Garmin Descent Mk1 charging pad problem

[moose_grunt]

I have a Garmin Descent Mk1 that is just under 2 years old. I've worn it almost daily, and charged when needed. It wouldn't charge today, and when I checked the connection, I've found that the gold plating on the little nubs on the bottom of the computer has worn away! For what it's worth, the material underneath is conductive, and this was NOT the cause of the Descent not charging, but I was still shocked to see the plating just falling off from normal use.

You can see in the attached picture, the plating is largely gone on the second and fourth pads, especially in the middle where the pins of the USB cable make contact.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[scrane]

This seems to be a pretty common problem with Fenix series watches.

 

[Belzelbub]

That's definitely strange. Not so much that it's worn away, but the way in which it wore away. Gold is commonly used on conductive pins as corrosion protection. It's deposited via a bath type plating process by the pin manufacturer. Gold is expensive, so it's deposited in a very thin layer. However, the bubbling in your picture almost looks like a foil was applied to the pins, which I seriously doubt. Most likely there was some contamination present on the pins before they were placed in the gold bath.

As you found out, the pin is still conductive, and it appears that the layer beneath the gold is still intact as I don't see the copper showing through. I'm guessing this is nickel, which should still offer good corrosion resistance, though maybe not quite as much as gold.

I'd lightly brush with isopropyl alcohol to remove any gold flakes that aren't well adhered and just keep an eye on it.