GPS Mouse on Batteries

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

I have a Polstar GPS mouse, PGM-111 http://www.polstargps.com.tw/products/pgm-111.htm, i'm currently using a Y cable to power the device and my PDA in car and this works well.

I'm looking to make the device more mobile with the use of some batteries and i've wipped up a 6v supply to the in car adapter through 4 AA batteries and some parts from maplin. I though this would be fine but my PDA charging causes the GPS to turn off and restart.

Is there a good way of making my gps unit handfree with/without the use of a Y cable? If not should I just increase the supply to a 12v battery and see if that works. Is it that the power to the units is going through the regulator in the car adapter, could I try sending a 5v signal through the connector PS2 connector?

Thanks

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject:

Mouse GPS is never intended for use outdoor with batteries.

It can be done but it can be complicated and only option is DIY (it means you are on your own).
_________________
Pc-Mobile
http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

I understand that but what options are there. Is my current setup i.e. powering it through the car charger the best way for me.

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:54 pm Post subject:

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

OK then, where can I find the technical specifications for a Y cable?

I don't see how a car battery providing a constant 5v source is any different from a battery providing a 5v source to the mouse.

Whether it was meant to or not a gps mouse can be made portable, I already have. If I had the technical specs on a Y cable then I could do this efficiently without the need for the car adapter.

Saying that its not intended is of no use to the homebrew modder, I realise that i'm after opinion on possible ways to implement a battery pack.

AllyCat · Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:34 am Post subject:

Hi acid,

I've just purchased the Polstar GPS mouse car kit and thought I might do much the same as you want, but haven't done it yet.

It depends if you want to extend the battery life of the PDA, or just power the mouse, and if you're prepared to cut the cables of the car kit. I'm probably going to cut my cables to give a standard serial interface option (9-pin D) as well, and maybe reduce their length!

If you only want to power the mouse and don't want to cut the cables, then you can get a 6 pin mini-DIN plug and line socket from Maplin. 5 volts seems to be across pins 5 and 6, so you could make an adapter linking each of pins 1 to 5 of the plug/socket and connect the 4 x AA battery pack just to pin 6 of the GPS mouse. NiMH or NiCd rechargables would be better as they'll give you close to 5 volts.

If you want to power the PDA as well, then *maybe* you can feed the power back through the mini-DIN socket, but I'd want to check that the power didn't do anything nasty in or through the regulator in the cigarette lighter plug.

Alternatively, it certainly should work if you feed about 12 volts into the car plug, but you may need 10 or 12 rechargeable AAs to give adeaquate voltage and current, which isn't very elegant or efficient.

If you want to dispense with the car plug (and don't want to cut the cable) then you could get a serial cable for your PDA (from someone such as pc-mobile) and make a 9-pin D to mini-DIN adapter (I haven't checked the pin connections yet, but it shouldn't be too tricky to measure). The other thing I don't know is where to get a 1.7/4.0mm power plug to feed 5v. into the PDA via the pc-mobile serial adapter (except by buying their 4 x AA adapter box).

Cheers, Alan.
_________________
Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

Thanks for your advice.

I've checked the pin outs for the gps mouse, avaliable on polstars webpage, a standard ps2 -> serial adapter wouldn't work without some kind of bridge in the middle. Its possible tho given a bit of time and a multimeter.

As for the small power connector, you could either take it off and put something more standard or see what maplin can offer. I was there today and they have loads of odd sized connectors.

I would prefer the serial connection method but the molded cables i've seen seem quite expensive. It would be by far the most elegant method. Polstar also do a nice cable that might be of interest:
http://www.polstargps.com.tw/products/accessory.htm

If you have any more idea or find any infromation i'd be interested.

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:11 pm Post subject:

If you are going to use a PS2 passthrough and connect external battery (4xAA) it will also power the PDA as well. You should ahve no worry about voltage on the PDA.

As stated before, it is a DIY job. You will not find any ready made cable.
_________________
Pc-Mobile
http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm

AllyCat · Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 3:06 pm Post subject:

Hi acid,

Are the GPS pin connections on Polstar's website, I couldn't see them anywhere? I was suggesting making the "bridge" with the miniature DIN connectors (physically the same as PS2). I don't know if they're TTL or RS232 voltage levels, the Polstar claims to be compatible with both.

Yes, PDA serial cables are about £15, but the pc-mobile ones have the advantage of a dc input capability. That's one reason that I got the Polstar as I reckon I can adapt it to also give an "RS232" interface between my Garmin and PDA. Probably only RXD/TXD signals, so no good for a modem, but should be fine for the Garmin.

Some of my PDA connectors have the 1.7/4.0mm (pin/sleeve diameter) sockets moulded *into* the plug, so no chance of cutting it off ! Sad

A search doesn't find 1.7/4.0 on Maplin's website, perhaps they call it something different.

Cheers, Alan.
_________________
Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

AllyCat · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:59 am Post subject:

Hi,

Thanks for the info.. I'd found the .pdf, but the pinout diagram didn't show up until Adobe had installed 8Mbytes of Chinese character fonts! I see I got the numbering of the connector upside down in my previous post Sad

.

I think a 6 pin plug and socket will allow me to get the basic connectivity I want, and sometime in the future I'll pluck up courage and take a pair of side cutters to the Polstar cables to make a more compact setup Smile

.

Cheers, Alan.
_________________
Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

acid2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 13, 2005 Posts: 10

When you do cut your cables down I'd be really interested if the wires are colour (I HOPE!) and that they follow some kind of standard.

It would be nice to cut the wires down and put a switch on the 5v line between the charger and the pda so that the pda isn't necessarily charging off the batteries all the time.

sprezzaturarrd · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 01, 2006 Posts: 2

I have come across a Polstar PGM-111 receiver. Unfortunately, the Polstar sites no longer has documentation or pinouts for this receiver. The device that I have has a mini-B USB connector and I would like to connect it to the USB port on my laptop? Has anyone tried this? If anyone has any old documentation, could you share it?

Thank you for your time and attention,
Ron

AllyCat · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 1:27 am Post subject:

Hi Ron,

I'm not sure if the device I have is a "111", it looks very similar but has a round 6-pin "PS2" (strictly a mini-DIN) plug on the cable. Even if yours has a "USB" connector, I suspect that it actually uses "RS232" serial comms (as does my Holux 236 - .PDF on Holux UK website). The "USB" may be only for power (+5v).

The best I could find on Google (cached) is this link. Note that although it refers to USB, the interface is described as serial RS232 and TTL (which has lower voltages and is Inverted).

Does your 111 have a 5-pin (+screen) mini USB plug or socket? If it's a socket, then you can probably find a suitable USB cable as used with digital cameras, etc. (I even found one in Poundland), or you can buy the plug from Maplin in the UK. However, if the GPS has a plug, I've never seen the socket sold anywhere. Normally, the 5-pin mini USB plug has earth on Pin 1, +5v on Pin 5, Pin 2 is not used (the plug from Maplin does not even have a tag) and data is on Pins 3 & 4.

Personally, I'd try connecting each of the GPS data pins in turn to the RS232 input pin on the COM1 port of a PC, and monitor it with Hyperterminal, or similar, at 4800 baud. If it works then it might be worth considering a USB-RS232 adapter cable for your laptop (which I assume hasn't got a COM port).

Good hunting, Alan.
_________________
Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 11:17 am Post subject:

You are shooting in the dark!

I would advise getting a dedicated cable from the GPS manufaturer as there is no standard.
You will be wasting a lot of time getting nowhere if you try to make your own cable.
Unless of course if it is a serial GPS, as alleycat suspected (but using mini-USB connector) and you know the official pin information. Then it may be easier.
_________________
Pc-Mobile
http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm

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