Connecting a GPS60 Data cable to DSC Radio

Boys oh boys is there any end to it I ask myself,

I was going to buy to buy the etrex last year but thanks to Donal Domeney I went for the GPS60 and was happy to see it will work along side my DSC radio so I ordered the data and power cable which arrived this morning,

My radio came with the data wire’s >red and black<

The other cable that plugs into the GPS60 has the + and - for power and the 2 data wires, White = data in.. Brown = data out

Here’s my problem, the user manual for the radio says.. Bond the NMEA out negative wire to the black wire of the radio interface cable,

And bond the NMEA out positive to the red wire,

Can anyone please tell me which of the White and Brown wires is the positive

In anticipation of your help I again thank you,

Mike.

Just thought I would add this link so you know what I'm on about,

I been searching around a few sites and all I could find was this one below, good info on it but it hasn’t solved my problem,

If anything it has added another wire into the equation, toward the end of the video he says that it has to be grounded,

Does this mean I have to run another wire off the negative power wire onto the White or brown wire,



http://youtube.com/watch?v=mZMS-x5-SjY


Oh my poor head is spinning

is it the ICOM IC-M411 you are connecting the gps too

Hi Gerry,

I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I seen someone had replied.. couldn’t wait to sign in,

No I went for the Cobra “MRF55EU” That Jim “Mohawk” found for €99 a real bargain… I been waiting patiently for a response to this and to kill the time I must have toured 99.9% of sites that had anything to do with data cables for GPS’S so right now my head is spinning off me,

The video above is the only thing I could find to do with my prob "same cable" but even that hasn’t helped.. except to say it told me I had to ground one of the wires,

Any ideas Gerry

Righto! Firstly I am taking this from reading the respective manuals. I have never connected the relevant models in real life so I take no responsibility for any frying!!

Black wire on radio gps interface cable to common earth (this is the data input negative)

Nmea Out on garmin cable (brown in the case of the gps60, white is shown as data IN so not required for the radio) to the red cable of the gps interface cable (this is the data input positive)

That’s what I would reckon. I have attached a drawing that comes from Garmin. The colours on the cables do not relate to your garmin cable but you can get my drift.

Maybe Jim (Mohawk) could double check his installation as I would not be 100% even though from reading the manuals that’s what I come up with.

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Just thought.... you would want to check the Interface menu on the GPS and set it to NMEA In/NMEA Out.

Just thought.... you would want to check the Interface menu on the GPS and set it to NMEA In/NMEA Out.

What can I say Jim,

I’m a man of few words so I will keep it short, you sorted it for me Jim so I owe you another pint and if it carries on like this we will end up legless the first time we meet,

Did as you said “brown onto red” and had no joy so I remembered the guy in the video said to ground it so I took another chance and did that,

Then thought the GPS that was hanging out the window “ I have it all set up in my bedroom” may not be picking up enough satellites so I extended the data cables and tied the GPS onto the top eye of my beachcaster rod which I had to tie onto the chair that I’m sitting on at the moment so now the GPS is hanging half way accross a busy road… but still had no joy,

At this stage I didn’t care what blew up on me because its been doing my head in all afternoon so I joined the white wire to the black and up it popped making this the first time I smiled all day

Also did as you said about setting the menu on the GPS in /out “would never have thought of doing this the way my head was,

Least its up and running now so its time to pull the rod back in before the neighbours thing I’m spying on them,

Thanks for taking the time looking this up Jim I’m much obliged to you,


Ps have to be up and out before anyone try’s to use the upstairs phone tomorrow as the extension was the only wire I could find to extend the data cables, That feckin dog’s been at it again

Hi Gerry,

I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I seen someone had replied.. couldn’t wait to sign in,

No I went for the Cobra “MRF55EU” That Jim “Mohawk” found for €99 a real bargain… I been waiting patiently for a response to this and to kill the time I must have toured 99.9% of sites that had anything to do with data cables for GPS’S so right now my head is spinning off me,

The video above is the only thing I could find to do with my prob "same cable" but even that hasn’t helped.. except to say it told me I had to ground one of the wires,

Any ideas Gerry

my head was spinning as well looking up data on it,only to see jim put you right,a confusing question that one was glad you got it going right

Had another look at the drawing Jim and I see that both NMEA devices have 2 ground wires going into them so I think I will have to look into that before I attempt to key up the mike,

As the guy in the video said be sure to ground it,

from what i came up with on the net would lead me to wire it like in the photo

gps c.JPG

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Gerry i forgot to say i didnt see your 12.57 post until i popped back now Hi Gerry,

Your efforts are not wasted mate, as I look at this picture I see the + from the battery only go to the GPS,

So I’m thinking that you have to imagine that the radio is already wired for power… if this be the case is the black wire that comes down from the radio the other Data cable being grounded to the battery,

In the video he did say to ground it but he pointed to the other black power wire and not the black data,

How hard would it have been for Garmin to show how to wire this either in the user manual or the packing that the cable came in,

I cant take a chance and key the mike "in case something does fry" until I know for sure what he meant by grounding the wire,

My grandmother could wire a plug just by following the instructions on the little card “she couldn’t do it now as she died about 35 years back” but I’m sure you get what I mean,

I was even tempted to try “yahoo answers” to see if I could do someone else’s head in with this little question,

Just had another read of the card that came with the cable,


It reads !!! Warning this product, its packaging and its components contain chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.

They should have added Mental stress

Thank again for taking the time Gerry.

I just spotted this but I'm on the way out so Mann send me a PM to remind me this evening and I'll take a peek at my user manuals and sort it for you... Should be easy as my Cobra is interfaced to a Garmin chart plotter and from memory (it's been awhile ) it was a two minute job. Don't make the mistake of assuming Cobra and Garmin use the same colour coding on wires (although they may) that can be a recipe for "magic smoke syndrome" n that's not a good start

Jim

Hi Jim,

As you can see by my last post that I stayed up late searching for an answer to this… I been lookin all around the world and I felt knackered around 3am so hit the hay and slept like a baby “P**sed the bed 3 times”

(Jim from cork) told me how to get the readings up on the radio screen so if all else fails then I could just touch the wire from the GPS to the data wire on the radio, this should hold my location for up to 4 hours and if I move to another mark then I could join the wire again to up date it,

This will be a lot faster then inputting it manually… so if you’s see sparks flying from a boat around the south coast it will more than likely be me putting in a new location,

Hi Mike,

Right sorted its a 1 minute job or less get yourself a block connector some of the lads above had it

Step 1 connect the black GPS wire from the cobra directly to the negative wire (black ) from both the cobra and the garmin's (Black) power leads

Step 2 connect the red gps wire from the cobra directly to the Brown wire from the GPS tape up your block connector and enjoy

Don't forget to apply for your MMSI number and program it into the cobra first as it is essential for you to be recognised in a distress situation.. be careful, take your time programming it as you can only do it once if you get it wrong it needs to go back to cobra to sort out

Jim

Great stuff Jim,

Thanks for putting in the time to sort this for me, I hope I didn’t put you chaps under too much stress with this one as I know it was a nightmare for me,

over the past couple of days I been checking sites and ringing anyone I knew that may have had an idea of how this wiring should be done but the only chap that said he may be able to sort it was a friend that does TV repairs,

I cant thank you all enough for the time and effort you’s put into this one, and I promise I wont ask anymore questions for at least a week,

Many thanks for pulling me out of my misery,

I will sort it tomorrow afternoon

Cheers lads,

No problem Mike that's what these forums are all about helping each other when & if we can

So next question fire away

Jim

Good Stuff