SPIII cable

[Tom]

Our SPIII cable died, actually the molded plug at the SPIII end is bad. Anyone know where I could get another one? I could even get by with just a plug, provided it either has pigtails or accessible pins I can solder to.

Anyone know if there is more than one version of this cable, e.g. I believe Jim Dick has one that provides NMEA data out. My cable has only power and speaker wires.

 

[Steve CDN]

Tom,

I am not familiar with that cable designation.? In the meantime here are a couple of potential resources:

Parts Express

as well as? Tiger Direct

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the links Steve. I'll go look.

 

[Jim Dick]

>> I believe Jim Dick has one that provides NMEA data out. My cable has only power and speaker wires.<<

Tom,

I do have a cable that can be used to tie the SPIII to the computer. It came with my Garmin GPS III Plus. I would still have to use the other cable for the audio. I would imagine Garmin would have the replacement but I can't imagine it being inexpensive. :-\

 

[Tom]

Just for info, does one of your cables have power and NMEA data wires, and the other have speaker wires? My single power & speaker cable has the speaker built into the back end of a 12V plug.

 

[Ron]

Try Garmin or Fry's Electronics.  I think I saw some at Fry's in Vegas.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Ron. It's a long way to Vegas though  ;D I looked in Fry's somewhere last week, now where the heck was that? We pass another Fry's tomorrow, so I'll check it out.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

The cable that came with the SPIII only has the speaker cable with the power. The Garmin cable has the power and serial port plugs but no speaker plug.

 

[Ron]

Thanks Ron. It's a long way to Vegas though? ;D I looked in Fry's somewhere last week, now where the heck was that? We pass another Fry's tomorrow, so I'll check it out.

Should be in the same area as they have the GPS/s There was a section that had Garmin Accessories hanging on a board.

 

[Tom]

Got it Jim, thanks. I just realized that there's a separate speaker jack on the back of my SPIII, so all I need do is find the power/data cable like yours and use a different speaker.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

You can use a seperate speaker or just use the old cable for the speaker only if it still works.

 

[Tom]

Jim

The speaker wires are OK, but they did something goofy when they put the whole "harness" together. Remember me showing you those "bumps" in the cable? I thought they'd been caused by chris inadvertently damaging the cable. I split open the outer sheath of the harnes at each of those bumps, thinking I'd find a break at each one. Turns out they were excess length of one of the power wires that had been tucked during application of the final sheath. There were no breaks and no damage at any of those bumps.

I finally figured out the problem was in the 4-pin molded plug that goes into the GPS receiver. There's continuity the full length of the wire to the point where it disappears into the molded plug, but not at the +12V supply pin on the other side of the plug. The wire might have come detached from the pin itself, but the only way to get to it is to destroy the molded plug.

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

Since they screwed up on making the cable perhaps a call to Garmin explaining what you found and the fact the cable no longer works might get you a new one. Of course, with my luck, it wouldn't work.

 

[Ron]

Might just be worth a try Tom.  Garmin seems to be very responsive on their equipment.  Wish they were as responsive concerning City Nav.

 

[Tom]

We stopped at Fry's on the way home this evening. After a lot of rumaging around the GPS cable rack, I found a solitary SPIII power/data cable. Now all I have to do is make onegood  cable out of the two.

 

[Ron]

Glad you found somthing you can use.  I think if it were me I would call Garmin and try to get them to provide a new one to replace a defective one.

 

[Tom]

I think I will call Garmin Ron, and then I might have a spare cable.

 

[Ron]

I would be interested in their response.

 

[BernieD]

I think I will call Garmin Ron, and then I might have a spare cable.

Tom

When I had my SPIII I wanted a connection between the SPIII and my laptop so I could run Street Atlas simultaneously. Bronco One (of blessed memory <G>) had such a cord along with cords of other flavors, all Garmin issue. I would think that you should be able to get something thru Garmin or they should be able to direct you to Garmin dealers that carry them.

 

[Tom]

Thanks Bernie. The cord I picked up at Fry's has the data wires and power, but not speaker. The original cord has power and speaker wires with the speaker itself built into the power plug. I think this is an easy combination of cords. Wish I'd thought of Bronco One.