gp-30 attaching the wires to a laptop

[Anonymous]

Hello again, I'm wanting to attach the wires from the the gp-30 to a laptop. I know the wires that i need to use, my problem is i have no serial port. I do have two usb ports and a converter for ethernet to usb. I have made many cables for my childrens computers and game systems and feel confident i can attach a plug to the mnea cable. Can anyone tell me what position the wires go in the plug? I know the send and receive are the center two in the usb and the neg. is on the end, but where would that put them in the rj45 plug? Thanks for any help, Brett

 

[Johnny Electron]

You can't just wire NMEA 0183 data from the GP30 into a USB serial port. Both USB and Ethernet are completely different standards of communication than the standard RS232 NMEA 0183 provided by the unit and must be properly converted when being connected to other types.

In the past when most PCs had a 9 or 25 pin RS232 serial port, customers would wire the connection exactly as shown in the manual. Today, most PCs don't have normal serial ports. Many customers at that point just wire (per the manual) a DB9 connection, and then purchase an off-the-shelf DB9 Serial to USB adaptor; that properly converts the data into USB format. Off the shelf adaptors can be problematic because of the PC drivers and if they properly support the operating system you are using.

I normally suggest the simple solution of using the Furuno 232-USB-CBL cable/converter. It will wire directly to the GP30 wires and then go directly into our PC USB port. It works very well. We have had no problems with it working with MS Vista, MS XP, MS Windows 7 (both 32 and 64 bit). You might take a look at the converter on our web site. Here is a direct link.

http://www.furunousa.com/Products/Produ ... 32-USB-CBL