I have some problems with it and you helped me a lot. I have the same problem: in my application my laptop for GPS does not have a serial port so I have used your idea and use a USB to Serial Converter. After all everything works perfectly. Thanks a lot for this and for the great article.

Regards,

Steve Riberton from mobile application development

Is there not a way to adapt this to the usb cable or would this be insanely hard?

Biodiesel,
Have you found a forum for discussing Streets vs Delorme? I'm not completely happy with Streets but would like to find a forum to discuss Delorme to see if it has the same shortcomings.
Dale Stevens

Dale,

This is actually 2 cables used as one, you can buy the following cables.

1. A usb to Serial Adaptor Cable.
2. A Serial IDEN Transfer Cable.

If you plug the serial IDEN cable into the USB adaptor ..POOF.. you have a USB to IDEN phone cable that will get the NMEA data into your MS streets software. The problem with this is this won't charge your phone, whats detailed in the post is the connections necessary to bring 5v power from the USB-serial adaptor to charge the phone.

Also there is one more option, I have been researching different USB to Serial Chips, and found a realy nice solution, that would allow this to be done in a single cable. I have not yet made a Circuit board for this, But if you could help finance the circuit board, we are probably talking about under $50-75. I will make 2 single type cables for you. I will be posting another Entry talking about this. Either today or Tommorow.

Robogeek

Robogeek,
I have one cable which is USB and plugs straight into the i530, with this cable I can manage/synch phone books, update the phone, and the computer recognizes it as a modem (although I never have been able to connect), it does NOT charge the battery. I ordered a serial cable (looks like a serial cable on one end, other end into the i530) last night which I HOPE will work NMEA to Streets 2006. I assume this will kill battery life, your mod would be great. I have over $50 invested in cables that don't do what I want, so two which work would be well worth it. I have over 30 drivers in my company who want GPS. Several have their own laptops and use Streets. Figure out how much for two, I'll give one to the senior driver, and I'll use the other, when they see how it works everyone may want one. I suppose an important question I haven't asked yet is "Does the phone and 2-way work while outputting NMEA?" If not, I'm back to square one and might as well start looking for cheap GPS antennae/receiver.
Thanks
Jeff

I will Check it with my setup then let you know, I can also see how much making 30 will cost the highest cost will probably be the Circuit board.

Tim

Dale,
Let me describe what goes on with the GPS phone while it is outputting NMEA data.

Options:

• GPS Only - The GPS data is sent about 1 time per second for the computer or other device to process.
• 2-Way Comms - When GPS is active and the user uses the 2-way comm, the Phone temporarily stops sending data while the user is actively transmitting or recieving, the GPS will send during silent points
• Phone - While in a call or the phone is attempting to contact the network, the GPS will stop sending data. It will immediatly resume GPS data as soon as the call is ended.

I am not sure whether this is acceptable for you but let me know.

Robogeek

Thanks for all of the help, but, unfortunately, that won't work. Just this week, I was driving down the road, looking at the map, trying to get the directions/address I needed from a client on the phone at the same time. Or more commonly, I am trying to figure out where I am and which way I am going when someone calls me on the 2 way for a maintenance issue which turns out into a 10 minute 3 way phone call with the driver, service shop, and myself. This may seem trivial (losing GPS tempo for these periods of time), but when you are never in the same place, or taking the same route, it is very easy to get lost. I *really* need the Streets 2006 Voice commannds to work correctly ALL the time. I think my best bet is USB or serial GPS antennae. Most of these can be magnet mounted on the outside of the vehicle and are weather resistant. I have one (Holux GM-210) which is USB and only works for about 20 mins before it stops communicating with the computer. I'll keep working on it and thanks for all of the help.
Jeff

Josh,
Yes I beleive the falcon NNTN5406, Is a solution to the charging issue for the serial connection, there still remains the fact that I really don't want a serial connection, I want a USB connection because my laptop I use for GPS doesn't have any serial ports, also the if I used the falcon in my car, I would have to have 3 cables to accomplish what I can do in a single cable.

Robogeek

Jimi,
I am going to make an assumption here and that is your +Ve is about 5 volts. You have 3 options (Soldering is involved with the first 2):

1. Easy but not so neat option - Connect a wire from your +Ve pin on your RJ11 connector to pin 3 in the motorola connector. This is accomplished by the following steps:
   
   • Pop your motorola connector open by using a Pin or other device where the cable goes into the motorola connector and prying the 2 halves apart.
   • Solder your wire to pin 3 it is the closest toward the center in the small group of 3 pins.
   • Figure out some way for the Wire to exit the connector... Drill a small hole, squish it when you close up the connector, any old way.
   • Close up the connector shell, ensuring the 2 retaining clips are in their proper location.
   • Zip tie the dangling wire ever 2 inches .... Yeah right... so it doesn't look too ugly and dangle everywhere.
   • admire your work and jump up and down in jubilation that you finally figured this problem out.
2. Neat but not so easy option - you can cut up your cable and spend 2 hours putting it back together
• Start by connecting your +Ve to pin 4 on the Serial DB 9 Connector
• Next Bring out the exacto knife and start cutting the neoprene rubber mold from around the circuit board, It's the big bulge in the middle of your cable
• after you have cut it off, PS you are bound to have ripped most of the wires out of the circuit board to wire them back up See the picture in my schematic. be sure to put some heat shrink on the cable big enough to fit around the Circuit Board before reconnecting.
• after you have a regular working cable again, Add the single wire jumper from the pin 4 - 232 hole to the pin 3 hole on the other side
• pull the piece of heat shrink over the Circuit board and shrink it, If it doesn't shrink enough use a zip tie on either side to make it Cinch down on the cable
• Give a nice bow to your cable and thank it for the good fight and then smack it one more time and say "I wipped your butt." and then jump up and down in jubilation... Etc.. Etc..
3. Neat and easy But not free option - Buy a Falcon NNTN5406 Serial cable, It has a standard connector in it like the one on the bottom of the phone so you can plug in your car charger to it.
• Go buy your cable that is on back order and wait for a while.
• When it arrives cry and say why didn't I just do it myself it took forever to get here... Make sure the cable is dry before pluggin it in.

Wow That took awhile to type, My longest reply ever I think. Thanks Jimi for inspiring me to write it.

Robogeek

I'm considering another method but am not sure if it is feasible. What is the minimum number of wines that actually need to reach the phone? lf I can getaway with only 4 wires to the phone then I can look into burying the Serial Cable circuit in the PDA cradle.
I figure I need 5V, ground, TX. I don't think I need RX. Any idea which of the phone connecter pins need to reach the circuit to just get the RS232 TX? out the other side? I need pin 13 as well to tie to ground. I may be able the do that inside the connector though.
I can likely power the serial cable circuit from the pda cradle as well hopefully removing the need for pin 7.

Jim

If all you want to do is get the GPS Data Out I believe the only Serial line you need is TX from the Phone, Charge Power to Pin 3, and ground to pin 1 or 17, as well as a jumper from ground to pin 13 to put the phone in serial mode.

Tell me how it works

Robogeek

Does anyone have or know of any more information on making this modification (pictures, more words, etc)? Or, is there anyone willing to make the modification for a nominal fee?

What do you currently have and where are you trying to get to I would assume you have a nextel phone and want to get GPS data through a USB port.

Most data cables I have purchased have all the pins for the IDEN connector, and you can solder all your own wires into the bottom, as far as the PTT and Mic and earpiece connector I would have to do some research, but the power is easy, Pin 1 or 17 is ground and Pin 3 is power.

Robogeek

I appreciate you taking the time to reply. If it would be easier, you can contact me directly at mongomail@gmail.com

I'm wanting to make the cable and don't know where to get the connector or what conditions the circuits are looking for.

Any help is much appreciated.