We have just bought a Garmin 152. we have a laptop and wonderd if that could be integrated with the Garmin plus buyng electronic charts to give a navigation setup. Any ideas please? TIA
Yes you can,
First you must buy the interface lead from the Garman to the serial port, then buy
yourself some tasty software. The software will recognize the GPS and install the drivers. Then your on your away
The garmin 152 comes with a NEMA cable ,,, connect to a 9 pin serial or USB into laptop, i can sell you some software that uses admirality charts........
I think the 152 has a cable similar to the 126 which I have. That means it's a cable that both is used to power the unit and to connect to the serial port on your laptop. First you need to determine if you laptop has a serial port as modern laptops to not have this anymore. It is a nine pin male connector on the back of the laptop. IF you don't have a serial port you will need to buy a USB<=> Serial converter cable. This comes with a driver disk that installs a virtual COM (serial) port on the laptop.
Next you need to connect a matching plug to the GPS cable. This involves the usage of a soldering iron.
For powering the laptop you can buy so called DC-DC converter that do a step-up to bring the 12 volt of the battery to something like 18~21 volt that most laptops use. Be aware that although this is the most power efficient solutions it still take a lot of juice to keep the laptop running. Take this into consideration when looking at the battery capacity of your boat.
Maplins .... called an Energy Knight. Its a 12V DC to DC power supply that will cater for near all notebook computers - except those with strange connectors .............. I have used mine on : Acer, Toshiba, Maxdata, IBM, Compaq, HP notebooks and its charged / ran all of them ok. I paid 29.99 ....
The notebook only sucks a lot of electric when charging ..... once charged the drain drops off significantly ..... often I disconnect the battery and run without - then power reqt is dramatically reduced, but its not recc'd actually......... even though I have had no trouble with any notebook I've done it with ! To keep the notebook balanced - I tape over the battery contacts and put it back in place ....
Another point - is that it is recc'd that the dc - dc converter is disconnected when starting engine ... I have forgotten so many times that I've lost count - no problem - all carried on without trouble .... but of course I'm not running super-charging circuits / electrics !! Just bog standard charging from simple alternator set-up.
Cheaper to buy a usb GPS than the garmin cables!!! Take a look on Ebay..
Power supply from laptopbits (or similar it has been on the forum somewhere) Look at the mains PSU you have and it will tell you the DC voltage, normally about 18v
Nigels' forum will certainly help with the charting software. I'm sure there is someone local who could demonstrate Cmap93 and maybe even let you sneak across a backup copy --
Seems easier to me to recharge the laptop before usage on board...
That way you effectively use your battery as an UPS (power-backup)
Although the current does drop after recharge, most laptops still use 1,5 to 3,0 amps at 12 volt, depending on screen settings, processor speed and weather the CPU is busy or not. Running the laptop on a sailboat all day long ( 10-15 Ah), added to some other stuff you might want to use, can still add up to run the battery flat. So some careful planning is advisable.
I use EURONAV SeaPro Lite electronic charts. Excellent package and simple to use.. Presently £100 for ALL u.k. and Ireland charts. approx 350+. Have used laptop for about 3 years now and don't have any problems with power. Use low spec. 226MHz machine and 12v DC to 18v DC adaptor (e-Bay $10). Also if you set your power management up properly you can set your machine to sleep most of the time and only waken it when you want to check your course etc. The laptop will run for hours on it's own battery at that level. www.euronav.com will send you a demo disk of their charts if you mail them.
Hope this helps /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I have 2 batts on board ... a) 80 ah, b) 120 ah ... with these and running engine in / out of harbour maybe 1-2 hours each day - never had a problem.
In fact simple asnwer is look at the battery ... you can calculate its capacity and taking the time notebook runs give very good idea of what is possible from a 12V supply ....
I always actually leave battery in now - as charging when engine runs ....
Later I am planning sailing boat from Solent to Baltic .... I have no qualms about using notebook on this potential 3 week trip .... having used NB nav for a couple of years now ...
If the battery is discon'd - make sure its full charged before and then its available as back-up - without draining on-board batt's ....
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Ive downloaded their free trial, but to open the files i need another program,
i have seaclear 2, and really all i want is any chart from anywhere just to try setting up via lap top,
Is there anything i can install just to try this electronic map navigation?? It can be from New zealand, Irak!! anywher--just to try?
My crusing area is the med and am looking for charts of Spain even very old charts, at first for planning, then i buy the waterproof paper charts i need--well thats what ive always done before.
Find ti strange that you cannot open the Seapro demo programme. You shoould telephone and discuss. Also you could get them to post you out a Demo disk. The chart on the demo disk is the Isle of White.
Euronav were doing a boat show offer of software and all U.K. and Ireland charts for £109 but the software in now £147 according to their price list.
A few of my friends tried to order after the show without success although there was a hint another offer may be available in a months or so time.