Just wanted to share this. I use a wizard with bluetooth gps daily, however earlier today my BT gps failed leaving me without sat nav. This is bad news for me as a parcel courier.
Until i can pick up a new gps, i needed a solution to get me through. My thoughts turned to my ever reliable etrex summit handheld gps (which gives out serial nmea messages) and my xda1
I found the charge adaptor and disassembled the plug until I could get to the terminals. I then found my old etrex serial lead (used for updating the firmware a long time ago) and cut off the plug.
I ended up with 3 wires which I identified as TXD RXD and ground. I connected these up to the corresponding terminals in the xda1 connector (pins 8,10 and the chassis ground on the adaptor) and it worked !!
Im now back up and running until i get the blutooth receiver replaced.
Moral of this story is that your old equipment can have a use after all !!
cheers,
malty
Related
As I would like to connect my serial GPS receiver to the XDA in the car I'm trying to source an All in one cable that would provide me with both serial and power connections for the XDA.
I would prefer somthing that has the cigar lighter style plug with associated voltage regulator built in, although if that is not available I could build the regulator myself.
GPS cable
I am just about to embark on this project myself. I have a Garmin GPS III and already have their car power/PC Serial cable.
I got the pinouts for the GPS unit from the Garmin site, and it looks like only TXD, RXD and GND are required. This should make it fairly easy to connect up to the xda, following the pinouts on this site. I'm off to Maplin today to try and get a male 9pin serial and an xda connector, following which I shall get the soldering iron out. The tricky bit will be getting the power from the Garmin cable as well. I'll let you know how I get on.
Failing that, you could try MobilePlanet, a US site that seem to specialise in GPS connectors. However, they make a cable that only supplies power to the PDA, and the GPS has to run on batteries. The link below should take you to the xda/Garmin GPS page. There's another page on the site that covers Magellan receivers.
http://www.pc-mobile.net/gpswp.htm
rgds,
Alex.
Hi Alex 10x for reply,
My main problem is trying to source the XDA plug, one that has not been moulded, so that the power/data cables can be fitted.
Jim
http://www.gomadic.com/ipconplug38s.html
I wondered if anyone has any advice on which gps system works best? i heard that tom tom 2 software is good??
any advice. thanks
Yes, as a mapping software TomTom RoutePlanner and CityMaps are very good and also good value for money. As a GPS receiver, I use a Garmin III connected to the XDA with a serial cable fitted with a null modem adapter. Any GPS receiver transmitting NMEA 182v2 at 4800 over a serial connection will work with the XDA serial cable and a null modem (crossover between pin 2 & 3 on the DB9).
Regards
Michel
Navman gps-1000
I saw a gps at www.navman.com to use everywhere, in the car , walking in the mountains etc...
This device is for a lot of pocket pc.
Any1 knows if this device also works with the XDA, I know the tomtom navigator 2 kit does work with the XDA but this kit can only be used in a car and is in walking mode not small.
Thanks
I am trying to get a garmin ETREX working with the XDA but thought the serial cable works and i am be able to connect to the serial port of the computer and do a sync that way the comm ports do not seem to be able to see the data output of the GPS which is present by checking it with a comm program.
any suggestions ???
I am using the VITO map software and VITO navigator.
also curious of the pharps GPS specifically for PPCE Phone
any one heard anything about this
???
I have just been able to get the etrex work fine with a palm. can't connect it to my xda yet as i don't have a serial cable.
two things to watch for...
there should be an odd number of cross-overs in the connecting cable. my palm cable has rx/tx crossed and so does the etrex cable so i had to use a third crossed cable to make three crosses between the palm and the gps (will solder a proper lead later).
on the etrex set it to MNEA
I don't know which one is good, but I can definitely tell you that the Pharos product is total crap.
Anybody wanna buy one cheap?
gps for xda
I have tried the tomtom gps mouse which is an integrated gps/antenna with tomtom 2 and it works beautifully, very fast to first lock and very accurate. Also available is the Haicom 203 unit, this is supplied with the power lead as well, the bonus for both these units is that you can exchange the data/power cables for those that will fit laptops and other pda's, so you can have 1 unit and cables for several devices. The cables for these 2 units are unfortunately not interchangable as the tomtom is made by Leadtek. The Haicom can be bought as a complete kit requiring only xda and memory card for £79.99 inc vat. from GPS warehouse in UK. I got delivery in 48 hours.
gps xda
the haicom also requires software, the tomtom gps comes with tomtom2 or you can buy it as part of the destinator kit, anybody needing this software to "test", let me know.
XDA to GPS Port Com
Anonymous said:
Yes, as a mapping software TomTom RoutePlanner and CityMaps are very good and also good value for money. As a GPS receiver, I use a Garmin III connected to the XDA with a serial cable fitted with a null modem adapter. Any GPS receiver transmitting NMEA 182v2 at 4800 over a serial connection will work with the XDA serial cable and a null modem (crossover between pin 2 & 3 on the DB9).
Regards
Michel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell me which COM port is used by the XDA ?
Mine freezes whith COM 2 and cannot open COM 1.
I have too a GARMIN III but they seem incapable to communicate !
Vince
Hi everybody!
I would like to use my TOPAZ with GPS and TMC in my car, but without charging, the batterylifetime will be very short.
Does anyone know if its possible to get an charging cable witch integrated antenna for cars, or something similar I can modify to do this job.
Maybe I can combine a normal Headset with a charging cable.
thx
I am using this one. Very good to fix and give a good position to view the GPS maps. Besides, recharges battery and has a speaker/mic system so that you don't need to enable the speaker on the phone to receive or make calls.
http://mobile.brando.com.hk/car-handsfree-kit-htc-touch-diamond-2-_p04146c0867d060.html
Haven't found any one with a antenna for either GPS or Cell radio, yet. It seems TD2 won't support external antennas.
Regards,
Roberto.
yeah, i'm looking for such a cable too. but havent found any yet.
cant be so hard to integrate some wire for radio in a charging cable.
i bet a lot of people would like to have it.
update: now i found two accessories which might help.
http://www.amazon.com/HTC-Audio-Cha...17?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1250514224&sr=1-217
http://www.amazon.de/Diamond-Y-Adap...r_1_28?ie=UTF8&s=ce-de&qid=1250514463&sr=1-28
i think i will check out the first one and hope it works for the antenna too.
Home made cable
It's very simple to make the cable yourself. I have done it and it works perfectly...
What I did is the following:
1) I took the headset from my old Tytn II (or use the new one if you can lose it), and cut it just before the volume control (seen from the phone).
2) I cut open the usb connector, took off all plastic insulation (is some work) and disconnected all cables except for attachment number 7 (see figure), which is the antenna cable (this is the strand of small copper cables without further insulation around it).
3) I took a car charger and cut off the usb connector and soldered the two wires to attachment numbers 1 (red wire) and 5 (black wire).
Be very careful to solder very well, because you don't want any shortcuts...
Voila it's working.
Even better is the following (which I'm going to do now, now I know it's working):
1) Buy the following connector:
http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=27&products_id=266
2) Solder a simple cable of about 0.7 mm^2 and 75 cm long to port 7 and solder the car charger to ports 1 and 5.
That's it...
Combine this with the following software:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=512630
And you will have TMC available in IGO or other navigation software.
Hope to hear if it works (for me it does). I have TMC now and charging when using my IGO, and besides I can use my bluetooth carkit, because it doesn't think there is a headset connected to the usb!!!
@amraam12: Wich rom and radio rom version you are using? I tried the same, but no luck: when putting +5v on the charing line, the radio gives no signal. (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=535358&page=3)
rom
rom: 1.39.114.2 (47382) nld
radio: 3.43.25.19
Antenna only
amraam, in case I just want a better reception provided by an external antenna and don't need to recharge while connected, if I solder an antenna connector to pin 7 (and 5 = GND) in a extUSB connector I'll be able to have much better reception, right?
How about using an antenna like this (http://www.wpsantennas.com/301103-wilson-cellular-magnetic-mount-cell-antenna.aspx) for that? Do you think that may work to improve reception on low signal places?
From your tests, how better is using the external antenna?
Thanks.
http://www.4allclients.nl/?action=4...koonl&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=kelkooclick
This is a navigon usb charger with tmc antenna, will this also work on the HTC rhodium?? Does anybody know if the antenna is conntected to pin 7 ?
bmhvanbenthum said:
http://www.4allclients.nl/?action=4...koonl&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=kelkooclick
This is a navigon usb charger with tmc antenna, will this also work on the HTC rhodium?? Does anybody know if the antenna is conntected to pin 7 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a TMC (Traffic Message Channel) antenna. It is used to receive info about traffic from a specific FM channel so that GPS can calculate better routes. I don't know exactly if it is connected to pin 7, but probably is. To use that service, it should be available in the place you are driving. I am just guessing, but Pin 7 seems to be only a connection to an antenna for FM frequencies (around +80 ~ 108MHz).
I haven't found anything stating it can also be used to received external GPS or Cell Phone radio external antenna signals. These are all very different frequencies, btw.
Regards.
question about your charger
rfbrandao said:
I am using this one. Very good to fix and give a good position to view the GPS maps. Besides, recharges battery and has a speaker/mic system so that you don't need to enable the speaker on the phone to receive or make calls.
Haven't found any one with a antenna for either GPS or Cell radio, yet. It seems TD2 won't support external antennas.
Regards,
Roberto.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rfbrandao
Is it possible to receive fm stations on td2 while it is connected to this charger?
If so, maybe also tmc data could be received by it without pluging in the headphones.
tomi
Hi there,
I was wondering, if it's possible to get a GNS Trafficbox FM9 connected to the HD2 (via adapter) to receive TMC-Data.
HyperGPS isn't working so far, so this could be the proper alternative...
Anybody's got some experience concerning this?
I've just bought a GNS Trafficbox FM9 which has come with a mini-B USB plug to use with my HD2. I've also bought a micro-b USB extension lead.
Taking the Trafficbox apart reveals a simple circuit board with the output wires coded in what appears to be standard USB colours. My thinking is that if I cut the USB A plug off the extension lead I should be able to solder them to the board and (hoepfully) away I go, avoidning all the traffic.
The extension lead should be here in a couple of days - I'll let you know how I get on.
Hi
Please excuse me being a newbie with a slightly odd question
Someone recently gave me an old HTC Himalaya to play with (O2 XDA II). The 'phone had been dropped and wouldn't charge up. Taking the battery out and charging it separately I was able to get the 'phone working fine.
I dismantled it to find that the 22-pin connector for power and data had completely detached itself and it fell out of the case. The pins were badly bent so I soldered power lines directly to the main board and it charges fine.
Now... what I really want to use this 'phone for is the heart of a vehicle diagnostics system (written in Pocket Zeus) so I need a working RS232 connection. I used Bluetooth to transfer a couple of test programs to the 'phone and they are showing that Com 1 won't open, but Com 2 and 3 will.
Can anyone tell me which ports the RS232 connections on the Himalaya match up to? In particular the port on the 22-pin connector. I can hardwire a 9-PIN D serial plug to this connection if I can get the port open.
Many thanks in advance and all help greatly received.
Glenn
(Belfast, N. Ireland)