# GPS to VHF HELP!!



## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

I have a Humminbird 597 CI DH DI and recently bought a new VHF580 from West Marine. I have both manuals and have read them 50 times already tonight. The VHF says to connect the Bare wire on the VHF to the Ground on the GPS unit. Check:thumbsup:. Then Connect the Yellow wire form the VHF to the NMEA output on the GPS unit. Humminbird manual says the White wire is the NMEA output. Therefore, connect the yellow to the white. Check:thumbsup:. crawl out of the center console and...nothing. Check all connections again and nothing. Double checked that the NMEA output on the GPS was turned on-check. Still nothing. Drank a beer, smoked a cigarette, stared at the manual again, rechecked my connections again and...nothing. Got mad and pulled everything apart and reconnected the yellow and white wires, but left off the ground wires. NUMBERS on the VHF!:thumbsup: Put a wire nut on the connection and wrapped it in some electrical tape for now, look up and nothing again! Have re-done everything multiple multiple multiple times and still nothing. Got it to register numbers one more time, turned off the radio and turned it back on to make sure the numbers were up to date-once i turned the radio on (not touching ANY of the wires or anything else, The VHF GPS section came up blank. I have tried nearly every combination possible, called Humminbird (Closed), called West Marine (They had no clue). I have spent almost 3 hours curled up under my center console screwing with the same 2 to 4 wires and nothing. I am about ready to sell the boat and pull an "Office Space" on the GPS and VHF. Has anyone else had any trouble getting their GPS to connect to the VHF??? Anybody know anything special about Humminbird and connecting???


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## Mikvi (Mar 11, 2008)

I know with Garmin units you have to go into settings and setup the NMEA so it will talk to whatever unit you are hooking it up to. It's a software thing. Just need to make sure both units match up.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

What Mikvi said and even then it will in some situations only communicate one way. For example, My furuno 585 is linked to a garmin 541. I have gps function on the furuno but my waypoints stored on the furuno will not show up on the garmin chartplotter.

Different brands don't alway's jive on the NMEA circuit....Even though they are supposed too.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Also possible that one of your NMEA connections should go directly to ground. Either my garmin or furuno is that way. Can't remember which one.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

so in other words, im screwed and it just wont work?


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> Also possible that one of your NMEA connections should go directly to ground. Either my garmin or furuno is that way. Can't remember which one.



I'm gonna give that a shot and see if it does anything...


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## CCC (Sep 3, 2008)

Hate to hijack your thread, but I too have the same Humminbird 597 what is NMEA and why would you want or need it, I do not have the Humminbird run thru my VHF both run separately.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

No, not necessarily. Do some research on the NMEA connections of each unit. Google each one and read from several different forums and websites and you will get a better ideal of what your dealing with. It can be aggrevating but I would just take a breather and do some research. 

I've been there before.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

If Xshark reads this he can probably give you some better advise. Maybe send him a PM.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

TightLines172 said:


> I'm gonna give that a shot and see if it does anything...


ok still nothing...


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> If Xshark reads this he can probably give you some better advise. Maybe send him a PM.



Will do. Thanks,


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

The problem for me is the West Marine radio....No support ......I can't look the manual up online like I can with say a Standard Horizon or Icom.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

X-Shark said:


> The problem for me is the West Marine radio....No support ......I can't look the manual up online like I can with say a Standard Horizon or Icom.



I have the manual in my hands...any idea what it could be? Could it be I need a software update on my HB?


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

Also, just found out that the West Marine VHF580 is actually a Oceanus D UM415 made by Uniden...this may help...


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

Look at page 145 in the Bird manual....Is the NEMA output ON?


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

Yes, it is turned on...


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

You are only working with 2 of the NMEA wires, one + and one -. The green and white on the radio... Aren't you. Only need one set. one + and one -. Don't need all four.


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## X-Shark (Oct 3, 2007)

I've been all thru that Bird manual. I didn't see a schematic towards the end of the manual like Garmin and Furuno have for the NEMA connections.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> You are only working with 2 of the NMEA wires, one + and one -. The green and white on the radio... Aren't you. Only need one set. one + and one -. Don't need all four.



According to the 2 manuals, i connected the following:

VHF Yellow (NMEA In) to GPS White (NMEA out) (Got GPS numbers on the radio once like this with only these 2 wires connected)

VHF Bare Wire (Ground) to GPS Black Wire (Ground)

AND...Nothing on the radio...


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

X-Shark said:


> I've been all thru that Bird manual. I didn't see a schematic towards the end of the manual like Garmin and Furuno have for the NEMA connections.



The Schematic came with the GPS connector cord which i ordered from HB after speaking with a tech 3 days ago about it...

VHF Manual:
http://www.uniden.com/content/ebiz/uniden/resources/ownersmanuals/UM415om.pdf

HB Cable manual:
http://store.humminbird.com/media/document/M_531324-1_D.pdf


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Also, you should be making your connections, + connects to -. As opposed to - to - and + to +. The + is sending out info and the - it is connected to is receiving it.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

TightLines172 said:


> According to the 2 manuals, i connected the following:
> 
> VHF Yellow (NMEA In) to GPS White (NMEA out) (Got GPS numbers on the radio once like this with only these 2 wires connected)
> 
> ...


This is your problem. Should be + to -.
You only need 1 pair of wires connected. There are two sets of NMEA outputs on a piece of equipment.

Should have a + to a - and a - to a +. this is one pair.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> This is your problem. Should be + to -.



ok I have tried several different connections...both manuals say to connect the grounds together, but in any case, if the delineation of the wires in the manuals is correct, I should be connecting it like this?

GPS White wire (NMEA Out) to VHF Green? (NMEA in -)
GPS Black (Ground) to VHF _________???


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

Yellow, Assuming black is your GPS (in). I don't know what your GPS colors are.

Tell me your GPS connection colors.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> Yellow, Assuming black is your GPS (in). I don't know what your GPS colors are.
> 
> Tell me your GPS connection colors.


According to the manual on gps...

Red is 12v in
Black is ground
White is nmea out 
Green is nmea in


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

GPS white+ to VHF green-
GPS green- to VHF yellow+


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> GPS white+ to VHF green-
> GPS green- to VHF yellow+


Thanks I'll give this a shot...


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

TightLines172 said:


> Thanks I'll give this a shot...


Still nothing...


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

My only other ideal would be that one of the four wires has to connect to 12v ground. Like I said mine did. I would unhook them one at a time and connect to ground. 

If that doesn't work, I would be on the phone with customer support as soon as possible. use two phones and have both parties on the phone at the same time.

That's all I've got. Shoot me a Pm and let me know what finally works. I'm curious.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> My only other ideal would be that one of the four wires has to connect to 12v ground. Like I said mine did. I would unhook them one at a time and connect to ground.
> 
> If that doesn't work, I would be on the phone with customer support as soon as possible. use two phones and have both parties on the phone at the same time.
> 
> That's all I've got. Shoot me a Pm and let me know what finally works. I'm curious.


Tried the ground too...I'll let you know if o ever get this SOB to work. Thanks for all your help!


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## tkh329 (Mar 14, 2012)

Did you figure this out? I had some problems with my HB998 and found forums.sideimagingsoft.com very helpful. Check it out.


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## RockB (Oct 11, 2007)

NMEA183 Is a standard RS232 data stream. All you should need is 3 wires: send, receive, and ground. Send from one device gets connected to receive on the other. I've built several data cables to connect Garmin GPS units to computers.


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## TightLines172 (May 13, 2011)

tkh329 said:


> Did you figure this out? I had some problems with my HB998 and found forums.sideimagingsoft.com very helpful. Check it out.


No, it still doesn't work but I talked to Hummingbird and to west marine and one of their techs. They think its the radio and I need a new one, but I really don't want to have to take this radio out bc its such a pain to get to my wiring harness...I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet.


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## tkh329 (Mar 14, 2012)

TightLines172 said:


> No, it still doesn't work but I talked to Hummingbird and to west marine and one of their techs. They think its the radio and I need a new one, but I really don't want to have to take this radio out bc its such a pain to get to my wiring harness...I'm not sure what I'm gonna do yet.


I hear ya, I have to replace a stereo and have been holding off for the same reason. I would post on the side imaging forums just to ensure that you have to pull the radio. Good luck!


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