GPS to Radio

[Bob Stammerjohn]

I have a Garmin 76scx and a new Uniden radio with MMSI capability. My problem is the wiring connection between the two inorder to transmit the Lat/Long and still gain boat power to the GPS. At present I have achieved getting the location information to the radio, but the connection does not provide for boat power to the GPS. I must rely on the GPS batteries. If I connect for boat power, I do not achieve the passage of data. I have contacted several sources, but none have cured the problem. I have tried several wiring combinations but no results. I find it difficult to believe that this is a new problem. There are four wires from the GPS, two for power, and two for data transfer. It looked simple enough. The radio cord contains eight colored coded wires clearly defined by Uniden. Somewhere in all this there must be a solution. Any suggestions?
Bob S.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Search for it

I did a search on "gps radio wiring" and found, maong others, this one: http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=483172

May not be specific to your brands, but I'm sure there are other posts there that would help you.

 

[George H260]

Not sure this helps since I'm working from memory, but I did not have any problems hooking my G76Map to my Uniden Polaris VHF. Should be similar to your setup. My VHF/GPS only has one data wire.

As I recall, I first ran fused/switched power through the main buss to the GPS power plug.

Once I confirmed I had power to the GPS, I then connected the GPS NMEA data OUT (brown?) wire to the VHF (green) data IN wire.

Works flawlessley as long as I remember to set the G76 from "GARMIN" to "NMEA/4800bd."

If you get stuck and can't figure it out, I'll do some more digging around in the boat. E-mail me at http://h260.com and we'll try to figure it out together.

 

[sailingdog]

Bob-

Part of the problem you're running into is the fact that Garmin's NMEA setup requires you to connect the VHF's NMEA "-" signal lines to the Garmin's GROUND line for it to work properly.

Also, don't forget to set the Garmin's serial port to NMEA 0183 protocol at 4800 baud, 8 bits, no stop bits and 1 parity bit or in geek speak 4800, 8, N, 1. By default, the serial port is set to Garmin's own protocol, which the VHF won't understand.

 

[MoonSailer]

It seems like when I hooked up my gps to the radio that there was only one data wire and two ground wires. I left the info on the boat so working from memory. I bought the cable from garmin the radio manual told how to connect the wires. Check your manual.
http://garmn.factoryoutletstore.com/details/1731-3037/Garmin-Basic-GPS-Cables-010-10082-00.html

 

[sailingdog]

Bob-

BTW, did a bit of research... From what I can tell:

The Yellow and Orange NMEA - wires should be connected to the Garmin's Ground wire, which should also be connected to the boat's 12 VDC Ground.

The Garmin's Data out brown wire should be connected to the VHF's White DSC NMEA Data In + wire.

The Garmin's Data in White wire should be connected to the VHF's Green NMEA Data Out + wire.

The Garmin's Red +12 VDC wire should be connected to the boat's 12 VDC power supply.
Hope this helps.

Be aware that this is due to the NMEA 0183 standard being originally spec'd as RS-422, which is what the Uniden VHF uses. However, the Garmin uses the later spec'd alternate RS-232 protocol.

 

[MoonSailer]

I hooked up my Garmin GPS using the four wire cable from garmin.
Red wire to postitve battery. Black wire to the radio's green wire and the brown garmin wire to the radio's blue wire. Red = positive ,black = ground, Brown= data out and white = data in. BUT my radio is a Standard Horizon GX1255S so the colors might be different. My radio manual provides the wiring data and the garmin cable's wires were labled. It works fine but I think that the trick was using the radio's ground wire instead of going directly to the battery. Hope that this helps.

 

[JC on Bainbridge]

I have bought one at this place.

This online site has a bunch of connectors, cables, etcs, for Garmin GPS units. I bought some Garmin round 4-pin connectors way back in the 90's for my Garmin-45, and have bought a number of different connectors since then. They make their own parts, and sell them very inexpensively. They also have provide me with great service over the years.

http://pfranc.com/cgi-bin/P/pMax

 

[RJ1946]

Can anyone suggest a way to interconnect a GPS with NMEA 0183 V2.0 to a newer VHF that with a NMEA 0183 V 3.01. Garmin won't support the old unit and Uniden couldn't suggest any thing.
Would really be nice for safety to be able to use the DSC on the radio

Any help would really be appreciated, Thanks

 

[sailingdog]

It would really help if you said which Garmin and which VHF you had. :naughty:

Most VHF radios will accept a NMEA 0183 v.2.0 input for the DSC, since it is only very basic lat/lon position information.

It would also help if you said whether you have the NMEA 0183/Power cable for the Garmin or need to make one up.

Can anyone suggest a way to interconnect a GPS with NMEA 0183 V2.0 to a newer VHF that with a NMEA 0183 V 3.01. Garmin won't support the old unit and Uniden couldn't suggest any thing.
Would really be nice for safety to be able to use the DSC on the radio

Any help would really be appreciated, Thanks

 

[RJ1946]

Sorry, Its a Garmin GPS/MAP 185 Sounder and a Uniden UM525 Radio. I'm still trying to upload the wiring diagrams and info for both units. I have all current hardware for wiring both units.