GPS connection From HDS 5 Gen 1 to Link-5 both Lowrance

[ken rickards]

Hi Ken here.I have been trying in vein to get my Lowrance link-5 VHF to receive the GPS co-ordinates from the 2010 HDS 5 gen 1 (updated to 4.1) for DSC.I was told by Lowrance that yellow goes to yellow and blue goes to green on the VHF and to put the NMEA 0183 to on.I have done this and reset everything and I have even measured the voltage at the yellow yellow connection and the blue green connection and I am getting around 3 volts.Has anyone got any Ideas thanks Ken

[noelex 77]

Welcome to the forum Ken

It sounds like blue and green are NMEA in and out, but you also need ground.

Connect the black wires as well

[continuouswave]

Originally Posted by ken rickards

...Has anyone...any Ideas[?]

I express my ideas on how to interconnect NMEA-0183 devices in

continuousWave: Whaler: Reference: NMEA-0183 Interconnection Guide

Originally Posted by ken rickards

...I have even measured the voltage at the yellow yellow connection and the blue green connection and I am getting around 3 volts.

I don't see much use in making DC voltage measurements of these serial data signals. The signals are continually changing levels. A DC measurement just gives some sort of averaged voltage. It is not a diagnostic test.


According to the Lowrance Operator's Guide for the LINK-5

http://www.lowrance.com/Root/Lowranc...0244-001_w.pdf

the NMEA-1083 interface is wired on the connector pig tail as follows

TALKER A = Orange
TALKER B = Black

LISTENER A = Yellow
LISTENER B = Green

According to the Lowrance Installation Guide for the HDS series

http://www.lowrance.com/Root/Lowranc...0043-001_w.pdf

the NMEA-0183 interface is wired on the Power-Data cord as follows:

TALKER A = Yellow
TALKER B = Blue

LISTENER A = Orange
LISTENER B = Green

Interconnect them as I explain in my guide.

After making the electrical connections, you have to configure the two devices. Configure the chart plotter to send the appropriate data on its NMEA-0183 circuit. Configure the radio to listen for input on its NMEA-0183 circuit.

On the HDS devices you can usually configure the NMEA circuits as shown in

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/ref....html#NMEA0183

Read the documentation for the radio carefully. Some radios are rather fussy about precisely which NMEA sentence they want to receive in order to be able to obtain the position data they are looking for. You must set the chart plotter to send the exact NMEA sentence the radio is looking for.

Of course, there is the matter of baud rate. Configure the ports to use the same baud rate.

[ken rickards]

Hi Thanks noelex and continouswave.I have connected the wires as in the manuals although the Link-5 manual says talker neg or black should be grounded.Our Boat is Aluminium so I have everything Negative back to the Battery.I have tried the shield wire from HDS and radio back to the Neg on the Battery also.The Lowrance guy only wanted the talker wires from the HDS connected to the receiver wires of the Link-5.I looked at the link that continuouswave sent and the HD8 manual has way more information in it as well as features.My HDS 5 has only RS-422 protocol and the radio only has NMEA 0183 at 4800 baudrate which i have also set in the output of the HDS unit.The radio receives RMC,GGA,GLL and GNS data sentences The HDS has been set on all these except GNS which hasn't got and I have no idea what they are.I have checked with an ohm metre all the com cable and the radio plug extention.If I connect the return talker receiver wires the NMEA 0183 turns up on the HDS but of cause I want the data going the other way.I also set the com port on the radio to on.I bought the radio thinking they are both Lowrance and number 5 models and thought this should be easy.I am still at a loss Ken

[continuouswave]

An active output line should not be grounded. Just connect the TALKER B to LISTENER B, without grounding them.

Based on your narrative you have likely properly interfaced the two devices. If they don't work, the cause could be a defect in one of them. Getting a device from Lowrance that has a defect right out of the box is not unknown.

Double check that you have enabled NMEA-0183 output on that sub-menu or bullet-indicator choice.

[ken rickards]

Hi and Thanks everyone especially continuouswave for your help I will get someone in with a bit more expertise Ken