On Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:34:09 +0700, Bruce in bangkok wrote:

On Thu, 29 Aug 2013 11:11:46 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

We believe that the unit has bitten the dust - or there's some problem which
makes it intermittent.

Yesterday, doing some other debugging suggested by RM, I had an instance of
it running NMEA sentences in and out, as seen in the diagnostics screen on
my plotter. However, by the time I'd gotten downstairs and into Terminal to
see if it was echoing down there, I had an alarm saying I'd lost position in
the plotter, and data stopped flowing.

It refused to reaquire satellites, something it's never done in our viewing
of it (green blink) so far, and took a long time to acquire after yet
another power cycle. However, that acquisition didn't lead to any input on
the diagnostics, nor reception in Terminal below. Sounds like it's dead...

I've been observing a number of high end garmin chart plotters freezing while I'm out on
the ocean. A power cycle seams to fix it..

As for the Nema problems.. A little(salt) water inside the nema connector chain will
screw up the communications.. Open them up, inspect them for corrosion, clean them using
95% isopropyl alcohol, let them dry before re-assembly. Note: Add a little silicone
grease to o-rings and threads during re-assembly.


But I'd still love to pop it onto someone else' setup for confirmation.
I've got RM's suggested replacement, a GPS105 from Digital Yacht (bought
through Bethel Marine in FL, great folks to work with), on the way for
tomorrow arrival. That will involve rewiring (well, making new connections
to) the NMEA inputs to the plotter and onward to the computer/autopilot, but
that's trivial.

L8R, y'all

Skip

Skip,

I wonder whether you have given any consideration to what happens if
you are at sea and your gps system dies. Perhaps a small gps that
reads lat. and Lon. and a large scale chart might be a useful thing to
have if all else fails.

Before you set sail .. add a chart plotter app to your smart phone..
(They all have built in gps receivers.)

On 9/2/2013 2:52 AM, T. Keating wrote:
On Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:34:09 +0700, Bruce in bangkok wrote:

Before you set sail .. add a chart plotter app to your smart phone..
(They all have built in gps receivers.)


Really? An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 07:36:12 -0600, slide wrote:

On 9/2/2013 2:52 AM, T. Keating wrote:
On Fri, 30 Aug 2013 11:34:09 +0700, Bruce in bangkok wrote:

Before you set sail .. add a chart plotter app to your smart phone..
(They all have built in gps receivers.)


Really? An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

Of course they can... They just can't download any maps..

"T. Keating" wrote in message
...

I've been observing a number of high end garmin chart plotters freezing
while I'm out on
the ocean. A power cycle seams to fix it..

As for the Nema problems.. A little(salt) water inside the nema connector
chain will
screw up the communications.. Open them up, inspect them for corrosion,
clean them using
95% isopropyl alcohol, let them dry before re-assembly. Note: Add a
little silicone
grease to o-rings and threads during re-assembly.


Hi,

I wired up to see (as it should) if my computer (no plotter) would see
traffic. It didn't.

Then I did the same for my new one - and it worked fine, still no plotter,
but with the plotter leads installed.

So, I connected the plotter through the NMEA plug, and all is well.

However it was, the RS125 was not putting out the required voltage - instead
of 3.5-5V cycling, it was 2-3V cycling.

In any event, it's done, with the new one - which from a cold start (first
time, no prior connections) took 31 seconds to acquire the satellites; it
started transmitting (empty) data immediately, as seen on my hyperterminal,
then added the right coordinates - working just fine.

Still interested in having someone else' working system to put mine in to
confirm dead before I toss it (or offer it and the cable for free)...

L8R

Skip

--

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...


Still interested in having someone else' working system to put mine in to
confirm dead before I toss it (or offer it and the cable for free)...


Simplify your cluttered life which plants you firmly ashore - - -

TOSS IT! You will feel good about doing so.

--
Sir Gregory

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 07:36:12 -0600, slide wrote:

An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

===

Absolutely, right in mid-ocean.

Most smart phones have a built in GPS receiver these days, and there
are some very decent charting packages available. For about $25 to
Navionics I have a full set of US and Caribbean charts on my Galaxy
along with a fairly decent little plotting application. You don't
even need a cell phone account to do all that, a WiFi connection will
suffice.

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:05:32 -0400, T. Keating
wrote:

Really? An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

Of course they can... They just can't download any maps..

===

Not true. See my previous post re Navionics chart apps.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 07:36:12 -0600, slide wrote:

An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

===

Absolutely, right in mid-ocean.

Most smart phones have a built in GPS receiver these days, and there
are some very decent charting packages available. For about $25 to
Navionics I have a full set of US and Caribbean charts on my Galaxy
along with a fairly decent little plotting application. You don't
even need a cell phone account to do all that, a WiFi connection will
suffice.



I got ripped off, then. I just bought a Navionics Gold US and N Bahamas
(no Caribbean charts) on a little SD/microSD card for my Lowrance
iFinder H20 hand-held chart plotter and it cost over a hundred bucks.

But, I'm sure the Navionics Gold SD charts are way more detailed
than what Navionics offers for that Samsung cell phone. Not to
mention the plotting function on the Lowrance is probably way
superior to some cheapo cell phone plotter.

I often marvel at how some people operate fifty-foot motor yachts worth
a million bucks and hanging off the bow is a 30 pound SS Danforth -
in other words, all show and no function. So why does somebody
with half a million dollars worth of motor yacht justify using a cell
phone for navigation??

--
Sir Gregory

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 18:24:27 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:05:32 -0400, T. Keating
wrote:

Really? An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

Of course they can... They just can't download any maps..

===

Not true. See my previous post re Navionics chart apps.

Please post a reference to your post that you reference above. I ask
as I am using an android phone and it seems to be able to receive and
post GPS signals directly from the satellites.

I am using an application called "OsmAnd" that has the ability to
download and store charts on the phone.

--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok

On Mon, 2 Sep 2013 18:47:00 -0400, " Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·"
åke wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 02 Sep 2013 07:36:12 -0600, slide wrote:

An iPhone or Galaxy can display GPS data when out of range of a
cell tower?

===

Absolutely, right in mid-ocean.

Most smart phones have a built in GPS receiver these days, and there
are some very decent charting packages available. For about $25 to
Navionics I have a full set of US and Caribbean charts on my Galaxy
along with a fairly decent little plotting application. You don't
even need a cell phone account to do all that, a WiFi connection will
suffice.



I got ripped off, then. I just bought a Navionics Gold US and N Bahamas
(no Caribbean charts) on a little SD/microSD card for my Lowrance
iFinder H20 hand-held chart plotter and it cost over a hundred bucks.

But, I'm sure the Navionics Gold SD charts are way more detailed
than what Navionics offers for that Samsung cell phone. Not to
mention the plotting function on the Lowrance is probably way
superior to some cheapo cell phone plotter.

I often marvel at how some people operate fifty-foot motor yachts worth
a million bucks and hanging off the bow is a 30 pound SS Danforth -
in other words, all show and no function. So why does somebody
with half a million dollars worth of motor yacht justify using a cell
phone for navigation??

But Gregory, a 30 lb. danforth will hold a boat perfectly well. It
depends on the anchorage and the weather and water.

--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok