memory stick GPS and memory stick bluetooth
 

should i memory stick GSP and memory stick bluetooth for my clie NR70V and my clie sj30?

Yes.

huh? could you speak a little more clearly?

GPS -> Global Positioning System
Bluetooth -> short distance wireless internet/communication system

lol! Our problem is that we cannot find any real question! :)

Forget about MS GPS. It does not work in USA where NMEA communication format is more commonly used, which is not what that MS GPS uses. This has been asked before. Just search this site for more info.

It may be OK for Asia (the manual was written in Japanese). Besides, even if you can make it work in here, where would you store the maps, in your limited capacity RAM? Maps need a lot of memory. Just for Houston metro, using StreetFinder (Rand McNally), they already take up about 8MB.

can i store the maps on memory stick?

Yes you can, but how are you going to use it when the MS slot is used up by the MS GPS? Another problem with MS GPS, it will take forever to locate those satelites. The Clie battery juice would be depleted in much less time than you need it to last.

I use Garmin eTrex Vista (GeV) to send NMEA codes to Clie and let StreetFinder tracks the GPS position on the map. To speedup map extraction from MS, I use PiDirect II and FastCPU.

The GeV has its own 25MB RAM to store maps too, but it has a much smaller screen, which I rather use it for displaying other thing like compass, elevation, etc., while tracking the GPS position on a larger and color map in Clie.

As far as the battery concern, the GeV uses 2AA batteries, so no problem there. For the Clie, I have a 4AA battery extender pack. While in the car, I can use the car 12VDC adapter to power both Clie and GeV.

Yep. I agree with Dan T. You can see my own setup using eTrex & NX80V/G at http://www.palmx.org/detailnews.asp?id=40




And yes, MS GPS can only be used in Japan. You can read about it at http://www.palmx.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11

As for your BT MS question, checkout http://www.palmx.org/detailnews.asp?id=104

interesting.......THANKS!

Here is my car and hiking setups. I put 2 of 1N4148 diodes in series inside the GeV plug to drop the 5.7VDC coming from Clie's charger down to 3.2 VDC so I can charge both Clie and GeV with the same charger. ;)


My car GPS setup



My hiking GPS setup

cool......

DanT, how much does it cost you to get those equipment?

As mentioned by drtamil, you can buy the hardware from pc-mobile.com for about $43 (including the 4AA battery pack case). I bought just the plugs and put them together, so I spent less than that. The 4AA battery pack case is sold in RadioShack for less than $2.00. The windshield mounting brackets are also available in RadioShack for $10. each. The GeV I got it for $250 in eBay.com about a year ago.

One thing nice about GeV, than the regular Garmin eTrex, is it also measures elevation. A nice tool for mountain hiker or rock climber. Most GPS receivers lack of such feature.

Watch out for the voltage spike. After a while it might suddenly go to 13V instead of 5.5. I wrote about it here http://www.palmx.org/detailnews.asp?id=88



Now I keep this connected to the car charger.

http://www.palmx.org/forum/topic.as...122&whichpage=2

Terima kasih for your tips Dr. Tamil! ;)

I'm about to do some long (1500 miles) trip for vacation. Now I need to get me a volt readout like yours. I did measure the voltage across the car-USB adapter and it still gives me 5.7 VDC, which is the spec for N-series Clie.  You could have a defective car-USB adapter.

I did learn a long time ago about LIFO (last in, first out) when powering up & down the electronic devices to avoid voltage spikes.  Just make a habit of unplugging the car-USB adapter when the engine off and replugging it after the engine start and idling.  It is a hard habit to make in the beginning, but you'll get use to it after a while.

DanT, can you give me a little tip? Can I connect a "normal" GPS Mouse (like the ones sold at EBay) with these special adapters to my SJ-33 or do I need a special receiver for the GPS-signal?
I searched for these adapters but they are sold for about 25€/$. Do you know a link or a have an idea to solder this adapter "at home"?

I'm looking for a GPS system for my SJ33 as well, I'm looking for one that would be most compatible with US Standards, and where would I go to get the materials I need for SJ33 + GPS setup

Aufnahmeleiter,

I have seen it done before. Infact one of ClieSource member from Bavaria, Capricorn61, did it.  I have not done it myself, but I exchanged notes with him.  The basic principal is the same. You need to connect at least 3 pins (wires) between the two devices. They are RXD, TXD, and GND (ground):
1. RXD from the GPS receiver goes to TXD of SJ-33.
2. TXD from the GPS receiver goes to RXD of SJ-33.
3. GND from the GPS receiver goes to GND of SJ-33.

Typically the mouse GPS receiver receives power from USB (5 VDC). If that is the one you plan to get, then you can share the power from your Clie charger to it.  So you may end up with 4 conductor wires instead. 

If you use this setup for the car, you can set it up like the following:
SJ-33 plug---mouse GPS plug---SJ-33 cigaret lighter adapter.

That is basically what I did on mine. The only difference is the GeV only take 3.2 VDC so I have to drop the voltage of the power line going to the GeV plug by putting diodes in the GeV plug as I mention earlier.

Make sure you can get the pinout specifications for the mouse GPS receiver. Here are the pinout specification for SJ-33:
1 = GND, ground for signal/power supply
2 = D+, USB data+ signal
3 = D-, USB data- signal
4 = USB GND, ground for USB
5 = VBUS
6 = Reserved
7 = DC+B, External 5.2 VDC power supply pin. The pin supplying power to the main unit.
8 = CHARGE, 5.2 VDC charging pin. Dedicated power terminal for charging.
9 = Reserved
10=UNREG_OUT, brute power supply 3.4-4.2V, 100 mA
11=HOT_SYNC
12=DTR
13=RXD
14=TXD
15=CTS
16=RTS
17=CNT
18=GND, same as 1

So you need to connect the pin 1 (GND), 7&8 (5.2 VDC), 13 (RXD), and 14 (TXD) to the mouse GPS.

You can just get the travel HotSync cable for SJ-33 (the same as T-series and newer Clie models) and make your own. That is how I did it. I bought the 4-in-1 travel adapter for $16 in eBay, disected the middle section of the cable and connected with the cable from the GeV, sort of making a Tee connection. You can see my Tee connection, the blue knot, in the picture that I posted earlier.

If the mouse GPS comes with a standard DB9 serial connector, then:
TXD = pin 3
RXD = pin 2
GND = pin 5

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. It would be a neat little project for you.

I know just enough to get myself into trouble, so use this information at your own risk.

Just educate yourself with GPS first.  Here are some more links to browse:

http://gpsinformation.net/

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/Palm/pilotgps.htm

If SJ-33 is not listed in the website, you can use any GPS receiver that compatible with NR, NX, and T series.  Garmin eTrex, like drtamil uses, should be a good start. 

 

I think I'm ready for the 1500 miles journey. Here are my setups.  Clie will track down where I'm going on the map.  GeV will show compass, elevation, trip odometer, moving time, stop time, instantaneous speed, maximum speed, average speed, etc.  Valentine One will sniff for incoming cops (from front, side, or back). :D  

Sorry, DanT, I just rethought the idea of the GPS-mouse and switched over to the Garmin eTrex/eTrax Legend. I found a relatively cheap German dealer on the Internet.

On the picture I saw that you're using a Garmin eTrax too. I fancied the thought of buying these two cables at EBay and putting them together somehow like you did:




(the second cable is just symbolic)


Can you explain how you realized your "blue knot"? Your solution seems to be very professional :)

Good for you.

Here are some more tips:
1. I would leave the eTrex ePlug to DB9 serial cable alone if I were you. That cable is good for connecting to PC or Laptop. Besides you need it for resale later.
2. To connect to your SJ-33, just get a blank ePlug from PC-mobile.com part# GEC01 for only $5.90. Don't forget the strain relief. Just modify the Clie travel hotsync adapter to connect the Clie, eTrex, and USB/cigaret lighter adapter. The cable is long enough to do all that.  What I did was:
A. Strip the cable insulation right in the middle.
B. Find the RXD, TXD, GND, PWR wires.  See my notes below. 
C. Don't cut any of the cable, just strip enough insulation off the 4 wires for soldering to the ePlug pins later.
D. Fold the 4 wires and slide them through the strain relief and solder them to the RXD, TXD, GND of ePlug pins.
E. Install 2 diodes that I mentioned earlier to the PWR wire in series and at the right current direction.
F. Button the eplug and you're done!

Notes:
The pin arrangement for the ePlug is as follows:
pin 1 = GND (cable end)
pin 2 = TXD
pin 3 = RXD
pin 4 = PWR

As far as the blue knot, that is a plastic T connector that I use to secure the stripped & folded ends of the cable. You can get it in any electronic store. I removed the original piercing metal piece out of the T connector and just use the T connector as a clamp.  It is just like a larger version of the strain relief to protect the connector from getting ripped off accidentally.

Tschuess ;)

Here is another look of the Clie-eTrex cable with blue knot (among some of my gadgets):

DanT, I have a Garmin Etrex Legend and a Sony Clie SJ-22. I'm wanting to be able to use them together. I looked at that pc-mobile.com website and I think I found what I need. Would you mind confirming it so I don't end up getting the wrong hardware? I want to be able to power the PDA in the car and make the connection between the two devices, so I believe the cable I need is the GEST6P (GEDC + GST6P). Is that all I need, other than the software loaded on the PDA? I live in North America I went ahead and found the Mapopolis files I needed, so I'm just waiting to order the correct cable. Thanks for any help you can provide :)

Yes, but you'll also need CKUC ($13.95) for charging your Clie with USB-car adapter.

About the software, if you think the map software that you will use is too slow to load up from MS to RAM consider of using PiDirectII and may be FastCPU to overclock it from 33MHz to about 53MHz.  I did that and the load speed drops from 3 minutes down to 15 seconds for 1.5MB maps.  Later on I chopped down my maps to more managable sizes (around 400-700KB).

Too bad that I can't get the voltmeter readout in-time for the trip, so I'll do without it. Just to be sure, I checked the Clie's car-USB adapter. No problemo. It reads 5.77-5.78 VDC with engine off & on, which is within the spec for the N series Clies.

I think it burnt my CUSB after a 2 hour journey...... ;-)

My coordinates gave me away, I think. You id-ed my nationality quite fast. Else you've guessed it from my articles :-)

Gotcha ;)

I'll bring along my voltmeter and check the CUSB volt status after several hours runtime later at pit stops. I wish there is a telltale sign or somekind of low voltage surge protection that I can add to the power line to prevent your problem from recurring on my Clie. Do you know any?

Sampai jumpa lagi.
Dan

Thank you DanT, thank you very much. The eTrex and the cables are on their way :)

Tomorrow I'll drive to Munich and I will look in some stores for the ePlug.

Bitte schoen ;)

Dr. Tamil, selamat pagi.

I think I figured out another way to monitor the CUSB voltage. I just added a small 12V/5mA bi-pin lamp to it and you see below. At 5.78VDC, the light will have a weak orange color rather than a bright white color. The minute the light turns a bright white, it's time to toss it off the road and use my backup 4AA battery pack. :D

Nice idea. I'll pass it on to the rest of the hardcore fans over here! Time for another visit to Pasar Road, KL's area for electronics.

Another option for the adapter cable from a Clie to a GPS is available on this page:

http://www.pcables.com/cat6.html

There are other cables available that power the Clie from a cigarette lighter, such as on this page:
http://www.pcables.com/cat3.html

65$ and without a charging adapter? :O

DanT's solution can't be beaten :)

I must agree, DanT's solution is very impressive! I really like the pictures shown here.

It is worthwhile to mention that the PDCT-GE (connects most modern Clie's directly to a Garmin Etrex) and PDCT-GA (connects most modern Clie's directly to most other Garmins) are in-stock and can be purchased by any interested GPS owner. With no further ado, they can be up and running with a Mapping program on their Clie! Generally speaking, any order goes out the next day and we do ship FedEx.

Our charging cables have not been cited with any issues of voltage spikes. If anyone can cite a test which can be performed with readily available equipment to prove the protection of our cigarette lighter adapter, I volunteer to run the test and publish the results here.

The charging cables are in stock as well. They work with all modern Clie's with a serial port. The part number is PDCT-M9CLA-6 and it's on this page:
http://www.pcables.com/cat3.html

Hey, I'm back from a cool trip.

First of all, to pccables.com, thanks for the links. Just a comment, I think if you can make a Y cable, that can charge both Clie and eTrex via a cigaret lighter, plus connect both Clie and eTrex directly, not via RS232 (DB9 serial port), that would be a good product line to have. I looked to your company, pc-mobile.com, and other websites, none of them have this type of adapter. That is why I ended up making out my own cable.

BTW, I did about 1100 miles roundtrip with that home-made Y cable and it works perfectly. Even the CUSB adapter maintain the 5.78 VDC for the whole 17-hour round trip. So may be drtamil just get a defective one.

Here are some of my trip notes:

1. StreetFinder GPS ribbon maps (2MB = 550 miles)
This app tracked my trip very well (see Figure 1), even at speed of 127 MPH (see Figure 2). The only problem with it was the display kept turning itself off after 20 minutes. I tried to set it on all the time with AlwaysOn or set it on for 480 minutes with Atool!, but none of them worked. My temporary solution was to turn on StopWatch DA to run timer on the background and popup its window (see top-left corner of Figure 1) every 15-20 minutes with a flick of a finger via Easy Launch hack and tap the screen again to send it back to the background. That seemed to help reset the internal timer in the StreetFinder. I was a happy camper since. The yellow XXXX was my car position moving southwest direction along HWY75. I tell ya StreetFinder rocks!

2. Garmin eTrex Vista
I decided to test the shortest route (outbound, Figure 2), through hill-country back-roads, versus the quickest route (inbound, Figure 3), which is 22 miles longer, through major highways, but with less traffict lights, picked by TripMaker of StreetFinder.  The quickest route won by 45 minutes even with maximum speed no faster than 87.6 MPH. As you can see the overall average speed of inbound trip (including stop time) was about 8 MPH faster than the outbound one. On the other hand the outbound trip was a lot more fun. :D

Figure 1



Figure 2



Figure 3

Hi DanT,
What's the charging voltage required by the eTrex (and the allowable variation?) I recall attempting to obtain some serial/charging cables for the eTrex from Garmin and they were more difficult to obtain than just the serial pigtail alone. Does pfranc have a eTrex connector with all pins present for sale, or did you get your eTrex connector somewhere else?

Depending on the charging voltage required by the eTrex, it might not be too tough to make a Y cable as you describe.

The no load voltage is 3.8VDC, but the load voltage (once the plug is connected to GeV) is 3.2VDC. I use 2 of 1N4148 diodes in series to drop the USB 5.7VDC to 3.8VDC. The diodes are small enough to cram inside the eplug. I got the idea of dropping the USB voltage using diodes from Larry's eTrex USB Data + Power Cable 11/26/2001 article in pfranc.com/usb/etrex.htm. It works fine for me.

Yes, I get the ePlug from pfranc.com. I like the design. It has enough room to cram the diodes and larger cable outlet for folded cable to come out (see my car GPS setup). The cable outlet is split so that makes assembling very easy.

I also use pc-mobile.com ePlug. It has a better design that pfranc's eplug but it is too small for my folded cable to go through the strain relief. However this plug is ideal for small cable connecting just the Clie and GeV w/o power. I use an old mini headphone cable for that just like the ones made by pc-mobile (see my hiking GPS setup).

As far as voltage range, the following link mentions that eTrex is happy with voltage range of 1.5-6VDC.  If the the incoming voltage drops below 2.8VDC, supposedly the eTrex has converter chip that can start drawing power from the 2AA batteries than from the external power adapter. http://pfranc.com/projects/g45contr/emap/assemb.htm

I forgot to mention that you can get the ePlug in Bavaria area from Hans, Pfranc of Germany (see the link below).  That's probably cheaper and better suited than the pc-mobile.com if you want to modify the Clie CUSB charger thick cable.  Good luck!  Let me know how the project goes.  ;) 

http://pfranc.com/cgi-bin/pub/c_de?pid=ePlug

ePlug from pc-mobile (2-piece plug, on top) versus pfranc's (3-piece plug, on bottom)