Snail Hairs Clan Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 After our first few outings, entering the cache locations quickly became tiresome. So I looked in my electronics junk box and found everything I needed to make my own cable. (We use a Garmin Rino) What you need: 1. DB-9 connector (female) for connecting to PC serial port (COM1 or COM2) 2. An appropriate length of ribbon cable. Only needed if you use the press-on style DB-9 connectors. You might be lucky enough to have some junked computer part that already has a serial cable hanging off it. 3. A couple of jumper wires that fit .1 inch headers. (I realize these aren't the pins on the Rino, but my jumper wires seem to fit just fine) Cut in half and you have connectors for Rino end. Or for less expense, make your own with crimp-on connectors and a little heatshrink tubing. If you dont have the crimp tool, you can fake it with some pliers and maybe a bit of solder. I was hoping to find a connector that fit the Rino, but no such luck. 4. Small length of heatshrink tubing to cover up soldering. 3 wires from the DB-9 connect to the Rino cable end: DB-9 pin 2 (RX) connects to pin 3 (data out) on Rino cable end DB-9 pin 3 (TX) connects to pin 2 (data in) on the Rino end DB-9 pin 5 (GND) connects to pin 4 (ground) on the Rino end the other lines are not used for this application. Remember to reverse the cable view shown in the owners manual (pg73?) when looking at the Rino unit. Dont worry if you accidently switch the TX/RX lines at first, this wont harm either the PC or the Rino. This little project be more effort than its worth for some, but if you have a soldering iron and the inclination, it took me about 5-10 minutes to assemble and test the cable. Mark your wires for easy identification! A future hack: I also have a spare 12V auto plug; can anybody that has the auto power adapter measure the voltage it provides and post it here? I have pretty good idea what it probably is but wouldn't mind knowing the exact figure. Quote Link to comment
+IV_Warrior Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 From the online users manual for the Rino 110 External power can only be applied using the Garmin Auto Power Adapter or PC Interface Cable with Auto Power Adapter. These cables contain 12V DC to 3V DC voltage regulator. Quote Link to comment
+robert Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 Save yourself the trouble and get one from gpsgeek.com. Quote Link to comment
+Rainwater Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 hey I did the same thing with my garmin gps72...if you are not a tinkerer then you just wont understand Quote Link to comment
+PDOP's Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I use the Pfranc plugs with a serial extension cable for data transfer. I did buy the Garmin cig adapter for my old GPS12 due to the low voltage required. Quote Link to comment
+greengolftee87 Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I was planning on making one for my etrex but found out that it came with one. So since i had all the supplies already, I made a cable for my etrex to my palm! Quote Link to comment
polar69 Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I made mine for my etrex , its only temporary mind , should last a couple of years at least Quote Link to comment
+WildGooseChase Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I made one for an eTrex out of an old mouse and some card stock. It was only a stop gap until my real cable arrived. I had a big caching trip that weekend and needed to load 500 waypoints. Worked great but I like my Pfranc better! Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I've bought two Ventures and a Legend. All three GPSrs came with cables. What's the deal? Did you buy yours at Missing Parts Discounters? Quote Link to comment
+IV_Warrior Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I've bought two Ventures and a Legend. All three GPSrs came with cables. What's the deal? Did you buy yours at Missing Parts Discounters? According to Garmin's website, the Venture is the "lowest" of the Etrex line that ships with a cable, the Yellow, Camo, and Summit don't include the cable. I'm sure there are other units that don't come with a data cable, too. Quote Link to comment
+Midway Cafe Posted April 23, 2004 Share Posted April 23, 2004 I've bought two Ventures and a Legend. All three GPSrs came with cables. What's the deal? Did you buy yours at Missing Parts Discounters? According to Garmin's website, the Venture is the "lowest" of the Etrex line that ships with a cable, the Yellow, Camo, and Summit don't include the cable. I'm sure there are other units that don't come with a data cable, too. You can add the Geko 201 to the list. I made my own out of an old credit card from instructions I found on the web. Very easy and very inexpensive. I'd recommend it for anyone that is interested in trying it. Here is one of the links I used. Homebrew Data Cable Quote Link to comment
Snail Hairs Clan Posted April 24, 2004 Author Share Posted April 24, 2004 Save yourself the trouble and get one from gpsgeek.com. I just checked this out, unfortunately my model cable isn't offered and just found out it costs about $35 at store. So that makes me feel like my time wasn't wasted and plus (perhaps more importantly) I think I earned a couple more McGuyver points... Quote Link to comment
+Chuy! Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 I know the feeling about making your own stuff. If I had more time, I would build more stuff myself. I bought a combination PC cable and serial cable unit for my Vista on Ebay for about $22 bucks plus shipping (I think S/H was $4). It works great. I use it on my laptop at home and then throw it in the car to power the Vista, which saves me batteries. It should pay itself someday. This guy on Ebay sells similar cables for Rinos for $29 plus $6.5 S/H. Whatever you choose, hope everything works out for you. Quote Link to comment
+NightPilot Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 I made my own cable to connect my Palm and my Legend, along with providing power to both. Pfranc sells the GPS connectors, I had a couple of old Palm universal connector cables, and an old USB cable. I combined these to make a cable that connects the Palm and the GPS and connects to a USB charger. I have one that plugs into my car cigarette lighter, and one that plugs into 110VAC. They are sold as USB chargers for PDAs, not expensive, and the Garmin takes the extra voltage with no problems. The same cable is available commercially, for many times more than it cost me, but making it myself took up some time I had to kill in the middle of the night while waiting for flights that didn't happen, while saving a few tens of dollars. Quote Link to comment
shootist357 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 I've just recently built both cables for my GPS III. The data cable was an easy fix by cutting a DB9 cable off and crimping some pins. The power cable is an old 8.65V cell phone charger. My unit can use from 8V - 30V. For the connector on the GPS I used the 4 pin flat connector off a computer CDrom sound cable. The spacing of the outer pins fits the Garmin perfectly. I just pressed 2 female pins into the connector. Now it is a quick connection to the carlighter. If anyone wants photos, e-mail me. SHOOTIST Quote Link to comment
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