Power supply for using your Garmin indoors

[Knot Yet]

Hi All

We have a Garmin GPSmap 550s - have any of you found or created an indoor power supply - I'd like to be able to porgramme in our waypoints etc before setting off and without having to sit in the boat

j

[doggypaddle]

i had one, just a spare lead and a 7,5Ah lead acid battery. out of an emergency light or fire alarm, with charger.

[9D280]

Are you planning on inputting them manually?

Another option might be to find a data cable that (I think) may power it from the USB on your confuser, then download yourself a coopy of EasyGPS ( http://www.easygps.com/download.asp ) and you can input them at leisure - and a LOT more easily - then with about 2 clicks squirt them all down the wire into the Garmin.

think for most garmin sets you can buy "power only" "data only" & various other combinations of leads & plugs / sockets for them. I bought a "Power & data to bare tails" that I installed on the boat to get it to feed the VHF in an emergency.

[PeterM]

I use an old 12vJetski/ Motorbike battery & Garmin power lead with bare tails on the wire wound round the terminals. .

The GPS has no idea its not on the boat so you can all the normal stuff , but sat on the sofa.

Pete

[Knot Yet]

Perfect - thanks all

J

[ollyit]

your pc will have spare hard disk /cd drive power molex connectors, 4pins, black is - ground, yellow is +12v - I've used for vhf purposes - red is 5v + i think

[MikeCC]

Originally Posted by ollyit

your pc will have spare hard disk /cd drive power molex connectors, 4pins, black is - ground, yellow is +12v - I've used for vhf purposes - red is 5v + i think

Nice tip!

Other way is to get a 12 (or 13.8V) regulated power supply from Maplin or similar. Not expensive and handy for checking any 12V equipment.

You can also use Garmin Trip and Waypoint Manager (or something like EasyGPS as suggested earlier) and save the routes onto SD card. They will need to be in ADM format to be read on the Garmin. Something to try out when it's not critical!

[wavelength]

get a car jump start /power station /compressor combined thingie. £30 e bay or at Aldi when they have them on offer. 3 or 4 x 12v cigar lighter sockets ----plus a jump start for the boat if your battery has gone flat while you have been away and a compressor to blow the trailer tyres up if they are as flat as the battery! Lots a scenarios covered in one bit of kit.

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by wavelength

get a car jump start /power station /compressor combined thingie. £30 e bay or at Aldi when they have them on offer. 3 or 4 x 12v cigar lighter sockets ----plus a jump start for the boat if your battery has gone flat while you have been away and a compressor to blow the trailer tyres up if they are as flat as the battery! Lots a scenarios covered in one bit of kit.

Even at a push start a car with one ! !

[wavelength]

Even at a push start a car with one

now now - don't be silly!

[PeterM]

Originally Posted by wavelength

now now - don't be silly!

Sorry ! ALL 'toys' should have a boat use first & everything else second .

[willk]

Originally Posted by Blackroady

Sorry ! ALL 'toys' should have a boat use first & everything else second .

Ah, so it was YOU that got the lend of JSP's m.o.b. "girl"equin :-0

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Knot Yet

Hi All

We have a Garmin GPSmap 550s - have any of you found or created an indoor power supply - I'd like to be able to porgramme in our waypoints etc before setting off and without having to sit in the boat

j

One of the best things about Garmin is the Mapsource software, well worth getting as it allows you to plan routes on your PC then trasfer them across, it is a really good mapping system and the PC interface is the best of all of them.

Chris

[wavelength]

"girl"equin

another use for the compressor