about power surges or anything else. Just an idea.


----------



## Havoc (Aug 3, 2010)

mlappin, I thought I found a bad ground connection so I cleaned it up and tried again but had the same problem. Looks like my starter will drop battery voltage to 10.5 volts when starting. Also checked voltage drop on both the negative and positive sides from battery to starter and had about 0.5 volt drop on the negative side and a 0.3 volt drop on the positive side. My tractor also starts very quick so guess I will just have to live with it.

TJ, I actually have my old battery on the charger for the reason you just said. I have plenty of room behind my seat to put the battery in a plastic RV battery case and power the unit from there.

Thank you both for your time, John.


----------

