Does anyone know if Garmin GPSmap 76 will communicate with SeaClear II on a pc.
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Haven't done it, but it should work fine. The 76 is pretty modern with support for standard NMEA 0183 ver 2.3 (at least). You want to go into the settings on the 76 and take it out of Garmin communications mode and put it into NMEA 0183 mode. Then wire the 76 NMEA out (Data Out) to pin 2 on a 9-pin serial, and the ground from the 76 to pin 5. Or there are premade cables around as well. That should light it up.
I've got a cable around here somewhere, so may try it this evening.
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Hi Orca, I have the data cable for the Garmin 76 that I got for downloading data from Garmin. Don't know if that is the right cable. Have see if I can take it apart to see what pins are connected. I did switch it to NMEA and I was getting cannot open port and the mouse bounces around the screen like a mad Hatter. Changed the port number and I don't get that error anymore, but it does not seem to be doing anything. Got all my charts loaded right from NOAA so they should work in that system. I know I'm close to getting it working just got to find that one thing that is missing.
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Thanks for the pinout PugetMike just checked out my cable with an ohm meter and all the connections are good and proper to the nine pin connector. Still have not got the GPS to talk to seaclear yet. Getting closer I think.
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On the SeaClear site I recall seeing something about an issue with a wacky mouse. and some potential fix. I will try it out tonight and see what it does for me.
Update: My laptop doesn't have a serial port, and my usb/serial doesn't seem to want to load. I will get another one from work tomorrow and try it then.
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Yeah Orca just to hook up the Garmin 76 I had to go dig out an old lap top as the were no nine pin connectors on all the new ones.orca wrote:
On the SeaClear site I recall seeing something about an issue with a wacky mouse. and some potential fix. I will try it out tonight and see what it does for me.
Update: My laptop doesn't have a serial port, and my usb/serial doesn't seem to want to load. I will get another one from work tomorrow and try it then.
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Got a different USB serial working, and pointed SeaClear II to that port. Once the GPS got up and runing, the location updated in the upper right, and the purple circle jumped to my location in Oregon. I took a walk around the yard and the COG and SOG were updating correctly it appeared.
On the system menu in SeaClear there is a function to look at the incoming NMEA messages. I don't remember which msgs started coming in once the GPS got a fix, but I could look again tomorrow if needed. I have a 76S with the latest firmware ver 4.0. Should work fine for you I believe. Let us know how it goes.
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Hi Orca, I have the GPSmap 76 with no s after it. My software version is 3.90 so maybe it is to old. Is it possible to upgrade the software version with Garmin like the want to upgrade the maps.orca wrote:
Got a different USB serial working, and pointed SeaClear II to that port. Once the GPS got up and runing, the location updated in the upper right, and the purple circle jumped to my location in Oregon. I took a walk around the yard and the COG and SOG were updating correctly it appeared.
On the system menu in SeaClear there is a function to look at the incoming NMEA messages. I don't remember which msgs started coming in once the GPS got a fix, but I could look again tomorrow if needed. I have a 76S with the latest firmware ver 4.0. Should work fine for you I believe. Let us know how it goes.
Orca I got it working this morning. Don't know if it was the bluetooth adaptor or wrong com port. Now I have to read the manual and see if you can zoom in and out on the charts. Thanks for all your help it really works very well.
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You could get the latest firmware from Garmin and load it. You have to download the file, then unzip it, and run the update .exe. You just have to turn the comms back to "Garmin" mode to load the firmware. Probably some minor bug that was fixed between 3.9 and 4.0, and probably doesn't matter to you. You can find a list of the firmware changes made on Garmin's site.
Glad it is working now. For the zooming, I didn't get that far either. I did get it to show pretty much all of Oregon, but there must (I hope) be a way to zoom down and have the map track along as you move.
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I will do the firmware update today Orca and see if that makes any difference. I was just happy to see it work finally. I have one question you might have the answer to. Comparing the GPS readings between the GPS 76 and the SeaClear program I notice a difference in the lat and Lon just the last three digits. Does the Lat and Lon change from newer updated map to say a 8 year old map in the Garmin GPS. Still have not found a way to zoom in/out, but I'm doing a search on the Seaclear yahoo groups. So far all I have found is using a mouse with a wheel on it to zoom in/out when doing chart plotting.
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I would have to fire up the SeaClear again to check the Lat/Lon issue. But it is most likely that your 76 is set for a slightly different Lat/Lon format than the SeaClear. In the Garmin (and hopefully SeaClear) you can choose to have all degrees (DD.DDDDD), or degrees and minutes (DD MM.MMM), or degrees minutes and seconds DD MM SS.S for your display units. The two probably just differ a little in format.
Otherwise they should be the same if SeaClear is using the WGS84 datum. I see the WGS84 coming over from the Garmin to SeaClear on one of the messages. And I would assume all the charts you have are referenced to WGS84 since it has been around since 1984.
I am busy tonight and the rest of the weekend, but may play with it next Monday and see what it looks like.
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I now have SeaClear working on two different laptops. I will check out the setting on the Lat/Lon and see if I have one set different that the other. Took it for a ride down to the beach and it worked perfectly. Would love to see if you have any differences Orca as I fish pretty close to rock piles all the time would be nice to know where they are. Now I have to figure out how to mount this in my 1802 Trophy.
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