How to assemble our "pPlug" connector, and make a cable.
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First time here? Please start at pfranc.com so you know what's going on with the plugs-for-a-pledge idea.

DIY cable schematic for: Kennwood TH-D7A transceiver. to Garmin GPS.

Pinouts for: Nikon D1X and D1H. to Garmin GPS.

How to make eTrex and eMap cables, go here.

Checkout my review of the coolest new Garmin GPS for you car: nuvi-660

WARNINGS!

  1. You can burn up your GPS with the power cable you make with my Plug.   Be extra careful if you have a low voltage model, the ones with 5 pin plugs. My connector lets you connect to the 5 pin models. The 5 pin models want no more than 8 volts! The 4 pin models can take 32 volts and some even 40 volts.
    Figure out what your unit can handle before making a power cable. If you make a cable that can supply more than 8 volts (like a cigarette lighter) then make it into a 4 pin plug by inserting the little plug plug I provide with the kit. (Get it? A plug for a plug is a plug plug?) Be responsible. Save a Garmin. It could be yours. (BTW, The Rx data line is OK with COM port voltages (+/-12V), no problem). (BTBTW, as of 12/1/2001 (5 years and 175,000 plugs later) I have not received one report of anyone burning up a GPS. Good going guys!

  2. You MUST put a fuse in if you make a power cable or you could easily set your car on fire! Cigarette lighter sockets provide enough power to light up a cigarette and the wire in your cable. Your Garmin doesn't need much power and it's nice to use small wire so just make sure the fuse is right for the wire. A 1/2 amp fuse should be good for 28 AWG wire and larger. If your wire is smaller than 28 AWG you'll want an even smaller fuse. The good news is, every cigarette lighter plug I've ever seen has a fuse built in already so all you have to do is make sure it's the right amperage rating.

  3. Address RF. You can add a ferrite bead to reduce RF (Radio Frequency) interference. Adding a cable is like adding an antenna to your GPS, a broadcast antenna not a receiving one. It can broadcast the RF generated inside. The FCC Compliance Statement in your Garmin manual explains your responsibility.

  4. Any other issues, please let me know. We never expected this to be so successful. We are sure to draw fire as we get larger so we want to be the best world citizens we can be and set an example for others. An example of how to be successful using the simple powerful tools of trust, honor, freedom, cool people, and the internet! We want to follow all the rules. We want to be responsible and do everything right, and we think you want us to too --> so help out. Garmin is a good company, an amazing company of amazing people. We think that in a small way our Pfranc project here helped Garmin become the #1 GPS manufacture in the world (though they became "the-best" - all on their own:), and that's why I continue to buy GRMN stock. every time I can.

    5. Ding,
    Dong,
    Ding,
    Dong,

    Super Pfranc Dave Sorensin, professional custom cable maker of Wisconsin USA, created this drawing for us. And Markku, Pfranc of Finland, has recently brought it up to date. Thanks guys! What a great team!

    Assembly diagram

    1) Assemble the connector as shown above except leave the cap off.

    2) Solder your wires to the pins but do not make the pins too hot, too long, which can melt the plastic. It is best to "tin" the pins with flux core solder, and "tin" the wires, then "re-flow" each pre tinned wire to each pre-tinned pin with the touch of the iron. Ideally the iron tip is about the width of a pin, tinned (shiny clean), and about 650degF. Finally,

    3) Install the cap.

    Please PLUG-up the center hole if you do not need it!

    I added the center hole in the mold so the connector would fit Garmin units other than my GPS-45. What a nice guy. Later I learned that the 5 pin Garmin requires regulated voltage (less than 8 volts), unlike my 45. That's why Garmin added the 5th center pin. To protect it from unregulated power cables. So if you build a unregulated power cable, plug the hole so your cable cannot someday accidentally cook a 5 pin Garmin! I even added a plastic plug plug part to the mold to make it real easy for you, so use it! You can always remove it later (see how here) if you need to.
    Lets make a PC cable ... for Mac     see below.
    The pin-out for the 45 is found in Appendix F ( page 55 ) of the GPS 45 Owner's Manual & Reference, and Dr. V's great graphic below. Notice the view (in your manual) is the "cable view" as if looking at the connector on the cable from ... um, which direction?... very confusing. Not a problem with Dr. T.V.'s super diagram, take note Garmin! (... UPDATE: Garmin has improved with every new model! Congrats Garmin! ) Notice the position of the key-way notch. Notice if you get power and ground backwards you will make your new GPS all black inside! (... more updates: I've put + and - and R and T right in the mold so you can check it easy ... Congrats to Me! )

    Use a red wire for Power(+) and a black wire for Ground(-). When your finished cable is plugged in (with no power attached!!!), check that the red wire is on the same side of your GPS-45 as the antenna. OTHER GPS models, I do not know! You have to know so check it out!

    I understand that Power can be from +7VDC to +32VDC (way cool)...but not the GPS-12 or GPS-38! (and maybe others) ...which needs 5VDC to 8VDC max.... read ... do not exceed EIGHT volts! Did you know that a car's battery can be 18VDC or more? If you have one of the "low voltage" GPS's, see a regulated power supply by John Mills that is adjustable and has extra protections added... thanks John. Notice that John answered the question about the best voltage setting, ... it's 7.3 Volts!

    To connect to a PC just attach a DB-9 female connector to your cable: Pin 3 is "TxD" which means Transmit Data - aka "data-out-of-the-PC" which you want to hook up to "DATA IN" of the Garmin. Pin 2 is "input to the PC" labeled "RxD" for "Receive Data" - which you want to hook up to "DATA OUT" of the Garmin, and lastly pin 5 is ground which you want to hook up to the GROUND pin of the Garmin.

    Several people have have said a dead mouse tail makes a great cable.

    Look
    there's
    a moose,

    The Dr. T.V. diagram.

    Check this out here .... Man, is this gorgeous or what? I bet this would cost IBM a thousand USD to draw in-house (in the old IBM). Dr. Thomas Vonesch of Switzerland did this! He did this for us, for our open project, for free! Speaking for all of us cable builders let me say; "Thank you Dr. T.V.")

    If you need that round connector above... Click here. Now about the drawing. "Gruezi" ... (means "Hi" in Swiss-German) Dr. T.V. made this and e-mailed it to me 17JUL96. (IBM stock was about $12 per share) Look, it's my cool connector, in this beautiful drawing! It is so clear, functional, accurate, informative, concise, robust, ambiguity-free (not my connector, the drawing!) ... ya-know when you see something that looks really good, at first glance, you think, this looks too good , beauty is only skin deep, so you try to pick it apart and find its faults? ...maybe its just me, anyway... the less you find, the more you pick and at some point you fall in awe, and watch-out, because you may start to learn something...wow, then you really like it and begin to appreciate the work, knowledge, and experience required to create it? Maybe not. Well this is one of those, above, with Swiss precision and attention to detail, I don't know what to say to the creator, except: Thank you (Mail-to:) Dr. Thomas Vonesch of Switzerland, I stand in awe. (may I say/list/link something here to show "OUR" (all that see this) appreciation of your work? ) ........sorry....i can't stop...look at those gold (not yellow) pins! Listen world. You are looking at the best , I know this stuff, trust me. You want the world class best example to follow? You found it. Confirmation that the best things in life are free.

    Update: 12/2006 (10 years after writing the above), FREE? We love free. Plugs-for-a-pledge. Free help, free advice. IBM is pushing $100/share again, (after splitting 2:1 twice!), and did you notice Dr. T.V.s email address? Philips? Did you know Philips purchased Navteq many years ago and has invested hundreds of $millions developing the database? And now every GPS manufacutre wants/needs it? And Navteq has gone public, (NVT), and has traded from the $20's to the $50's. I think it will skyrocket like IBM, GRMN, and Google has since I first started this page here! Google these three words: [ Garmin Navteq stock ]. Hey, we not only send you plugs and help you make cables - we also help you get rich too! How about that?

    "You want POWER and DATA?" (me too:-) No problem.  Just do it.  The ground pin on the GPS is used for both power and data.  It is no problem for the GPS, power supply, and computer to share the same ground.  Matter of fact, it's a good thing!

    POWER from USB? Maybe. It's only 5 V but you can take 500mA per device if the device declares it's a "high power" device to Windows (but - who cares? --- unless you have lots of devices competing for limited host power). See what I did to power my eTrex from my USB-serial converter here. One guy said it worked with his GPS III but ran down the batteries first, so he keeps a set of pre-run-down batteries for the long trips. You could run it with no batteries but have to give up the UPS feature where the pre-run-down ones will give you some UPS. I wonder if one could use a "dummy" AA cell? 3 new ones = 3 x 1.6V = 4.8V, pretty low. Would someone try it and let us know? (10/1/02) larry.

    The Mark Zimmerman Power/Data cable. 11/98

    More great information!  Our Pfranc in New Jersey USA is getting power from his laptop keyboard port!   It's only 5 volts so no regulator is needed for those Garmins that can't handle over 8 volts.  (Note: You may need to remove your batteries else the 5 volt supply could drain them.  If you know more about this please contact me.) Zim created some awesome drawings and wrote up a great "how-to" page. How to build a Better Garmin Cable for your laptop PC.   I am once again amazed.  Zim is a professional computer graphics artist, and writes good too!  He did all this work just to help you make a cable!  I am amazed that all these great people have done all this great work ... not for me, ... for you!   Remember when you honor your pledge that the money you send is not just for my little plastic connector but for our great Pfranc service and all this great information.   To honor your pledge is to honor us, our system, our efforts, and because it confirms our theory that most people are cool, honoring your pledge actually goes full circle and ends up honoring you! And pushes us to continue - so to earn and honor your honor. (i could go on and on - um, actually, that's the idea and point I guess... us going on and on.)

    Give him
    a noose, ---

    merry, merry,
    merry Christmas.

    Merry, Merry,
    Merry Christmas.

    MERRY,
    MERRY,
    MERRY Christmas!

    It's time to
    have a beer.

    A Garmin to Garmin cable.
    Think of all the cool things you can do with this cable. Copy all your data to a friends GPS right in the field! To make one, get 2 of my connectors and wire In to Out and Out to In and Ground to Ground. Now, that was easy, and thanks to us Pfrancs you save a bunch of money and get the parts fast and easy.

    Macintosh? We didn't forget the Mac! Thanks to Pfranc Christer in Sweden! Check it out here: Clove Technology home page. Not only does he tell you how to make a cable for your Mac, he will send you software too!

    Here is a great website with a page about how to assemble our pPlug with neat photos and all: WeetHet

    Please send any comments, help with links, facts, words, spelling, syntax, format, presentation, etc... (even if a comma is out of place).... E-mail to: Click here .... thanks!

    IPO: 2/96, last update: 10/99 ... Ideas and Help editing thanks to: Dr.T.V., Larry C., Russell Inman, Dave Sorensin (Pfranc of WI), Steve Hodgson, Robert Inouye, Nick Moore (Pfranc of AL), Martyn Johnson, Martin Jaunzemis, Mark Zimmerman (Pfranc of NJ), Markku Tamminen (Pfranc of Finland), José Ramos (Pfranc of Portugal), Dr. Antonio Rodríguez Franco (Pfranc of Spain), John Mills (www.milair.co.uk), and many others.

    Countless hits since 17Feb97. This WAS our most "hit" page, but now, almost 10 years later, Nov 2005, it's "viewed" about 1800 times per month and is 0.7 percent (yes less than one percent) of the page views at Pfranc.com. Our number one most viewed page this month is the USB-serial page at over 22,000 per month, which is still only 8 percent. Wow, look at that, Pfranc.com averages 3000 "visitors" and 8000 "page views" PER DAY!

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