GPS advice please

[offrd]

Thanks,

I just ordered a garmin vista HCX and included bar mount, car mount and car charger!

[cooneyr]

Thanks,

I just ordered a garmin vista HCX and included bar mount, car mount and car charger!

Oh umm - the bar mount and the etrex don't really work on motorbikes. The power connectors onto the main circuit board are sprung fingers (I hope this makes sense) and they can often part ways (the fingers and the main board) i.e. loose contact when bumpy. This means the unit shuts down which is a pain in the arse if you don't notice it and restart it.

The ram mounts work a treat as does my home made special for damping out the bumps which eliminates this problem. In saying this give the bar mount ago but just don't rely on it being on if you use the bar mount.

Cheers R

[offrd]

Oh umm - the bar mount and the etrex don't really work on motorbikes. The power connectors onto the main circuit board are sprung fingers (I hope this makes sense) and they can often part ways (the fingers and the main board) i.e. loose contact when bumpy. This means the unit shuts down which is a pain in the arse if you don't notice it and restart it.

The ram mounts work a treat as does my home made special for damping out the bumps which eliminates this problem. In saying this give the bar mount ago but just don't rely on it being on if you use the bar mount.

Cheers R

Oh crap..... Well it can sit in the clear map section on my tank bag then!

and what is this ram mount and your special home made mount?????

One last thing to sort.....

easting / northing and NZMG....

Just my luck it it wont do that....

and how to convert a location on google into northing/easting

[Transalper]

and what is this ram mount and your special home made mount?????

Ram Soultions NZ guy... Click me.
By the time you get all the bits it's not the cheapest of things but it is versatile and works for me. Infact i went and made a second purchase so now have enough RAM bits to mount my roll chart box and gps at the same time.

[NordieBoy]

Oh umm - the bar mount and the etrex don't really work on motorbikes. The power connectors onto the main circuit board are sprung fingers (I hope this makes sense) and they can often part ways (the fingers and the main board) i.e. loose contact when bumpy. This means the unit shuts down which is a pain in the arse if you don't notice it and restart it.

Vasaline is your friend...

[offrd]

Vasaline is your friend...

SLAP

[cooneyr]

Oh crap..... Well it can sit in the clear map section on my tank bag then!

and what is this ram mount and your special home made mount?????

One last thing to sort.....

easting / northing and NZMG....

Just my luck it it wont do that....

and how to convert a location on google into northing/easting

Home made mount is a little close to the "real deal" but lets just say it
involves some alloy tube split lengthways, some alloy flat, some bolts and tap washers like these


The unit will do lat long, NZMG and a whole host of other co-ord systems that are for far flung countries. In saying this pretty much everything on the web is typically done in lat long - I don't think NZMG will work with Google earth. Unfortunately co-ord systems are generally hard to change between. Apparently NZMG is a twelve term function or something ????

Vasaline is your friend...

If you can get it apart in such a way that you can get it back together again which apparently is not impossible but not something I want to try. The terminals of concern are buried somewhere inside.

Cheers R

[upshift]

Oh umm - the bar mount and the etrex don't really work on motorbikes. The power connectors onto the main circuit board are sprung fingers (I hope this makes sense) and they can often part ways (the fingers and the main board) i.e. loose contact when bumpy. This means the unit shuts down which is a pain in the arse if you don't notice it and restart it.

The ram mounts work a treat as does my home made special for damping out the bumps which eliminates this problem. In saying this give the bar mount ago but just don't rely on it being on if you use the bar mount.

Cheers R

Commonly called Vibration Induced Shutdown. Additionally there is a small spark across the contacts everytime they seperate which will give rise to a resistive oxide on the contacts which makes this even worse. My first GPS had problems on the very first day I had it on the bike and then continued to have intermittent shutdown problems permanently, even off the bike. Eventually fixed by cleaning all contacts (internally to the cct board plus within battery compartment) with iso-propyl.

RAM mount is needed. Possibly also di-electric grease on the circuit board contacts as well. It is possible to solder the spring contacts to the board but of course I'm not recommending that. You can alternatively power it from the bike 12v supply with appropriate voltage regulation but still need to watch all the contacts in the power supply path. e.g. blade fuse instead of a spring held one, di-electric grease on all contacts.

You can convert co-ordinates here
http://www.linz.govt.nz/apps/coordin...ons/index.html
but may cause you even more confusion initially, as well as different projections and datums there are decimal minutes or decimal degrees etc.

WGS84 is the reference system that is used by GPS receivers. This is essentially the same as New Zealand Geodetic Datum 2000 (NZGD2000) which is the official datum for NZ and off shore islands. No conversion is necessary between the two. You can convert from NZMG at the above link.

[NordieBoy]

RAM mount is needed.

Not really.
The RAM is only one way of doing it.

Proper preparation with di-electric grease (vasaline) helps.
Vasaline is clear, non-staining and thick.
It helps by damping the movement of the batteries as well.

[upshift]

Finally found the link I was looking for last night on this subject so will put it here for future reference. Explains the problem and how to avoid it plus some specifics for Garmin 60 series and etrex models.

http://www.cycoactive.com/gps/gps_batteries.html

Not an issue for those with Zumo's of course {is there a smilie for envy?}