Recommendations GPS engine

[William_H]

I am tempted to buy a NASA Clipper Easy log for the little boat. I have an old Garmin Etrex that I think will drive the log NMEA output but would rather attach a dedicated GPS engine to hopefully simply apply power and get the log working.
Does anyone have experience or ideas of a suitable GPS engine. Thanks olewill

 

[prv]

Yep - BR355.

It's a plastic disk a couple of inches across, with a wire coming out containing power and NMEA connections. That's it, completely self-contained and using little power, ideal as a black-box source for DSC radios, AIS displays, and the like.

The only snag is that it expects power at 5v rather than 12v. You can build a conversion circuit using a 5v regulator chip and two capacitors (what I did), or forumite Angus Mcdoon sells a ready-made adaptor which does exactly the same thing (but postage from the UK to Oz may not be worth it). Or I have heard about people butchering cheap in-car USB phone chargers - USB power is 5v.

The GPS is available for about £25 on ebay. Comes from China (doesn't everything?) so no problem shipping to Australia.

Pete

 

[AngusMcDoon]

The only snag is that it expects power at 5v rather than 12v. You can build a conversion circuit using a 5v regulator chip and two capacitors (what I did), or forumite Angus Mcdoon sells a ready-made adaptor which does exactly the same thing (but postage from the UK to Oz may not be worth it).

It's only another £1 to post to Oz.