laptop to gps connection

8

886

New Member
Joined
2 Dec 2007
Messages
10
Visit site
hi
can anyone help in basic terms please.
i have a laptop with Tsunami 99 loaded on and want to link this to my gps (a MLR fx412)
can any one advise me on what i need to achieve this and once connected can i use the laptop as a fully functioning plotter
regards.
 
I've got Tsunamis working OK with a Garmin, a few bugs but still useful.
You need to connect the nmea output to pin 2 of the RS232 or serial connector of the laptop, and ground to pin 5. I don't know what the connector is on your GPS set but you will either be able to buy one or fully or partially made up cable from ebay?
The RS232 connector is D shaped with 9 pins (on the laptop)

There's some useful info on the MLR here
although the program is a different one the info will still be applicable.
 
Maxsea (and many other navigational programs) doesn't accept the garmin protocol. You will have to go into the menu of the GPS and set the Garmin to NMEA out. If that is not possible with your Garmin, download Franson GPSgate on your computer (try the free trialversion first). That can handle Garmin protocol and turn it into NMEA.
And be sure to set the input in Maxsea in the right way.
Chris
 
thanks for the reply
the power / data cable of the MLR is a cluster of very thin wires that have to be bared back and connected.
2 of the wires are for power and ground and the others are not used at the moment
how will the supplier on ebay know how to connect to the pc connction in the right order
sorry if this seems vague but i am not up to speed on these things
regards
 
You should be able to find information in the fx412 user manual that describes the purpose of the wires in the interface cable. You need to locate the one called 'NMEA out' or 'NMEA +' or something similar. This is the one that will need to be connected to pin 2 of the laptop's serial connector. You should also connect 'NMEA common' / 'NMEA grnd' / 'NMEA -' (or similar name) or else the negative power wire to pin 5 of the connector. This should allow the laptop s/w to 'see' the NMEA data.

If your laptop has no 9 pin serial port connector then you'll need a serial/USB adapter. Have a hunt through the forum archives. There should be lots of stuff on this subject there.

If you want to transfer waypoints from the laptop to the GPS then you'll need another connection - ask again when you get to this point if it's not apparent from the fx412 user manual.
 
The connections will be in the manual but you only need 2 of those wires as I've already said. The ground connection can be established by using a meter there will be zero ohms between the correct wire and power negative. you then connect each of the other wires in turn until the program see the GPS
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top