and writes:
• • • Please send your comments and amazing DIY creations to: [Click here.] Thank you! • • •
December 2006 - wow nothing added to this page in 5 years?, Wow. Well, don't miss a great site about making your own home-made Garmin eTrex data cable here at Jens Seiler's web in Germany! --- I don't know why he has no mention of Pfrancdom there, sure hope he didn't have a bad experience with any of our many Pfrancs over the years. Now after 10 years and limiting the number of Pfrancs we as a team are all "on the same page" and make sure that every experience with Pfrancdom is a good one. People are funny, me, I'll never forget the good beer I had hitch-hiking through Dortmund in 1973, I think it cost $0.25 and was called Dortmunder Beer. And the third German word I learned was "Stecker".
#12 - 06APR2001 -- Joao Seabra sends this photo and writes:
Hi! Here is yet another etrex/emap cable made with a phone card and some glue! I send some pictures if you want to add it to your "Amazing DYD etrex plugs" The whole procedure can be found at: http://www.aac.uc.pt/~seabra/etrex.html Best Regards, Joao Seabra
#11 - 20Nov2000 -- Marty Schultz sends this photo 
Hi,
After seeing the DIY page thought I'd share a picture of mine.
Made this with a sherline mill and a piece of scrap lexan, the gold
wires are from an RJ-45 connector.
Later,
--
Marty Schultz schultz@science.widener.edu
http://science.widener.edu/~schultz
Go to Martys web site and see his ethanol rotate!
#10 - 26Sept2000 -- Aleksander Erbert from Slovenia
Hi!
Thanks for the inspiration. The first prototype
worked but was very ugly. This one isnt beautiful
but it isn't ugly neither. The contacts are taken
from a big PC-two side card conector with abouth
100 small conectors on-the ones I used. They
are gold plated and they work great!
Regards Aleksander Erbert
Slovenia
#9 - 26JUL2000 -- John Purbrick from Boston,MA writes:
I'm glad to see that work on your Etrex connector is progressing well--and I'm impressed with the standard to which you're doing it! However, being impatient and cheap ($50 from Garmin is too damn much) I made my own. I was intrigued to see that others have done the same, and that you've posted pictures of their efforts. Herewith are some pictures of my design. The body of the connector is a stack of styrene sheets, solvent-bonded together. The circuit board is attached with epoxy, and it wasn't etched but instead I just sawed slots in it to create 4 isolated strips. The gold-plated wires were removed from an RJ-45 connector (modular telephone jack). Note that the wires each fit in a slot in the front of the connector so they don't wander around, and also that each has a bend in it which presses down on the contact of the Etrex. The Etrex contacts are almost flush with the surface, so this seemed necessary. The whole job was done at the MIT Model Railroad Club (famed in song and story). Pfrancly, John Purbrick J_Purbrick@yahoo.com
#8 - JUL2000 -- Joonas Lehtinen from Finland writes:
Hi, Here are quick instructions how to make etrex data-connector in 10 minutes. You need: - Old creditcard - Dead mouse - Hot glue - Leatherman - Resistance meter 1) Cut the mouse cord from mouse end and peel the cords 2) Find out which cord goes to which hole in the connector using resistance meter. 3) Cut a piece of creditcard which fits the etrex connector (take a look of the pictures). 4) Make holes into etrex connector for wires and glue the cord to its place as shown in pictures. -- Joonas ==-- Joonas Lehtinen -=- jole@jole.fi -=- http://www.jole.fi --== ===-- TUCS (www.tucs.fi) & University of Turku (www.utu.fi) --=== ====--- Ylioppilaskyla 15 A 10 -===- 20540 Turku, Finland ---==== =====--- GSM/SMS +358-40-5035001 -==- FAX +358-2-2410154 ---=====
#7 - 24JUL2000 -- Torsten Schlegel from Germany writes:
Hi Larry! Great Page! I like the Hardware-Etrex Projekt very much. My first try to built an etrex-connector looks as same as Stefano Collina version on your Web Page. My second try i built 4 weeks ago works very good and I'am very proud of it. I've taken epoxy-plates from a RC-Car an mini-springs. But now i'm very interrested in your gold-plated extra super version. How long does lasts till it is availlable in Germany? bye, Torsten (Germany)
#6 - July 19,2000 -- Stefano Collina of Italy says:
Today is arrived from USA my e-trex summit
and for download the new software i have made
this connector (easy to made) end work !!!!!!
Sorry but I don't speek english good !!!
Stefano Collina
Audio Service 2 - Bologna - Italy.
audioste@tin.it
#5 - July 7,2000 -- Federico Cavallo of Italy says:
Hi Pfranc guys, I just want to show you a connector I build for my emap, maybe it may give you some good ideas, who knows. It's made up of a strip of contacts, spaced of 2.54mm (the usual strip you can buy in any eletronic store); the good thing about it is that it's very very simple, and so very easy and fast to build (I made the whole cable for me in about half an hour). It's firm (you don't have to keep pushing on it with your fingers :-) but, as you can see from the picture (I apologize for the poor quality of it), you have to remove the battery cover, and it's not very strong. Also you have to bend a bit the pins (I gave them a "spoon" shape); if you want to use the emap and a notebook to travel around you have to find a better connector, but I use it at home and it does his job well. I haven't better ideas at the moment, I hope you can find something better!! Bye!
#4 - July 4,2000 -- Independance Day! -- Bernhard Stark says:
hi Larry, As I was too impatient waiting for your etrex connector, I decided trying to build my own. I simply took a small piece of plastic fitting into the connector-slot and wrapped around a cable. (see attached picture) That's it; I know that this connector is quite provisional, but it is cheap and robust. Perhaps you could put the attached picture on your homepage for that people know how to build a cheap and working connector. Greetings, Bernhard Stark
#3 - June 13, 2000 -- Martin (aka Sneezy) from Australia writes:
I've had a more detailed look at it now. I have attached a JPG image that you can print out. The Blue lines indicate where the PCB would be cut to form the 'leaf springs' for the contacts. There are two problems however. Strength of the small remaining amount of PCB material around the outside. Also the cut required to allow the raised 'key' in the slot on the etrex to fit (I did not notice it the first time) which weakens the 'frame' around the four contacts . It may be that the PCB would need to be cut back further and be glued to some sort of moulded plastic carrier for frame strength and to fit to the right depth in the slot. The 'key' could be ignored as I don't see how it could be inserted upside down if it had a carrier. Regards Martin
#2 - June,09,2000 -- Thomas Tonino, also from the Netherlands, made this one and he says: "It is a sanded down piece of epoxy board. I used wire wrap pins and cable from an old serial mouse. The pins are too stiff, but the contact is ok. I had to sand the pins down because they would get stuck on the raised contacts and also scratched the yellow plastic."
#1 - June,08,2000 -- Adri of the Netherlands made a connector for the eTrex using a thin square of plastic and 3 nails. Someone told me a old (or the wife's) credit card works great as a source of plastic material.
See my eplug ==> here.
To my BACK to connector page here.
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since July 2000.