[aprssig] Garmin GPS 18 question

[Scott Miller]

Well, that's no good.  I was hoping it'd be possible to just replace the 
connector and plug it straight into a tracker.  I'm doing that with the 
Deluo Lites now, but they only go up to 9 volts and if you're using 13 
volts, running them off the tracker's regulator is pushing it a bit.  And 
the Deluo/Polstar/Sony units aren't good above 18 km, which sucks if you're 
trying to use them for a high altitude balloon.  The Garmins don't have that 
problem.

I guess you could run the LVC off the tracker's regulator, but that's still 
an extra 60 ma and you'd probably still want a heat sink.  TO92's aren't so 
great at dissipating heat.

It also remains to be seen if Garmin (or any of their dealers) can give 
enough of a discount on fairly small quantity orders to make it worth the 
trouble of replacing the connectors.  Deluo gives me enough of a price break 
that it's cost effective to put the DB9 connectors on and still sell them 
for about what they sell them for in single-unit quantities.  If they'd just 
run on 12 volts and work above 18 km, they'd be perfect.

Thanks for the info,

Scott, N1VG
http://n1vg.net/opentracker

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith - VE7GDH" <ve7gdh at rac.ca>
To: "TAPR APRS Mailing List" <aprssig at lists.tapr.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: [aprssig] Garmin GPS 18 question


> Scott N1VG wrote on Sept 13 2005
>
>> I see that the GPS 18 PC takes up to 30 volts. Does anyone
>> know if the regulation is done in the unit itself, or is it in the
>> cable? In  other words, if you cut off the cable, is the PC the
>> same as the LVC version?
>
> The regulator is in the cig lighter plug. If you cut it off on the GPS
> side of where the "Y" is in the cable, it will be just like a GPS18
> LVC but with a shorter cable. You would then have to provide the
> + 5 V required for the GPS.
>
> 73 es cul - Keith VE7GDH
> --
> "I may be lost, but I know exactly where I am!"
>
>
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