About this replacement
Garmin Nuvi 1690 Series — 3.7V Li-Polymer Replacement Battery (361-00019-14)
This 3.7V 1250mAh (4.63Wh) lithium-polymer cell replaces the original battery in the Garmin Nuvi 1690, Nuvi 1690T, and Nuvi 1695 portable GPS navigators. It fits the same physical footprint at 62.00 × 36.50 × 5.50mm and connects to the same power circuit the original used. Swap it in when the device no longer holds enough charge to complete a navigation session.
- Nuvi 1690, 1690T, and 1695 fitment: All three models share the same internal battery bay dimensions, connector pinout, and 3.7V power rail. The 1690T adds traffic receiver hardware but draws from the same cell — no difference in battery specification across the three variants.
- Bench tested on actual hardware: We cycled this cell through charge and discharge on the Nuvi platform and confirmed the BMS communicates correctly with the charging circuit. Charge acceptance, cutoff voltage, and thermal behaviour all matched the original cell's parameters.
- First-fix after power interruption: After fitting this cell, power the unit on outdoors and let it acquire a satellite fix before driving. A cold start after full power removal takes 5–10 minutes for the first fix. Subsequent warm starts drop to under a minute once the almanac data is cached.
GPS accuracy reduced at low battery on the Nuvi 1690
The Nuvi 1690 scales back GPS receiver sensitivity when voltage drops toward the low-battery threshold. This is a firmware-level power saving behaviour — the receiver draws less current, which reduces its ability to track weaker satellite signals. In open-sky conditions it may not be noticeable, but in urban canyons or under tree cover the position fix becomes less stable. Keeping the battery above 3.5V during active navigation maintains full receiver performance.
Nuvi 1690 shutting off without a low-battery warning
After a battery swap, the fuel gauge IC has no calibration baseline for the new cell. It reads voltage instead of actual state-of-charge, so the displayed battery indicator stays higher than the real charge level. When voltage drops quickly under GPS and display load, the unit hits the cutoff threshold before the warning triggers. Run two or three full charge and discharge cycles to let the device recalibrate its voltage-to-capacity curve and restore accurate low-battery warnings.