Installation of DSC VHF radio to the stock GPS antenna

[tdonoughue]

Success!

I got a Uniden Solara D UM380 radio for Christmas. It supports hookup to a GPS antenna to provide location to the transmitter. I have a 2012 AR240, but I could not find any info on pinouts, etc. on the GPS antenna that comes with the boat for the speedometer, so some experimentation was required...

The antenna is NMEA 0183 compliant. The cable from the antenna has three wires. They are:
Orange - NMEA out +
Red - 12v +
Black - Ground

This is in the compartment forward the helm:

View attachment 1543
I recommend going beyond the connector and making any connection on the boat side of the wiring. The wires from the antenna to the connector are very thin. Those on the boat side of the connector are normal gauge. Colors are the same on either side.

View attachment 1544

Radio manual said to hook ground to ground and then just the yellow radio wire (NMEA in +) to the NMEA out +. I hooked the radio ground to black, positive in to orange and got nothing. Tried a few things and finally hooked the radio NMEA in - to black as well. Poof! Lots of nice data.

So, black from the antenna may be NMEA out - as well. However you want to call it, but it works. Hope that helps someone.

The final install...

View attachment 1546
View attachment 1545

 

[tdonoughue]

Aw crud. Anyone know how to delete this one? Looks like it posted it twice...

Oh! @ tool. @Julian , help...

 

[steined]

Dumb question, but it might save me $50. Does the NEMA bus run after the gauges go out? IE, if the motors quit, does the GPS receiver still send out GPS coordinates? I'm trying to decide between a Standard Horizon 1600 and 1700 explorer and am trying to make the $50 decision of built in GPS vs tapping the existing antenna. Thanks in advance.

 

[davel501]

Dumb question, but it might save me $50. Does the NEMA bus run after the gauges go out? IE, if the motors quit, does the GPS receiver still send out GPS coordinates? I'm trying to decide between a Standard Horizon 1600 and 1700 explorer and am trying to make the $50 decision of built in GPS vs tapping the existing antenna. Thanks in advance.

It looks like the GPS plugs into the wiring harness from the engines so it seems like it should be off within 20 seconds of when the engines are off. http://www.yamahasportsplaza.com/oemparts/a/yam/5003a1a7f870021f60a1210a/electrical-4

 

[tdonoughue]

@steined , I know of no reason why it would not work. If the engines or gauges go out, they just stop transmitting or receiving on the bus. That should not affect the other items (GPS) transmitting or (radio) receiving on the bus. Now, if you break the bus (e.g. Unplug it at the motor or at the tach) and don't either reconnect it or put the proper terminal resistor on it, that will cause it to fail.

Of course, the power must be on to the GPS as well. But as long as it has power, it should transmit.

 

[davel501]

@steined , I know of no reason why it would not work. If the engines or gauges go out, they just stop transmitting or receiving on the bus. That should not affect the other items (GPS) transmitting or (radio) receiving on the bus. Now, if you break the bus (e.g. Unplug it at the motor or at the tach) and don't either reconnect it or put the proper terminal resistor on it, that will cause it to fail.

Of course, the power must be on to the GPS as well. But as long as it has power, it should transmit.

That looks to be the same bus that I tap to tell my DVSR to engage because it only has power when the boat is running.

 

[tdonoughue]

The engine output line will have charge only when the engines are running. So that would work if you hooked in to the proper side of the bus down there by the engines.

The GPS is powered with the aux circuit and passes power to the bus from its side. It is not hooked to the output of the engines; it is hooked to the input side of the tach.

 

[davel501]

Nice! Time to start trying not to shop for radios. Maybe I will look at the AIS ones, they should be expensive enough to keep me from going further over my mod budget this season.

 

[steined]

Lmao @davel501... I tried putting it off too.

I ended up getting the standard horizon 1700 with gps. I did not want the engines to have to be on for dsc with gps to work. The antenna mount, antenna, fuses, wire, dust cover and tower mounts add up quickly!

This boat is a hole in the water just like my old one, only now I'm spending money on cool shit instead of fixing it!

 

[davel501]

Lmao @davel501... I tried putting it off too.

I ended up getting the standard horizon 1700 with gps. I did not want the engines to have to be on for dsc with gps to work. The antenna mount, antenna, fuses, wire, dust cover and tower mounts add up quickly!

This boat is a hole in the water just like my old one, only now I'm spending money on cool shit instead of fixing it!

Yeah...did not take me long to find this at all: http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Horizon-GX2150W-Matrix-Marine/dp/B00B8I6EZ8/ref=sr_1_32?s=marine&ie=UTF8&qid=1399001010&sr=1-32&keywords=marine+radios+vhf#productDetails

 

[Captbob]

You can get that radio for $ 229 with free shipping and a rebate on line.

 

[Captbob]

Correction! I did not notice that the model was not the 1700 gx. Sorry

 

[PreciousMetals]

@tdonoughue , where did you mount your antenna? Not the connection for the GPS as mentioned earlier, but your main antenna.

 

[Captbob]

Here is where I put it with an aerial plastic snap at the end tip.

 

[PreciousMetals]

Perfect. And it answered another question I had about the hull penetration. Thank you!!!!

 

[tdonoughue]

I cheated a bit on that one. I don't have a photo handy, but I put it aft the aft post of the tower, starboard side. I ran the wire just up over the gunwale, between the two cusions, between them, down to the bottom of the cusion and the forward, to the right of the throttles and to the radio. Not a permanent install on that one yet. @Captbob has a much better job of it.

Like I said I cheated.

 

[PreciousMetals]

Where did you tap for your power?

 

[Captbob]

Where did you tap for your power?

I ran the wires from the compartment back of the dash under the floor by lifting the floor lid over the gas tank and hooked it directly to the battery. A Coast Guard course I took many years ago recommended that the VHF radio be tied directly to the battery in case there would ever be an electrical issue in the system and the battery still had power. In that way, you could still issue a distress call. (Hopefully!!!)

 

[steined]

Where did you tap for your power?

I installed a fuse block and ran wire back to it from the battery house battery switch. However what @Captbob says has merit. I was just worried I might leave it on and drain the battery. I can still do that if I forget to kill the house switch though.

 

[Captbob]

I installed a fuse block and ran wire back to it from the battery house battery switch. However what @Captbob says has merit. I was just worried I might leave it on and drain the battery. I can still do that if I forget to kill the house switch though.

You should be good if you ran it to the main switch back at the battery. I believe many people just hook it up to the wiring under the dash since the radio only requires low power. If fuse on the dash pops, the radio becomes useless. Overloaded wires could cause the wires close by to short out and melt. Another reason to wire the radio as direct and as close to the battery as possible. That was the Coast Guard's thinking when I took the class. They must have seen some bad experiences for those who did not take that precaution.