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How to get the Garmin heart rate monitor to work after a Battery change

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Daniel Wasser

This week I tried to change the Battery on my Garmin heart rate monitor ( HRM2-SS ). The change itself is not that difficult – only remove the 4 screws at the backside, open the cover, change the old Battery with a new CR2032, close the cover and place the screws back. After that the Heart rate was not shown in my Forerunner or Edge…
To fix the problem I tried to reconnect the monitor with the forerunner manymany times – without any success.
A colleague of mine who uses a (optical) nearly similar polar heart belt, gave me the hint to short-circuiting the monitor for a few minutes. Bypassing the battery contacts should cause a reset of the device. This could easily done with a paper clip or by inserting the battery in the wrong direction. The contacts of the monitor are installed in a way that the misplaced battery will only cause a bypass between the two contacts. Be careful: don’ t give reverse polarity to the device – only bypass the connectors!
After this procedure the heart rate monitor build up a proper connection to my garmin computers and every thing works as expected. By the way – i love my Garmin devices!

262 thoughts on “How to get the Garmin heart rate monitor to work after a Battery change”

Ivan Nunez on January 9, 2018 at 21:45 said:

genius¡
Ryan on January 17, 2018 at 20:23 said:

Holy sweet spicy mustard! Worked like a charm. I used a butter knife to open my garmin chest strap and then shorted the device for about 5 seconds and it worked.
Richard A on January 26, 2018 at 18:34 said:

Superb, l just bought a second hand Garmin h.r.m.spent an age trying to get it to pair with my Vivoactive. Just followed these instructions and bingo instant pairing. Thanks once again.
Richard A on January 26, 2018 at 18:35 said:

Superb result thanks so much.
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Jérôme on February 2, 2018 at 11:15 said:

I went through this without success then called the hotline who taught me I had to activate the heart rate monitor in the menu… which I did and even then it wouldn’t connect. I read on the Internet I had to keep the heart rate monitor close to the watch (about 1 cm) for a few seconds the first time it is paired. Even then, it was reluctant. I changed the battery, invoked Lucifer, it paired, changed back, it still worked. Go figure…
Bob on March 11, 2018 at 8:01 said:

Top tip! Cheers maye!
Paul on April 29, 2018 at 22:09 said:

Again, these directions have brought joy. I was frustrated but now elated! Forerunner 210 now has a working HR monitor after a battery change. I wish I could send you an E-beer. You rock!
Mark on May 11, 2018 at 21:46 said:

Worked for me. Love the internet. Thank you.
Chris on June 2, 2018 at 13:38 said:

Du verdienst den Nobelpreis in Physik. Danke
Tom on July 19, 2018 at 19:48 said:

Same as… beginning to lose hope but worked a charm… actually used Staples to make contact between the two points!! Glad I got it sorted quick as I was worried constant opening/closing would end up stripping the little screws!! Anyways done and dusted
Daniel Williams on July 20, 2018 at 17:27 said:

Worked Great. I bought a large pack of cr2032 batteries and thought they were all bad was going to call garmin then i found this thread. Thank you
Ken on August 25, 2018 at 20:49 said:

Nice. Just in time for this mornings 66 mile ride. Almost left it at home.
Thanks!
Sharyl on August 27, 2018 at 2:27 said:

Bingo!!!! I’ve changed the battery many times. I’ve learned to wait a minute or two but first time I’ve had to turn the battery upside down. Thank you!!!
Sharyl on August 27, 2018 at 2:33 said:

Bingo!! I have it replaced the battery many times before. This is the first time I had to resort to turning the battery upside down in order to get the heart rate to register on the strip. Thank U thank U thank U!
Alan on August 30, 2018 at 16:01 said:

Thanks so much for this! I was going crazy trying to get my Garmin strap to work after a battery change and this did the trick!
Steven Blostein on September 6, 2018 at 19:23 said:

Worked for me!
n u n u x x on September 14, 2018 at 7:46 said:

oh my god! this actually worked! you guys are genuis!

– Garmin HRM3-SS
– all i did was reverse the battery

thank you for saving me from having to buy a new one
Mahmoud Shalaby on October 8, 2018 at 14:56 said:

You are an absolute magician… Thanks a million you just saved me 50$!
Dimwoody on November 16, 2018 at 17:01 said:

Awesome! That did the trick.
Thank you sharing this info and keeping it posted.
My life is now better!
Chris on December 15, 2018 at 14:11 said:

This advice to put the battery in upside down for a few moments worked perfectly for me, thank you!
Dermot The Good Neutral on January 12, 2019 at 13:38 said:

HR strap wasn’t working. I changed battery to no avail. Just did the part where you flip the battery, as in remove the battery, place it the wrong way, screw the thing together, place in chest, invoke Lucifer, unscrew, place battery correctly, screw the thing together, invoke Tutatis, voila, it’s working, thanks!
Paul on February 12, 2019 at 11:08 said:

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I was about to burn the flipping thing with temper. It worked a treat, thanks.
Sandra Zielinski on February 23, 2019 at 3:03 said:

Thank you so much for this information. I went to Batteries Plus and they replaced the battery for me. I got it home and it would not pair. I called Garmin support and they told me there was nothing I could do. I’d have to purchase a new one since it was out of warranty. I’m going to try this tomorrow when I go back to Batteries Plus for assistance. I don’t have a screw driver small enough to open it up. And I get batteries for life from them.
Kristof Desmedt on May 2, 2019 at 17:18 said:

damned…was so hopeful but did not do the trick for me… have same issue on 2 HR monitors and already replaced battery twice…without success….

getting desperate
Guy on May 7, 2019 at 8:49 said:

Works also for me thanks! Almost ordered a new one.

Guy
Jeffrey on October 13, 2019 at 19:40 said:

Many thanks! Worked a charm
Kurtdom on November 6, 2019 at 16:06 said:

Thanks genius
Anina on November 13, 2019 at 19:23 said:

genius, worked great!
Chuck on November 16, 2019 at 15:39 said:

Awesome! I was going crazy trying to get my chest strap to work. This fix worked great!
Kevin Caveney on January 29, 2020 at 16:40 said:

Tried all of the methods, reverse battery, shorting out etc but to no avail. Works and connects for a short time then cannot be found. Luckily I have my old solid HR strap and a Scosche Rythm. Both work without issue.
Pieter on February 23, 2020 at 8:06 said:

My Garmin strap I replaced as Garmin said my strap is deffective after I replaced the battery.
Previously I could get ground contact, stride lenght stats, etc. With the new Garmin heart rate strap no such stats available.
Did I do something wrong? Anyone out there with a possible solution?
chris on April 19, 2020 at 8:15 said:

thanks for the second time, I forgot after two years how to do it.
I think they want that you buy a new belt
Matt Bell on May 3, 2020 at 5:15 said:

Yep…I was RAPIDLY approaching HAMMER TIME with my HRM3-SS when I took of the cover, put the battery in “upside down” buttoned it all up, snapped it into the start (which I was wearing), then took it off, removed the cover, put the battery in the right way, rebutted and…BINGO. Wow Garmin…really?

SMH…
Cathrin on May 22, 2020 at 6:53 said:

dude, wtf, this is genius!
Stefano on June 1, 2020 at 14:37 said:

Thank you bro!!!
Great tip!
I’ve tried to replace the battery and pair a lot times with no success.
Actually my hrm2-ss is connected to my vivoactive 3 music.
Rob on June 13, 2020 at 23:49 said:

My Garmin 800 HRM stopped. Replaced the battery, tried other chest straps. Nothing. Put the battery in backward for a few minutes. Then put it in the correct way. Loud beep on the 800. Heart rate detected. Back up and running.

Thanks.
Radu on June 24, 2020 at 15:37 said:

This trick still works.
I had to reset my Garmin HRM3-SS after a battery change.

Thanks a million 🙂
Filipe Santos on July 20, 2020 at 11:31 said:

It really worked, and just as I was about to give up on my HRM-Dual monitor after several battery exchanges.
Thanks a lot for this smart tip!!
Chad on August 3, 2020 at 15:47 said:

Hi, I replaced the battery and it worked fine without having to do anything else. However, when I went to use it the next day it wouldn’t work. Have tried the upside down battery reset, on/off etc but it still doesn’t work. Does anybody have any recommendations? Many thanks.
Paul Clements on August 22, 2020 at 18:35 said:

It Lives !! Thanks for the top tip, & saving me having to fork out £50 on a new strap.
Leonel on August 30, 2020 at 16:59 said:

HRM1G, am trying this for an hour after replacing the battery. Had not used it for a year (its my spare on the office). Not sure how I could force this to reboot…
Leonel on August 30, 2020 at 17:14 said:

And now miraculously it works. Vielen Dank!
Daniel Wasser on August 31, 2020 at 7:44 said:

Danke für den netten Kommentar!
Henry on August 31, 2020 at 11:36 said:

Brilliant. It worked, I just shorted the contacts. HRM Tri. Thank you.
Nadia on September 13, 2020 at 5:11 said:

Wow I was skeptical but the battery flip worked! Hopefully it stays working now.
Chris on September 14, 2020 at 12:11 said:

Perfect !! I was ready to change my sensor before I read your hint…
Problem solved in 3 minuts.

Thanks a lot.
lorena on September 30, 2020 at 14:34 said:

You are my hero! I wento to the garmin store and they told me that the device was salfated and there was nothing to do. I did the steps as you say (included the lucifer thing) and it worked!! Invelievable! I was about to buy a new one.
Daniel Wasser on September 30, 2020 at 14:45 said:

thanks!
yoyo on October 4, 2020 at 8:28 said:

Genius! My heart is beating again thanks to you.

262 thoughts on “How to get the Garmin heart rate monitor to work after a Battery change”

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