William G. Andersen wrote:

Kelton,
You seem to have done what I want to do. How did you physically connect one
Garmin to four devices? What parts/connections did you buy?


If you're asking about the mechanics of doing it, a typical installation
would be with a 10 post screw terminal strip. For 4 additional devices,
bring the two NMEA (Data In and Out) wires to the first two terminals on
the strip, then make short jumpers to bring the data across to create
the next four pairs. Use ring or spade terminals
(http://www.installdr.com/TechDocs/999402.pdf)for the wires in and on
the jumpers.

If the screws were numbered 1 - 10 left to right, the NMEA data would
come onto the terminal strip at 1 and 2. Terminal 1 would be jumpered
to 3, 5 7, and 9. Terminal 2 would be jumpered to 4, 6, 8, and 10.

In the below, if the in pair were pins 1 and 2 the additional pairs
would be 3 and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, 9 and 10.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
| + + | + + | + + | + + | + + |
| | | | | | | | | |
| + + | + + | + + | + + | + + |

Some people will argue about doing it but my preference is to strip and
tin all wires before crimping the terminals on as it gives one solid
bundle for the crimp to act on.

For this job a terminal strip using #6 or #8 screws would be about
right, buy crimp on terminals appropriately sized to the wires. The
22-18 guage (red) ones would typically be right for this. If some of
the wires are smaller guage (26 is not uncommon) strip bare a double
length of wire, fold it back on itself to double the size for crimping,
and then tin that.

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jacker at midmaine dot com