13 May
2005
13 May
'05
11:02 p.m.
The Palm isn't quite 10 years old yet, but at least this is cool
hand-held tech...
I have this Rand McNally Navman/Streetfinder GPS that wraps around a
Palm III, and I have lost track of which wall wart charges it up.
There is, of course, no power information molded into the case, and as
of yet, I have been unable to google any specs. Does anyone on the
list happen to have one of these, or even just know what the input
voltage is? I suspect it might be 12V, so that a simple lead can
charge it in the car, but even an examination of the innards hasn't
been revealing. I did run across a variable voltage car adapter with
the right tip set to 9V. Since I don't have many devices with that
particular tip (it's the smallest female coax connector in the
standard Radio Shack kit), I have reason to suspect that I may have
rigged this up some years ago, but I have no direct proof.
I realize I should have scrawled the power info on the back with a
Sharpie, something I will now do, once I put this thing back in
service.
Thanks for any tips,
-ethan
13 May
13 May
11:06 p.m.
http://mightygps.com/pseries.htm seems to indicate (if this is indeed
the right model) that yes, it does take 12v.
-dhbarr.
On 5/14/05, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
The Palm isn't quite 10 years old yet, but at
least this is cool
hand-held tech...
I have this Rand McNally Navman/Streetfinder GPS that wraps around a
Palm III, and I have lost track of which wall wart charges it up.
There is, of course, no power information molded into the case, and as
of yet, I have been unable to google any specs. Does anyone on the
list happen to have one of these, or even just know what the input
voltage is? I suspect it might be 12V, so that a simple lead can
charge it in the car, but even an examination of the innards hasn't
been revealing. I did run across a variable voltage car adapter with
the right tip set to 9V. Since I don't have many devices with that
particular tip (it's the smallest female coax connector in the
standard Radio Shack kit), I have reason to suspect that I may have
rigged this up some years ago, but I have no direct proof.
I realize I should have scrawled the power info on the back with a
Sharpie, something I will now do, once I put this thing back in
service.
Thanks for any tips,
-ethan
11:13 p.m.
Also, http://www.qsl.net/n2ixd/tracker/ indicates:
[snip]
The 12-channel OEM GPS board is manufactured by Talon Technology. The
one I used was 'hacked' from a Rand McNally Streetfinder GPS for Palm
III.
[snip]
With a little experimenting I've found that the board will operate
satisfactorily from a supply voltage of +4.5V to +15V DC.
-dhbarr.
On 5/14/05, David H. Barr <dhbarr at gmail.com> wrote:
http://mightygps.com/pseries.htm seems to indicate (if
this is indeed
the right model) that yes, it does take 12v.
-dhbarr.
On 5/14/05, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
The Palm isn't quite 10 years old yet, but at
least this is cool
hand-held tech...
I have this Rand McNally Navman/Streetfinder GPS that wraps around a
Palm III, and I have lost track of which wall wart charges it up.
There is, of course, no power information molded into the case, and as
of yet, I have been unable to google any specs. Does anyone on the
list happen to have one of these, or even just know what the input
voltage is? I suspect it might be 12V, so that a simple lead can
charge it in the car, but even an examination of the innards hasn't
been revealing. I did run across a variable voltage car adapter with
the right tip set to 9V. Since I don't have many devices with that
particular tip (it's the smallest female coax connector in the
standard Radio Shack kit), I have reason to suspect that I may have
rigged this up some years ago, but I have no direct proof.
I realize I should have scrawled the power info on the back with a
Sharpie, something I will now do, once I put this thing back in
service.
Thanks for any tips,
-ethan
11:43 p.m.
On 5/14/05, David H. Barr <dhbarr at gmail.com> wrote:
Also, http://www.qsl.net/n2ixd/tracker/ indicates:
[snip]
The 12-channel OEM GPS board is manufactured by Talon Technology. The
one I used was 'hacked' from a Rand McNally Streetfinder GPS for Palm
III.
[snip]
With a little experimenting I've found that the board will operate
satisfactorily from a supply voltage of +4.5V to +15V DC.
Ah-ha! That's quite revealing, especially the NZ connection to Talon
(the Streetfinder has a 'made in New Zealand' sticker). The picture
of the innards does match the innards of mine, so I think we have a
winner.
I've always wanted to get an APRS system set up... I think I may have
to pick up another one of these to hack.
Thanks!
-ethan
11:29 p.m.
On 5/14/05, David H. Barr <dhbarr at gmail.com> wrote:
http://mightygps.com/pseries.htm seems to indicate (if
this is indeed
the right model) that yes, it does take 12v.
Mine is the older model with the flat antenna, not the helical antenna
in the stubby bit, but it does bode well for a nominal 12V supply.
Thanks for the link.
-ethan
14 May
14 May
3:55 p.m.
At 02:02 AM 5/14/05 -0400, you wrote:
The Palm isn't quite 10 years old yet, but at least
this is cool
hand-held tech...
I have this Rand McNally Navman/Streetfinder GPS that wraps around a
Palm III, and I have lost track of which wall wart charges it up.
I have the same problem. Too many wall warts amd too many things that
use them. I now TRY to label the WWs to tell what they're used for as I as
get them. I also take a permanent marker and mark the
voltage/current/polarity on every device so I know what to look for when I
can't find the proper wall wart.
Joe
8:46 p.m.
On 5/14/05, Joe R. <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
I have the same problem. Too many wall warts amd
too many things that
use them. I now TRY to label the WWs to tell what they're used for as I as
get them. I also take a permanent marker and mark the
voltage/current/polarity on every device so I know what to look for when I
can't find the proper wall wart.
I frequently do that, but in this case, for some reason, I did not. :-(
The good news is that it's a very flexible device and can take most of
what gets thrown at it. I happened to have a fixed 6VDC car adapter
with the right plug permanently attached, so I'm using that, but it
turns out that if I find a 12V car lead with the right plug, that will
work, too (13.6VDC and noisy).
Now I just need a way to power the Palm III from an external source
(the batteries don't last when the Palm stays on, as when it's being
used for navigation)... I happen to supplement my paper aviation maps
with my Palm and "Fly!", a PalmOS aviation navigation program, but I
am limited to about 2 hours before having to swap batteries. I now
carry one of those portable car jumper batteries to charge the GPS
while I'm at my destination enjoying my $100 hamburger (so as to avoid
attaching this rig to the airplane's power system), but even with
that, the Palm itself doesn't last through a longer flight. At least
I have the nav app and a GPS compass app written into Flash... I lose
the maps when I lose power, but I can still use the Palm for location,
bearing, and ground speed without a sync, after swapping batteries.
If the old Rand McNally Palm V GPS happens to provide power to the
Palm V when the GPS is on its tether, then that might be a better
solution. For now, what I have works great, as long as I don't have
to depend on it for long flights (thus the reliance on paper maps with
GPS supplement)
Cheers,
-ethan
8:58 p.m.
Ethan Dicks wrote:
Now I just need a way to power the Palm III from an external source
(the batteries don't last when the Palm stays on, as when it's being
used for navigation)... I happen to supplement my paper aviation maps
with my Palm and "Fly!", a PalmOS aviation navigation program, but I
am limited to about 2 hours before having to swap batteries. I now
carry one of those portable car jumper batteries to charge the GPS
while I'm at my destination enjoying my $100 hamburger (so as to avoid
attaching this rig to the airplane's power system), but even with
that, the Palm itself doesn't last through a longer flight. At least
I have the nav app and a GPS compass app written into Flash... I lose
the maps when I lose power, but I can still use the Palm for location,
bearing, and ground speed without a sync, after swapping batteries.
Forget all that ... just follow the burger wrappers home. :)
I was wondering if you get ample sun to say have a solar panel on the
aircraft
to keep a spare set of batteries at charge. BG micro has a 12V 70 ma
solar panel
for about $27.
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7 comments
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participants (4)
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bfranchuk＠jetnet.ab.ca -
dhbarr＠gmail.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com