28 Part I — Hardware Hacks
FIGURE 2-15: Testing before use
Don’t Want to Buy a Connector?
If you don’t want to buy a connector, can’t get one, or are in a hurry, you have another option open to you if your GPS uses a flat connector, such as the Garmin eTrex.
You can use a piece of plastic (an old credit card is ideal), some small pieces of copper wire, and a marker pen to fashion a simple connector as follows:
1.Cut the plastic card into a small rectangle exactly 18 mm by 10 mm, as shown in Figure 2-16 (I’ve used diagrams here to make the process clearer).
10 mm
18 mm
Cut out
FIGURE 2-16: A corner off an old credit card is ideal for this.
Chapter 2 — Building GPS Data Cables and Power Cords |
29 |
2.Make three small holes down the middle of the plastic (along the long length). These holes should be made at 3.5 mm, 7 mm, and 10.5 mm from one end, as shown in Figure 2-17.
7 mm
3.5 mm |
10.5 mm |
|
FIGURE 2-17: Add three holes.
3. Insert small lengths of copper wire through these small holes, as shown in Figure 2-18.
FIGURE 2-18: Insert the wires through the holes.
4.Solder these onto the wires from the 9-pin connector (in this setup, the wire coming out of the hole closest to the edge of the plastic is pin 4).
5.Holding the connector in front of you and facing away, with the pin nearest the edge to your left, write “TOP” along the top, as shown in Figure 2-19. This will help you orient your homemade connector properly when fitting it to the GPS (because a store-bought connector is keyed to prevent it being fitted the wrong way).
TOP
FIGURE 2-19: You want to know which side is the top of the connector.