Zumo User Forums

This discussion contains a picture of using a piece of self-stick foam weather stripping to create a more forward and secure cable end. I have used this method on both of my XT mounts.
viewtopic.php?t=2260&hilit=foam&start=10

I had an intermittent power supply problem and it turned out to be a poor contact between the cradle pins and the Zumo.
I scrounged a piece of 0.6mm fishing line from a friend. Tied a slip knot around the power cable where the plug met with the cradle and I have never had that problem since.

Wallace wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2024 4:59 am I had an intermittent power supply problem and it turned out to be a poor contact between the cradle pins and the Zumo.
I scrounged a piece of 0.6mm fishing line from a friend. Tied a slip knot around the power cable where the plug met with the cradle and I have never had that problem since.

Had this problem for years , never sussed it until reading this, cured mine as well.

Today my 396LM started to do this same thing. While sitting firmly on the cradle (I have some Gorilla tape on the bottom mount of the cradle, so that the device doesn’t wiggle at all) Zumo jumped between internal power and charging power. When the bike came to a full stop, it started charging and when I got moving, it changed to internal power.
I have replaced the charging cable about a year ago, measured the voltage from the pins and it is fine at every rpm. I noticed that the connectors on the device seemed to be worn. The is a small pit on both of the pins. Since I am no fisherman and don’t have any fishing line at hand, I was wondering that has anyone tried to solder these pins so that they would be higher and the connection would be better and firm?

I did think about that but you stand a good chance of cooking the pins inside the plug.

If you are going to do it, I would recommend removing the rubber gasket around the pins before starting to solder.
Using electrically conductive paint is simpler, although you have to periodically renew the paint.

Even if you renew the cable, I would bet there are two dimples in the back of the Zumo where the pins make contact, so it's another "short term" solution.

This was problem on mine for ages , I put a small piece of insulating tape under where the cable plug sits in the cradle so as to lift it up slightly.
I have been out a few times now ,no problem now .

I wasn't comfortable with my soldering skills.
So I bought some electrically conductive tape and added two layers of it to the pins in the device.
After a day's test ride, this seems to working.
The duct tape is there because I lost the rubber cap sealing the usb port

That's a better solution.
With hindsight, the adhesive on the reverse side of the tape may not make a good electrical contact with the pads on the Zumo.

Edit - UPDATE

Well I tried it with aluminium tape, cutting a small circle out with a belt punch and then covered it with a approx 8mm square of the tape.
When I went to try it on the Zumo cradle the Zumo 396 went dead.
At first I thought it was a really flat battery, nothing seemed to work and then the penny dropped. I had put the 396 into the cradle kind of awkwardly and I must have shorted across the 396 and done some serious damage to the 396.

So be aware, the foil tape repair comes at a price if you get it wrong. I'd recommend small circles on top of the 396 contacts and not squares like I done.

I'll probably draw a line under this whole sorry saga and replace it with an XT. ( The Tom Tom Rider that I am using in the mean while is driving me nuts.)

Totti wrote: Mon Jul 28, 2025 6:27 pm , I was wondering that has anyone tried to solder these pins so that they would be higher and the connection would be better and firm?

Yes, I have. It's a 390 but looks identical on the photos. The pins on the cradle were visibly recessed too far, and indeed were bending over. I kept having to re-align them with a small screwdriver, but this was only a temporary cure. So I carefully blobbed a bit of solder on the cradle contacts. It takes a bit of care and persistence, as the gold contacts don't like solder. And I took off a bit of surrounding rubber with a scalpel. But I succeeded in the end, and have had no problems since then. (Well, until my Zumo died last week, after downloading an update! Which is why I'm here, browsing 2 yr old topics!).

Wallace wrote: Fri Aug 08, 2025 5:54 am So be aware, the foil tape repair comes at a price if you get it wrong.

Secretly hoping that this box of worms of mine would actually broke beyond repair.
So that I could finally buy a decent navigator.