interfaceing a gps to vhf help

[olly]

i have a humminbird gps/fishfinder with internal arial
i also have a cobra fixex 55 vhf

i have the cables from the vhf to conect to a gps and i have the interface cable from my humminbird to conect to the radio

the cable from my radio has a black wire and a red wire

the humminbird cable has a red wire a black wire a white wire and a green wire

any of you no were to conect them

link to gps/fishfinder store.humminbird.com/products/307124?product_id=cd9ef958ea0a039bcc055ade07e71f4e

link to radio www.cobra-se.com/pdf/MRF55.pdf

olly

[Sunny]

Olly you should have another set of leads that connect to the back of your radio.... coloured Green, White and Yellow. You have two ports on the back of the radio and also two leads for power (Black & Red)

Connect the black from the radio and the Black from the Humminbird to your Common Ground (-) terminal; the one that goes back to the (-) terminal on your battery.

Red from both are power into the units (+) and should come ideally be from a switch on your dashboard.

Data leads are usually blue, white, grey, yellow, green or purple.
Unfortunately they are not the same colour with each manufacturer chosing their own scheme !!!!!

The manual for your radio - on the link - doesn't give the data cable scheme

The link to Humminbird doesn't contain the data cable labelling; so you will need to contact their customer online support - unless you have the installtion instructions.

Normally their will be just one cable you need to connect - the GPS Out to the Radio DSC In.

On a Garmin GPS Out colour lead is Blue
On a Nexus radio the GPS In is - unfortunate colour choice - but its Red !!!!

Hope this helps a little

[Rich]

hi olly as sunny said they use diffrent colours my garmin was green to yellow on the radio,do you have the manual for the radio and the gps?if you do my mates a marine elec engnineer.i can give him a bell he help me with my lowrance plotter and the vhf,send me a pm with youre mob number and ill try and get it sorted for you.
rich

[olly]

hiya rich yes i have both books

heres the colour code for the vhf 1 red and 1 black

it says bond the NMEA out negative wire to the black wire of the GPS interface cable

bond the NMEA out positive wire to the red wire of the GPS interface cable

the gps book says

Red wire,+12v
Black wire, Ground
Green wire, NMEA In
White wire, NMEA OUT

my radio is a cobra f55

and my gps is a humminbird 383c

olly

[Salar]

Feb 9, 2010 20:44:03 GMT @olly said:

hiya rich yes i have both books

heres the colour code for the vhf 1 red and 1 black

it says bond the NMEA out negative wire to the black wire of the GPS interface cable

bond the NMEA out positive wire to the red wire of the GPS interface cable

the gps book says

Red wire,+12v
Black wire, Ground
Green wire, NMEA In
White wire, NMEA OUT

my radio is a cobra f55

and my gps is a humminbird 383c

olly

Have a look here, there is more to it than just the wiring (in fact usually there is only one data wire that matters - NMEA OUT from the GPS links to NMEA IN to the VHF)
www.boat-angling.co.uk/Hints_and_Tips/ConnectingGPStoDSC.htm

Postscript: The following post from Sunny contains inaccurate statements. To clarify: the article referred to does not cover any specific equipment, it is merely a guide to the concepts of interfaces and explicitly states that it should be read in conjunction with your equipment manuals. I hope that helps.

[Sunny]

I read the article on boat-angling.co.uk and it fails to make clear that it is specific to a configuration that carries NMEA Out as well as GPS location In; which isn't necessary for a simple DSC setup.

You only need NMEA input feed to the plotter if you are using Data In that carries information that the plotter needs. So from a VHF system this usually means AIS (Out) or weather (Out) from dedicated antenna feeds. NMEA in to your plotter from non-radio sources is normally only your sonar data from a transducer.

So the diagram referenced makes the assumption that you wish to use AIS or weather In to your chartplotter. It is a shame the picture doesn't depict the entire setup - with antenna, either singular or with a splitter and two antenna.

For most installations a single Port from the Chartplotter (Out) to the VHF, for DSC functionality, is correct.

You only need use two Ports if more complex functionality is desirable...DSC In; and AIS or Weather In are involved

[Annie & Monk D'wally D'honk]

Why would you want to connect a GPS to VHF ? Hope this is not a stupid question !!
Thanks in advance

[wayner]

A DSC VHF when connected to a GPS can send a distress message containing your location at the push of a button.

[Annie & Monk D'wally D'honk]

Okay Thanks - Just checked my VHF and it supports DSC - Good news… Just checked the fish-finder and it dosen't !!! the improved version i.e. the XXi model does though - so close !!

[Sunny]

Feb 20, 2010 22:28:50 GMT Annie & Monk D'wally D'honk said:

Okay Thanks - Just checked my VHF and it supports DSC - Good news… Just checked the fish-finder and it dosen't !!! the improved version i.e. the XXi model does though - so close !!

If your radio is DSC equipped then all you need is a GPS antenna; which you simply wire in to your radio.

[Sunny]

Fitting a GPS antenna straight into the DSC radio is cheaper than running out and buying a plotter

.... but if you have an NMEA compliant plotter then wiring out from the plotter to the VHF is the best option; as they can then share a single GPS antenna

[Annie & Monk D'wally D'honk]

Thanks Sunny - just had a quick look for a GPS antenna and can see that's the way to go.