Icom 601 and Garmin 188C

CJL · 09 February 2004, 18:00

Has any got any experience of wiring these two together?

Its driving me mad. I`m into boats not into soldering and computer programing.

Any help would be gratefully recieved, particularly as the two manuals dont call wires and parts the same things.

Am I right in assuming the VHF only needs NEMA inputs and no outputs?

Thanks

Chris

peteb · 09 February 2004, 20:02

This was my answer to a problem I had connecting a Garmin 176C and a Nasa DSC radio, it may help you :-

I have spoken to Garmin and Nasa and have the answer. The problem I had was that when my broken radio was taken out I was left with a brown and a white lead from the Garmin, the radio had a brown, black and a red lead coming out, I thought I just needed to connect brown to brown and the red to the white, as the black was going to the negative power elswhere, but NO as that did not work.

Answer
I must ignore the white from the GPS as that is NMEA in and not required.
The Brown NMEA out from the GPS should connect to the Brown NMEA lead from the radio
The Red lead from the radio must go to a negative supply, this supply could come from the black lead that is powering the radio.

NOTE
You should NOT connect the red lead and black lead from the GPS straight to a negative source as it will cause a problem. These two leads should be connected together and then a lead comming from both goes to the Negative power source.

Clear as mud maybe, but I will give it a go on Saturday and see what happens.

By the way it worked

I accept no responsibilty for anything going wrong, you should seek independant advice before following these instructions

Daniel · 09 February 2004, 20:11

I don't think Pete's info is that useful to you. Infact Pete i think you are wrong about the NMEA out colour.

Assuming the two are working OK independently it is easy:

Garmin NMEA out is blue, connect this to the Icom NMEA in. If the icom has two connections for NMEA in (-ve and +ve) connect it to the NMEA in +ve and connect the NMEA in -ve to ground, which will be the black wires from GPS and VHF.

Now make sure your Garmin is transmitting data in NMEA format and NOT the default "garmin data transfer" you'll find that setting somewhere in the menu's, under "comms" i think.

Note, if you use MapSource to upload routes to the GPS you'll need to switch the "comms" mode back to "garmin data transfer" for it to work.

If you need more info please shout!

Daniel · 09 February 2004, 20:13

I've just noticed you have the same Icom as me. You do have to connect two wires on the radio, NMEA in -ve to ground (VHF power black wire) and NMEA in +ve to the garmin blue wire.

Soldering that connector is an arse, and i'm an electronics engineer!!!

EDIT

Pete, i've checked the manual for your GPS online and you are right, the NMEA out is brown. I've never seen a garmin with anything other than a blue, but brown it is.

Chris, i checked your manual aswell, stick with origional instructions, it's blue.

peteb · 09 February 2004, 20:28

My info came directly from both manufacturers and worked, but perhaps his is different, I did say it 'may' help

jwalker · 09 February 2004, 23:00

Garmin have been known to use different colour codes on different GPS units. Garmin's web site has manuals for all of their current units. These can be downloaded and the pinouts for the unit is included in the manual.

Jon Brooks · 10 February 2004, 08:36

Give me a call here and I will talk you through it.

01227 741 741

regards

CJL · 11 February 2004, 10:03

Many thanks for the help guys.

I get the impression that I`m not the only one who has reached screaming point about these things.

Is there not a user friendly way forward for all this kit to be interconnected by the manufacturers?

An ISO for example?

Jon, If I may I`ll take you up on your offer and call later today.

ONCE AGAIN THANKS TO ALL.

Chris.

Jon Brooks · 11 February 2004, 10:29

Am in all day please do call.

We tried to make it simple for the end user to wire up.
Now we find most boaties have never seen a RCA Phono plug!!!

Kind regards

jwalker · 11 February 2004, 11:23

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Brooks

Now we find most boaties have never seen a RCA Phono plug!!!

Frightnening, isn't it?

Jon Brooks · 11 February 2004, 11:25

I do find it a worry.
When most install these themselves!

Maybe I am bias being an engineer at heart.

Regards

Daniel · 11 February 2004, 19:12

I think most people have seen and could wire up a phono connector, and i think this was a good conection to use for the NMEA in on the VHF - i liked it.

The M601, however uses a bespoke connector which, although a lot more wterproof is very fiddly and hard to wire up. I solder for a living, and although i would have no peoblem wiring this up in my workshop with my home iron (which i would say is better or as good as anyone elses) it's not very easy.

This new connector also has more connections which will confuse people and most anoyingly the pin-out sketch in the manual does not state if the view is pin on or socket on so being a symetrical conector it could be 180degrees wrong.

Jon Brooks · 11 February 2004, 22:46

hence the reason we now supply it with a made up plug terminated in 2 phono's and a 3.5mm jack socket.

red= NMEA in
White= NMEA out
Jack= Ext speaker

We are trying to make it so easyvto conect, even a WAFI could do it!!

Daniel, have you updated the software in your Garmin and connected it to the NMEA output of the M601?

When you do, if you get a incomming DSC Distress it will plot it on the Garmin.

The will aslo work for position requests.

Just a thought

Daniel · 11 February 2004, 23:06

Asked garmin this at the boat show and they said my unit could not do that. I was pissed off. Do you think different? I've got it wired in yes. It's a 168.

RE: the other thread... do you guys have drysuits, Ipswitch is a long way this time of year?

Jon Brooks · 11 February 2004, 23:10

Daniel

Empty your PM box!!

I thought all Garmins could be updated for this.
Guess they gave me duff data.
No beer for them on our next night out!!
Who did you ask will check tomorrow for you.

Don't have a dry suit, not keen on them.
Have a breathable two piece, like it as is more flexible if the weather is nice.

Regards

Daniel · 26 April 2004, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Brooks

We tried to make it simple for the end user to wire up.
Now we find most boaties have never seen a RCA Phono plug!!!

Yep, but you also ommitted to specify the polarity in the manual for the 503. I guessed and it worked. For future info Ground = outer shell.

Rupert Bear · 30 April 2004, 10:39

After updating the software in my 182 I would hazard a guess that I is capable of this function by the menu. it now has a DSC function that is capable of receiving posiion data from a DSC VHF.

Jon Brooks · 04 May 2004, 08:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rupert Bear

After updating the software in my 182 I would hazard a guess that I is capable of this function by the menu. it now has a DSC function that is capable of receiving posiion data from a DSC VHF.

Only if you VHF outputs NMEA
The only one in our line up that doea is the M601

Regards