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Cable connection to GPS

Author Topic: Cable connection to GPS  (Read 13615 times)

Offline Andrej Kolar

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #15 on: June 08, 2009, 10:00:13 am »
Hi. The original information was from Klaus Peter Renner, the developer of the portrait driver for HP. We would prefer to give original information in German. We would highly appreciate if a someone with enough technical knowledge in German and English would translate this to English:

Wichtig für den Anschluß:

1. VCC muß 5V sein, ist gleichzeitig Stromversorgung 2. Die Level für TXD und RXD dürfen nicht außerhalb 0V - 3V liegen 3. "Sense" muß mit GRND verbunden werden

Die normalen mini USB Stecker lassen "Sense" offen. Also entweder Stecker aufmachen und löten, oder den "FM9 Yakumo Delta X" TMC Adapter für den IPAQ kaufen und entsprechend modifizieren. Da stimmt der Stecker bereits und eine 12V->5V Stromversorgung ist bereits enthalten.

Der IPAQ schaltet von USB auf COM3 um, wenn ein Stecker mit obiger Belegung eingesteckt wird. Beim IPAQ ist RXD (aus IPAQ Sicht normalerweise das grüne Kabel) hochohmig und liegt auf 0V Potential. TXD liegt auf 3V.

Um RS232 (+- 5V oder 12 V) anzuschließen, muß ein Konverter vorgeschaltet werden. Ein altes Handykabel (z.B. für Siemens S35i) enthält die nötige Beschaltung (max3232).


Pin assignments:
1 = VCC
2 = TXD
3 = RXD
4 = Sense
5 = GND

Google for "mini USB pin" reveals links like this one:
http://wetpixel.com/media/reviews/0507_ikeusb/photo2.jpg

Offline martinkopplow

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #16 on: June 08, 2009, 09:30:30 pm »
Andrej,

thank you for posting this original text, for me (being German) it is much easier to understand than the english translation.

As far as I can see, he proposes to use a third party TMC cable that already has sense and ground bridged, though the level it outputs is not well adapted. So he further proposes to use a mobile phone serial sync cable that has level conversion built in.

One part of the puzzle is still missing, and that is where he wants to put the two together. I assume the mobile phone sync cable is a serial cable, so RX and TX are probably connected to the "USB" RX and TX and power to power.

A similar setup should also be feasible using the standard car charger that comes with the unit, disassembled, with sense bridged to GND right on the circuit board, and the serial phone cable soldered to the USB socket. This will then allow to still use an unmodidied standard USB->MiniUSB cable to connect the PNA to the car charger in the Glider. I will get a suitable mobile phone cable, hopefully this week, and try this setup. I'll report back how it worked out, and if it does, post a schematic of the setup.

Martin
« Last Edit: June 08, 2009, 09:44:11 pm by martinkopplow »

Offline dhaluza

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #17 on: June 09, 2009, 08:19:05 pm »
You need to get a 5-conductor mini-B USB cable, or you need to be able to short pin 4 & 5 at the connector (not possible if it's molded). The standard mini-B to A cables only have 4 conductors.

Offline martinkopplow

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #18 on: June 09, 2009, 09:11:46 pm »
Good point, Dhaluza!
Most Mini-B Connectors seem to be molded. I tried to get a solderable one in a local electronics store, but they have never heard of any. That's why I had the idea of doing the bridging on the charger side. I'll see if I can get 5 conductor cable, else, I'll use a Dremel and solder iron on the molded connector.  The connector would be nicer if angled anyway.
Still need this level conversion cable, though ...

Martin

Offline martinkopplow

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #19 on: June 10, 2009, 09:45:07 pm »
I got my hands on a batch of level conversion serial cables today, looks promising so far. Still looking for a solderable USB Mini-B connector*. I'll do the soldering next weekend, precise timing depends on the weather, though!  ;)

Martin


*) A little joke: A guy told me he had some in his shop, a year ago or so, but they were only USB 1.0 and nobody wanted them any more these days. So he trashed them. :-\

Offline alastairmutch

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #20 on: July 22, 2009, 10:43:21 pm »
Paul Remde at Cumulus Soaring now has cables available for the iPaq 314. I got one from him to work with my LX1600. Not cheap but nicely made and works just fine. I've used this to replace my home made bluetooth cable so no longer have to faff about getting the bluetooth link running after powering up.

The cable charges the Ipaq at the higher rate too.



Alastair

Offline premde

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #21 on: July 23, 2009, 12:48:55 pm »
Hi,

After much testing, Cumulus Soaring, Inc. now offers high quality Goddard cables for the iPAQ 310 and Bendix King AV8OR.

- iPAQ 310 to Goddard PS-5a Power Converter, Part Number: I310-PS5a-1
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/goddard.htm#I310-PS5a-1
- iPAQ 310 to LX1600, Part number: I310-LX1600-1
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/goddard.htm#I310-LX1600-1
- AV8OR to Goddard PS-5a Power Converter, Part Number: AV8OR-PS5a-1
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/goddard.htm#AV8OR-PS5a-1

We also offer a USB power cable for the iPAQ 310 which has a jumper to put the iPAQ 310 into quick charge mode.  It works great with a Socket Mobile Power Pack battery.
- Cable-USBA-mini-USB-Pwr-1
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/goddard.htm#Cable-USBA-mini-USB-Pwr-1

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

Offline alastairmutch

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #22 on: August 20, 2009, 10:18:55 am »
Paul Remde at Cumulus Soaring now has cables available for the iPaq 314. I got one from him to work with my LX1600. Not cheap but nicely made and works just fine. I've used this to replace my home made bluetooth cable so no longer have to faff about getting the bluetooth link running after powering up.

The cable charges the Ipaq at the higher rate too.



Alastair


Hmmmm.
Everytime I fly with this cable my LX1600 goes spare - full up then full down indications until power cycled. It works fine on the ground but...
This happens even with the iPaq314 fuly charged and therefore taking little current. Not sure if it's down to the cable or LX but certainly one or the other has a problem.

I've reverted to my trusty old HP4700 for now .

Alastair

Offline premde

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #23 on: August 21, 2009, 04:07:31 pm »
Hi Alastair,

We're sorry that the cable is not working for you.  We'll take it back for a full refund of course. 

The strange thing is that I've sold the same cable to other LX1600 and iPAQ 31x users who say the cable is working perfectly for them.  It powers the iPAQ 310 and data is working great.

What version is the firmware in your LX1600.  They have recently released a new version which may or may not help the situation.  It is a chip upgrade.

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

Offline alastairmutch

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #24 on: August 25, 2009, 01:00:05 pm »
What version is the firmware in your LX1600.  They have recently released a new version which may or may not help the situation.  It is a chip upgrade.

Hi Paul,
It's version 2.10 firmware in the LX1600. Upgraded from 2.04 in June.
As far as I can tell the problem isn't due to the cable but to data from SeeYouMobile PNA 3.12 or a fault on my LX1600. I'm very confusued that it works with the HP4700 running the same version of SYM though.

Not sure what the bug fixes are in the latest 2.12 firmware...


Alastair

Offline alastairmutch

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #25 on: August 29, 2009, 07:34:25 pm »
Looks like my problems were down to data corruption in the LX1600 rather than an ongoing cable problem. I did a data initialisation reset on the LX (all four buttons depressed at power on) and everything seems to be working OK now. Horray!

Alastair

Offline xumb

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #26 on: January 20, 2010, 07:00:41 pm »
Hi everybody,

i clean up my stock because I have no more time to build holders and cables for gliders.
So I have some IPAQ 314 cable left!

With this cable, you can connect all GPS devices do you want, they only must be send higher than 4800 baud. The power conversion is included, so you must only connect RS232 and 12V.

More informations:
http://www.pda-einbau.de/PNA-Kabel.pdf

The price ist 68,- Euro, with a Flarm adapter for connection to a Flarm 75,- Euro.
Adapter to other devices on request. (Or you buiild it on your own, pin assigment are shown in the link). The last Chance! For more than 2 cables you get price reduction.

Please contact me at svenlissel@web.de

Many greetings,
Sven

Offline coolwind

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Re: Cable connection to GPS
« Reply #27 on: March 01, 2010, 12:55:16 pm »
That cable from pda einbau is not supposed to do RS232 at all. It only converts usb to db9 pin to pin, but then you need a ttl to rs232 converter. According to what we could get back from the manufacturer mail, this is the status. In this case it is practically totally useless....

Otherwise, if now the cable does RS232 conversion, manufacturer is not able to provide any communication about it, in english.
We did non buy in the end.