Help requested connecting Icom IC-M505 to Garmin 620

[pau11yons]

Apologies if this covered previously, but looking for help.

I have the Icom IC-M505 DSC (with AIS) & Garmin 620 chartplotter and now want to install and connect them so that AIS -> Garmin & Position -> Icom.
Both say they are NMEA compatible but the diagrams appear to use different languages; it takes me back to the days of trying to connect serial printers to computers (((((( and when I saw the 9 pin connectors on the back of the radio I nearly screamed !!!!!!

Any suggestions please?

My thoughts:
Garmin 620 has:
Red (Power)
Black (Ground)
Yellow (Port 1 TX)
Brown (Post 2 TX)
Blue (Port 1 RX)
White (Port 2 RX)

And Icom has:
Red (Power)
Black (Ground for power)
Female 9 pin serial (Pin 2 NMEA OUT (BR4800); Pin 5 Ground)
Male 9 pin serial (Pin 2 NMEA IN; Pin 5 Ground)

So propose:
a) Get 1x male & 1x female 9 pin serial connectors.
b) Solder Garmin Yellow (Port 1 TX - out) to pin 2 of the new female connector, and
c) Solder Garmin Blue (Port 1 RX - in) to pin 2 of the new male connector, with
d) Solder wires to pin 5 (ground) of both new connectors and connect them to convenient Garmin Black (Ground) terminal.
e) then connect new male connector with Icom Female and new Female with Icom Male, and
f) Bind everything with several layers amalgamating tape - after successful testing of course.

And it seems that both have to be configured with correct connection speeds and data string order )) what joy !!!

Any knowledgeable gurus out there, or better still has anyone done this?

 

[richardm47]

Maybe you haven't got replies because both the Garmin 620 and the AIS version of the M505 are so new. I too chose that exact same set up but have not been able to progress with it.

I wanted to update almost all of my electronics (incl 25 year old vhf) and it seemed logical that AIS should not be a separate box from the vhf. And the 620 chartplotter has a touchscreen like Tomtoms in cars but waterproof, so doesn't waste space on buttons. A very neat setup in theory. OK so voice transmissions on my vhf will interrupt my AIS receiving - but that does not seem not a major limitation. I imagine that vhfs will all have AIS built in within a year or two. Avoids need for a separate aerial just for AIS. And not just AIS receiving as in the M505 but AIS transmitting as well. The M505 is expensive but it could help me solve another niggling problem - how to generate proper sound signals in fog.

I tried to give an order for those 2 items to a marine electronics firm but wanted to see them in the flesh first. No chance! They weren't much interested in my order. I wanted TackTick stuff too. I'm now waiting to see if they will be at the Soton boat show.

Sorry I can't help you but I wish you good luck with your struggle at the forefront of marine electronics. I know just how you feel. I might be trying the exact same things in a months time.

 

[Matt F]

Hooking up ICOM 505 to Garmin product

Pau11yons -

I've done what you want to do, so the good news is, it can be done.

Here's how to do it - assuming your M505 is a VHF marine radio (there is a 505 ham radio that is completely different - if your 505 has a yellowish LED screen with a large knob off-center close to the bottom, then you've got a marine VHF).

First, a quick disclaimer. I'm in the US, and I have an ICOM 504, so the wire colors may be different - but I'd be willing to bet ICOM simply changed the model number to reflect a different market.

Now for the fun stuff. Right off, forget about the two 9 pin connectors. the first is for a remote "Command Mic" that can go in the cockpit (sailboaters want to have a radio both in the cabin and at the helm - this feature allows one radio, two stations). The second 9-pin connector is for a rear-mounted microphone, which allows the installer to put the microphone anywhere near the radio (if it is bulkhead-mounted).

On the back of the VHF, you should have the following wires coming out:

- thick red wire. this goes to the postive battery terminal, with fuse.
- thick black wire. this goes to the negative battery terminal.
- a co-joined black and blue wire. These two wires are for external speaker (in case you want to use the hailer function, or have the automatic foghorn feature).
- a yellow co-axial wire, for another speaker (if you want to have a different part of the boat be able to hear the transmission and reception on the VHF - I assume you don't have a need for this).
- a red co-axial wire. This is the NMEA IN wire to the VHF.
- a white co-axial wire. This is the NMEA OUT wire to the VHF.

Working with the co-axial (shielded) wires is a bit tricky, because they are so tiny and thin. It is a wire inside another wire - much like the coaxial wire that goes into the back of a TV. I wasn't thrilled to find out that ICOM used this, as it's not as easy as using two separate wires, but the coaxial wires helps reduce signal interference.

1) What you have to do for each of these two wires is first strip off 1 to 1-1/2 inches of the outer jacket from the shielded wire.
2) Then push back the shielding braid against the outer jacket to make it "fatter".
3) Then fold braid and inner conductor back 180 degrees on itself, right at the base of the stripped outer jacket.
4) Use a pointy thing to gently spread the braid at the bend to create a hole and expose the center jacket and enclosed conductor.
5) pull the center conductor out through the hole.
6) pull braid back out to full length and trim ends to desired lengths before installing terminals solder to connectors or extending the wires using 26 or 28 sized AWG wires. Make sure it's tinned!

Do this stripping technique to both the red and white wires, and you will then have 2 wires coming out of the red co-axial, and 2 wires coming out of the white co-axial. Note that the outer (sheathing) wire in both cases is the negative (-) wire, and the inner is the positive (+) wire.

At this point, the heavy lifting is done. Now it's just connecting the wires to the Garmin...
The Red + (NMEA IN +) goes to Garmin's NMEA OUT +. (BLUE)
The Red - (NMEA IN -)goes to Garmin's NMEA OUT -. (YELLOW)
The White + (NMEA OUT +) goes to Garmin's NMEA IN +. (BROWN)
The White - (NMEA OUT -) goes to Garmin's NMEA IN -. (WHITE)

Once you've connected it, you won't need to worry about configuring either one. After I connected mine, I was thrilled to see my position come in on the bottom left corner of the VHF screen - along with the time.

Now, if my boat decides to sink or my wife tries to kill me for buying a new set of sails, all I have to do is hit the red "Panic" button and the US Coasg Guard will come shortly to pick me up (or arrest my wife). In addition, if another vessel hits their panic button, it will show up on my GPS unit!

I've tried adding on a guide for attaching the wires, but I don't know if it worked. Let me know how you make out!

 

[seasfree]

Compatibility?

Thanks for this great info.

Any ideas for a Garmin 620 GPSMap and an Icom MC-M411?

All I want to do is to get the "auto" DSC to work i.e. position and time etc.

The radio has the dreaded inner and outer wire NMEA + & -
The GPS has two ports; either a yellow or brown (TX) OR a blue or white (RX).

I thought that connenting those would be easy, then the set-ups in the GPS? (I've tried just about every combination!) the radio states it's automatic?

So why don't it work?

 

[bobbylockes]

have the same problem with garmin 17x gps (nmea-0183) and icom m-411

the icom m-411 vhf , as you say, has that very simple data in wire surronded by copper ground. I can't get the garmin to speak to the icom either.
I connected the grey wire (txd) from garmin 17x to the data in for icom m-411 and the icom-411 ground to the red/white garmin 17x txd -ve).

still got "no position" flashing on my vhf.

if anyone knows how to fix this please update this thread?! I will call garmin on monday to see if they can help. If I get it to work I'll update the thread.

 

[colvic987]

have you tried swopping the wires around, and/or changing the comms setup as per the manual of the gps.

i have done this for an owner with a 411 and garmin 128, and it just needed the wiring swopped over, i havent got the diagram to hand, but do try changing the configuration and see what happens.