What would you check in this situation? I have a handheld GPS mounted on my instrument panel; the Garmin NMEA cable molded fitting is connected to the GPS. The other end of the wire has a DB9 connector, because it's intended for connection to a computer. To a mating DB9 connector, I have the bare end of my Furuno radar NMEA cable and a pair of wires to deliver NMEA to my radio. This has not been changed for many months - the GPS provides NMEA data to both radar and radio. I occasionally connect a different GPS to the radio and radar by connecting a Garmin NMEA cable with DB9 connector to the DB9 connector of the radio and radar. The last couple of times out, there hasn't been any NMEA indication on the radar or radio, regardless of which GPS and GPS cable I connected to the radio/radar DB9. Today we checked and found continuity in the radio/radar cable and also in the GPS cable - they both read OK. The DB9 connectors on the GPS cables are molded and I use dielectric grease on them (only the 2 and 5 pins are used). We opened the DB9 connector that feeds both the radar and radio and couldn't find a short. We put it back together and thought we'd try again in a few days. I verified the obvious like the GPSs are set to NMEA, turned on, and had located our position and that the radar and radio were turned on and set to receive NMEA. I've decided to replace the DB9 connector on the cable to the radio.radar even though we didn't see anything wrong because that's the cheapest thing to replace and I don't know what else it could be. What would you check?
"William G. Andersen" <wgander@cox.net> wrote in message news:1ni5e.55$lz2.38@fed1read07...> What would you check in this situation?> I have a handheld GPS mounted on my instrument panel; the Garmin NMEA cable> molded fitting is connected to the GPS. The other end of the wire has a
connector, because it's intended for connection to a computer. To a mating> DB9 connector, I have the bare end of my Furuno radar NMEA cable and a
pair> of wires to deliver NMEA to my radio. This has not been changed for many> months - the GPS provides NMEA data to both radar and radio. I occasionally> connect a different GPS to the radio and radar by connecting a Garmin NMEA> cable with DB9 connector to the DB9 connector of the radio and radar.> The last couple of times out, there hasn't been any NMEA indication on the> radar or radio, regardless of which GPS and GPS cable I connected to the> radio/radar DB9.> Today we checked and found continuity in the radio/radar cable and also in> the GPS cable - they both read OK.> The DB9 connectors on the GPS cables are molded and I use dielectric grease> on them (only the 2 and 5 pins are used).> We opened the DB9 connector that feeds both the radar and radio and couldn't> find a short.> We put it back together and thought we'd try again in a few days.> I verified the obvious like the GPSs are set to NMEA, turned on, and had> located our position and that the radar and radio were turned on and set
receive NMEA. I've decided to replace the DB9 connector on the cable to
radio.radar even though we didn't see anything wrong because that's the> cheapest thing to replace and I don't know what else it could be.> What would you check?>
If one of the input ports of radio or radar is faulty or shorted out, you may lose the signal to both. Disconnect the radio, check if you now get a signal in the radar. Then disconnect the radar and check the radio. If still no luck, if you can get access to a laptop with serial port, check with Hyperterminal (4800bps, no parity, no flow control). Cheers, Wout
William G. Andersen 8 April 2005 05:12:36 [ permanent link ]
Thanks. We tried that, only the radar/only the radio= no NMEA to either. (There are separate wires to the radio and the Furuno cable for the radio: they are both connected to the same DB9.)
"Wout B" <woutbeekhuizen@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:d34j1v$t0t$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...>
"William G. Andersen" <wgander@cox.net> wrote in message> news:1ni5e.55$lz2.38@fed1read07...>> What would you check in this situation?>> I have a handheld GPS mounted on my instrument panel; the Garmin NMEA> cable>> molded fitting is connected to the GPS. The other end of the wire has a> DB9>> connector, because it's intended for connection to a computer. To a >> mating>> DB9 connector, I have the bare end of my Furuno radar NMEA cable and a> pair>> of wires to deliver NMEA to my radio. This has not been changed for many>> months - the GPS provides NMEA data to both radar and radio. I> occasionally>> connect a different GPS to the radio and radar by connecting a Garmin >> NMEA>> cable with DB9 connector to the DB9 connector of the radio and radar.>> The last couple of times out, there hasn't been any NMEA indication on >> the>> radar or radio, regardless of which GPS and GPS cable I connected to the>> radio/radar DB9.>> Today we checked and found continuity in the radio/radar cable and also >> in>> the GPS cable - they both read OK.>> The DB9 connectors on the GPS cables are molded and I use dielectric> grease>> on them (only the 2 and 5 pins are used).>> We opened the DB9 connector that feeds both the radar and radio and> couldn't>> find a short.>> We put it back together and thought we'd try again in a few days.>> I verified the obvious like the GPSs are set to NMEA, turned on, and had>> located our position and that the radar and radio were turned on and set> to>> receive NMEA. I've decided to replace the DB9 connector on the cable to> the>> radio.radar even though we didn't see anything wrong because that's the>> cheapest thing to replace and I don't know what else it could be.>> What would you check?>>
If one of the input ports of radio or radar is faulty or shorted out, you> may lose the signal to both.> Disconnect the radio, check if you now get a signal in the radar. Then> disconnect the radar and check the radio.> If still no luck, if you can get access to a laptop with serial port, > check> with Hyperterminal (4800bps, no parity, no flow control).> Cheers,> Wout>
William G. Andersen wrote:> Thanks.> We tried that, only the radar/only the radio= no NMEA to either.> (There are separate wires to the radio and the Furuno cable for the> radio: they are both connected to the same DB9.)>
"Wout B" <woutbeekhuizen@hotmail.com> wrote in message> news:d34j1v$t0t$1@lust.ihug.co.nz...>>
"William G. Andersen" <wgander@cox.net> wrote in message>> news:1ni5e.55$lz2.38@fed1read07...>>> What would you check in this situation?>>> I have a handheld GPS mounted on my instrument panel; the Garmin>>> NMEA cable molded fitting is connected to the GPS. The other end of>>> the wire has a DB9 connector, because it's intended for connection>>> to a computer. To a mating>>> DB9 connector, I have the bare end of my Furuno radar NMEA cable>>> and a pair of wires to deliver NMEA to my radio. This has not been>>> changed for many months - the GPS provides NMEA data to both radar>>> and radio. I occasionally connect a different GPS to the radio and>>> radar by connecting a Garmin NMEA>>> cable with DB9 connector to the DB9 connector of the radio and>>> radar. The last couple of times out, there hasn't been any NMEA>>> indication on the>>> radar or radio, regardless of which GPS and GPS cable I connected>>> to the radio/radar DB9.>>> Today we checked and found continuity in the radio/radar cable and>>> also in>>> the GPS cable - they both read OK.>>> The DB9 connectors on the GPS cables are molded and I use>>> dielectric grease on them (only the 2 and 5 pins are used).>>> We opened the DB9 connector that feeds both the radar and radio and>>> couldn't find a short.>>> We put it back together and thought we'd try again in a few days.>>> I verified the obvious like the GPSs are set to NMEA, turned on,>>> and had located our position and that the radar and radio were>>> turned on and set to receive NMEA. I've decided to replace the DB9>>> connector on the cable to the radio.radar even though we didn't see>>> anything wrong because that's the cheapest thing to replace and I>>> don't know what else it could be.>>> What would you check?>>>
If one of the input ports of radio or radar is faulty or shorted>> out, you may lose the signal to both.>> Disconnect the radio, check if you now get a signal in the radar.>> Then disconnect the radar and check the radio.>> If still no luck, if you can get access to a laptop with serial port,>> check>> with Hyperterminal (4800bps, no parity, no flow control).>> Cheers,>> Wout
It would seem that the fault lies with the GPS, either in the moulded plug or within the body of the GPS. Have you any means of checking the baud rate? Connect it to a laptop as suggested and use Hyperterminal to check for data flow.
Digital Photo-charts for all UK areas. Remove 'nospam' to reply.
<snip>> I had a similar problem with an Oziexplorer installation a couple of years> ago. It simply would not communicate on NMEA settings. The boat owner had> taken out his yacht and had changed the comms configuration in Ozi to> 115,200, as he "wanted the boat to appear to go faster!". As soon as I> adjusted the baud rate back to 4800, the sentences started to flow.>
Problem is, I deal with sailors to whom a laptop is "hyper-technology", and> they are trying to master the usage of same at an age when most other guys> (including myself) have retired.
I've had similar experiences. Once I discovered the use Hyperterminal (set to 4800/8/N/1) for NMEA testing I found I could get some kind of data flow if the serial connection was working. If there was a mysterious but repetitious garble, that was symptom of mismatched baud rates.
As an aside, there is a program named tty.exe (came as part of one of M$'s Win-CE software development kits or something like that) that can be used in the absence of Hyperterminal on PDAs running various versions of Win-CE. Tty.exe is mentioned on Dale DePriest's WinCE Hardware for Navigation page: http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/PocketPC/cehardware.htm.
Jack
-- Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net (also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)
