Adding Aftermarket Internal GPS to the CF-28

Gravitar... I think with the GPS engine we are using it would definitely be worth a try! I'll be experimenting a lot now that I know how to hook these up.

radiogeek97... I am running mine on a CF-28/800Mhz/100GB, 7200rpm hard drive. It runs great! I'm even doing it with 256MB of RAM since my order from Newegg hasn't showed up yet. It works great!

You can get the GPS engines from usglobalsat for $47 I think. The antennas come from jim D Gray & Assoc. You can't use his online order form so just drop him an email. Ask him for the geohelix active antenna. You can copy the model number from his site. I just asked him to email me back as I would like to make a bulk purchase.

 

Radiogeek, the antennas are $32 a piece, or $29 if you buy 10 or more.

Gravitar, I'm thinking if we could get the lumps for cheap, it could be doable. Toughbook knows how to contact Hartlandsi, so he's got the best shot of finding em'.

Toughbook, Good job!!! After all this time it's paid off big time. Now you'll have the ultimate GPS in the ultimate toughbook.

If I can find the ribbon cable and connector, I'll actually go into designing a PCB in CAD, and see about making them via BatchPCB (Thanks picoshark).

Edit; adding links
The Antenna from Jim D Gray - $32, but you have to phone or email the order in.
The GPS engine board - $47 a piece.

Edit again; Toughbook, got a photo of the antenna wiring? I'm curious to see how you did it (Mostly the grounds).

 

Modly... You really don't need a photo... You were the one that gave me the key! I measured the center conductor of the MMCX connector on the GPS engine. I had an old MMCX cable arounbd that I pulled out of another CF-28 that had the old cellular system in it. I just presoldered the leads and the antenna... I soldered the center conductor to the center of the antenna. (Not much to solder to but it worked.) and then the shielding I just untangled it all and twirled all the braid together and presoldered that. Then I soldered that to the Grd pad on the back of the antenna....

Awww Heck... Let me go get the camera....

Here you go...



I tried heating up the plastic out corner with a heat gun and then stretching it around an aluminum pipe I had that is roughly the same diameter of the antenna. The rubber tore. I think iwth a little finesse I could have done it... But I am going to try something else.

I trimmed the corner so that the antenn has plenty of room. I will use JB Weld to epoxy the top portion of the antenna in place. (So that the leads are still accessable.) With the rubber corner fitting but having some open spaces... I'm going to use the liquid rubber that I have to encase the portion where the antenna meets the rubber corner. You can buy the liquid rubber in just about any hardware store. I usually use it to dip the handles of my dykes and pliers in. You can build up a thick coating with three to four applications. Then I will careful trim it to shape. Like I said... I'm going to try it. The only other alternative to a stock looking system is to get the plastic bump outs like Gravitar mentioned. BTW... Nobody at heartlandsi is returning my emails. I sent in an email twice last week and got no response. I will call them tomorrow. There is a lot of stuff I need. I will ask them about the side covers.

 

Thanks Thoughbook for all your help. Now I need to buy an antenna and I have a few questions for you guys.
1) Have you looked into this one http://www.jdgastore.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=318 I like the idea of Impact / Water Resistant.
2) What about the other modules I mention before. http://www.usglobalsat.com/p-48-et-333-sirf-iii.aspx or http://www.usglobalsat.com/p-530-et318-02-gsc3.aspx both would be a good choice for a guy that is reading this and needs to buy everything anyway. We would just need to pick up the 5 VDC on pin 4 and could use the battery back up from pin 6. Anyway just add some comments for the others.

Jim

 

I did look into the impact resistant ones, but when I was ordering them, they did not have them in stock yet. They estimated the cost at roughly 3x the other ones.

The other modules look alright, but for what you get out of the 408, and ease of wiring, it's worth the extra $2 compared to the 333. The other isn't available yet, and could be worth it, but still it's a 10 wire setup while ours are 5. If the cost was $15 less, it would be worth it...

 

Jim,

I was just the lucky one who got his going first. It was all the other guys who did the hard work! I thank them! (And have added to their reputation by the way!)

Great find. I may have to order one of those to play around with. It would be nice to have the battery backup!

I think the antenna you linked is the same or very similar to the one I have. It comes with the waterproof cover.

I have my antenna mounted solidly now but need to find a neat, stock looking way to cover the exposed areas. I'm still thinking liquid rubber. I'm going to give that a shot.

 

Thanks Modly for your input.
Just thinking with the battery backup hot start times are better plus if we start messing with baud rates this feature would let us store our settings and we still would only use 5 wires to hook them up, anyway just a thought.
Thanks again guys, I need to finish a gun before I start my antenna project.
Jim

 

toughbook
silly question is that gps ant mounted on the rim opposite the stock cell (rim ant)? Looking at the pic i can see the corner but where that philips screw is looks like the other half of the lid in the background just laying underneath?

As far as streching the rubber what about submerging the peice in boiling hot water for a min or so. A heatgun atleast mine really can melt/burn plasstic and rubber quick and requires patience not to burn somthing whereas the water may be a little more forgiving.

 

I think this will store settings for baud rates. For some reason I was thinking this did have a small battery, but I suppose not.

I ripped apart my 353 USB receiver, and it has a 406 engine board, and it does store the baud ratings for at least one day (Probably much longer), and with the times I had to a solid lock, I'd assume it was on warm start with some memory.

On a separate subject though, does anybody happen to have a magnifying glass to see if there is a part number on the connector on the GPS/RIM board?

 

The screw you see is actually on the board underneath the antenna... Not part of the same part.

Good idea about boiling the part... I'll try that next time.

My GPS popped right up after several reboots. It either stores the info or it's just damn good!

Jim... What kind of gun?

 

ToughBook it’s a 10/22 and I need to finish machining the bolt and a few other goodies before I can start working my antenna mount.
I’m thinking about machining a part from nylon to hold the antenna and bolt the same spot that you are using I just want to make sure I can still drop this tough book and not break any thing I added you know what I mean.

 

Thanks for the photo. If it works with just that, I'm not sure if I'll need to do the other 5 grounds... it may or may not help.

 

Jim... Nice piece. Looks sweet!

There really is no space to bolt or even screw anything. You'll see... Epoxy is your friend.

Modly... No need to do the other 5 grounds. I think they give you that many so it gives you options. Like soldering it down to a board. They are all tied together obviously. The epoxy worked VERY well. Though I think I'll fab up a different mount next time as I plan on mounting it in the RIM position. I'll come up with another wifi mount... That's much easier.

 

Cleaning out my favorites now that we know what works and I haven’t seen them posted here before.
Anyway still some interesting stuff I thought I would share before I deleted.

This was my first idea but I thought it might be too fragile. http://www.mobilegpsonline.com/mgps...page=product_info&cPath=119_7&products_id=409

They have antennas also http://www.mobilegpsonline.com/mgpsstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6_99&products_id=417

This is a better Globalsat site for info on their products. http://www.globalsat.com.tw/eng/product_029_00001.htm

 

Jim,

That antenna looked pretty good. And by the way... I think the first link is the GPS the guy on ebay uses...

 

Hey guys I was reading where Gravitar was talking about a mass order for power supplies. What about a mass order for gps modules and antennas? Just a thought.

 

Antennas are pretty doable on a mass-order for sure. It'd save $3 a piece guaranteed. They might have more price breaks, but I'm not sure what they are.

As for the modules, I emailed GlobalSat some time ago asking about that, and they never replied back to me. Not sure if they filtered my mail into the junk box, or if my question was stupid, but I still never got a response.

 

Well definitely count me in on an order for either one if someone wants to set one up. I guess maybe since it seems Toughbook deals with them quite a bit maybe they would talk to him about the modules. I can't wait now that you guys got it working. I do however have a question or two about it. 1- Would I need to utilize the power button that is there for the original RIM module or are we bypassing it all together? 2- If there is no power switch involved would this mean that the gps module is active all the time when the laptop is on or does it only go active when a software program calls for it to?

 

Well I was about to buy 3 408s from globalsat. If we can get up to 10 or so then we might be able to negotiate a better price.

 

It'll be on all the time. It'll always send GPS data through the COM port you designate.

Now a question from me;

Do the RIM boards come in any toughbook with wireless?

 

question for you folks. I just orderd the gps module from globalsat as i read the specs it comes with an mmcx connector. What i was thinking could i utilize the mmcx connector(blue wire) that was connected to my cell modem for the gps. In that i mean that blue wire runs out to the junction at the back of the laptop for the docking station and from there there is a smaller black jumper that runs up the back of the screen. I plan to unsolder the black jumper and solder it to the gps antenna. Do you think three would be too much loss running through that "junction board"? I never plan on utilizing a docking station so having the connector at the back being gps and not cell or wifi is not an issue.

 

I'm not sure actually, I'd have to see the wiring setup you're talking about (I've never had one with built-in wireless).

But I think it'd work to get you a signal, but if it's high quality or not I can't say.

 

modly thanks

i will wait to get the em408 try to wire it up and get a signal and then tackle the antenna. For those of you up and running for testing purposes will the em408 module pick up any signal if you are in a fairly open area without an external antenna attached? Also i see a few pics that cadilac and others have posted, but if anybody has and can post some more pics of the gps module wired to the modem board that would be great. Is there any freeware out there to test the module with, i dont want to spend good money on software until i can everything working like you folks.

 

I haven't taken mine outside. It's been horribly cold, so I have spent as little time as possible out there.

Once I put my top case back together though, and it's not "so damn cold I can't feel my nuts", I'll see if I get any satellites outside in a clear sky without an antenna.

 

well! for me, I don't have those kind of module, rim board or any board. i just extract the usb option and taken apart the usb gps receiver and mount it and it works just fine even indoor you can pick up a sattelite. As a matter of fact i am finished to my cf-m34 putting a 20 channel holux and used the patch antena underneath the palm rest coz this is the only plastic part of it using filling and a bet of cutting and product is great and look like nothing happen. Right now i am on my cf-28 same thing and it is more cheaper in terms of cost and also materials availability.

 

Thanks for the info on gps Modly. I am going to post a pic of the daughter board set up for RIM so you can see what we are talking about.

Gravitar count me in for at least 1 of the 408's. Maybe two after I talk to the war dept.(wife). Bought a lot of stuff last two weeks for the 28 and to setup in my truck.

 

I have a RIM daughter board (Thanks Toughbook!), I just don't have any of the MMCX wiring that came in them.

 

Radiogeek
IMHO the ceramic antenna that comes on the EM-408 module is a waste of space, after mounting it will be sandwiched between magnesium case and battery and more magnesium case rendering it completely useless. The pictures you see that I posted with only the module and no external antenna receiving data was taken with no battery and my computer turned upside down with the module pointing up at the sky. The ET-408’s main benefit is the simplicity of wiring and the external antenna jack.
I’m ordering an ET-333 module and I think I can wire this up to the same board and get similar results; this has no real advantage to most but may benefit some.
So to answer your question about what type of reception you can expect from your EM-408 with out an external antenna, depending on your mounting and willingness to cut big holes in your magnesium case I would except none.

Check this link for some free software for testing you new module. http://www.usglobalsat.com/t-support.aspx
Good luck.
Jim

 

cadilacc

thanks for the link i wouldnt mind holding the pc upside-down just to see if i had the thing wired in correctly. I contacted jim gray for an antenna, but i think i will wait until i have the gps installed and configured before dropping more money.
What flavor of software do you prefer for the gps navagation? I have a tom tom for my wife and would be looking for somthing along those lines

 

Check this out http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=187213 you will find some good info from myself and others.
Jim

 

Man... So much to respond to....

I had already ordered 3 more EM408s and just ordered 5 more antennas this morning. So I am set for the next few weeks at least. I got the one "We" finished on ebay... We'll see what happens.

As far as splicing goes... I've done both... Wifi and GPS. However I would not run the GPS antenna through the attachment on the back... That's fine for wifi but you are pushing voltage through the GPS... You don't want a short! Just be careful splicing the lines and you won't have much loss at all. (I didn't notice any loss with the GPS lead when I spliced it.)

If you are looking for the daughterboards... They must have the RIM attached or you won't get the 50 conductor ribbon cable you need to attach it to the mobo. I was lucky today... I have one more board left but didn't have a good ribbon cable. There was one that I had hacked up trying to splice into it. (Yes... I know... Dumb idea.) All I had to do was to cut off the boogered end and then put it in my vise with about 1/8" sticking out. I ran some sandpaper across it to take off some of the covering and then took some paint thinner to take off the rest of the plastic. I increased the width, so the connector would push it down properly, with two lines of celophane tape. It increased it just enough to give it a bite when I pushed the connector down. It worked like a charm.

So... One more board and I am out of GPS boards... So I will be trying to figure out where I need to solder on the mobo so I can attach the GPS without the daughterboard. It can't be thathard to figure out... I'll just need loads of patience.

radiogeek... check the other thread about GPS software... There were some very helpful suggestions in there.
(DUH - Link above)

 

Gravitar,
Put me down for one of those 408s

 

toughbook... can you pls. post the whole picture in detail of what the forum had accomplished( summary of gps installation on CF-28). Like a tutorial format for the benefit of readers on this site.Thanks

 

I'll be installing another GPS soon... I'll take pictures of the whole thing and post then. The best description at this point is posted by Cadillac here...

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=12843&d=1196609434

 

Think I already posted most of the info for getting the gps module hooked us directly to cn18 but here it is again.
gps1 to cn18 7 or 8 for on/off switched 3.3v
gps2 to cn18 9, 10, 38, 39, 46 or 47 for ground
gps3 to cn18 24 data gps < comp
gps4 to cn18 23 data gps > comp
gps5 to cn18 5 or 6 always on 3.3v for power and last gps position memory.
cn18 37 to cn18 9, 10, 38, 39, 46 or 47 to enable the gps option in the bios.
No extra components are needed but de-coupling capacitors and inline resistors rated to the each pins power requirements would be recommended for circuit protection and to avoid spikes.
cheers

 

Ok so we're atleast up to four now. anyone else have any immediate plans to order these? I'm not sure I have any clout with four, I'm sure if we got up to 10 we could knock a few $$ off.

 

i just dug out my modem board and i think i can do this ! the post /pic that toughbook linked to from cadilac was Most helpful. Reading over stan's post he made refrence to de-coupling capacitors and resistors inline, i dont know what radioshack would have (thats all i have in this area) but do you folks have any specs on what rating/tolerance of resistors/capacisitors i need. Would the resistors and capacitors only go on the pins with voltage or on all 5 pins. Also if i cant find the capacitors is thre any benefit to just using the resistors alone or vice versa if i cant find the resistors and have the capacitors?

 

Don't worry about them for now, just turn everything off before plugging in to cn18. For a saleable board they are a good idea to cut out spikes and surges if the board was connected hot (unit powered up) or if there was a loose connection. Not worked them out but a 10pf (any value really but it only needs a small one) between any power wires (gps1 and gps5) to earth is always a good idea. Signal wires (gps1, 3 and 4) connected through around something around 500ohm to 2k would also give a very basic level of short circuit protection.
EDIT that lot is only for connecting directly to cn18. Cadillacs setup is the best solution as all the needed protection is already built in to the panasonic daughterboard.
cheers

 

RadioGeek

I have taken a picture of my RIM board with the wireless modem removed to help clear this up.
My original picture was taken of a stock GPS board with the original GPS module still attached and this is what I used for the first attempt at using the EM-408 module discussed here.
Note; they are the same daughter board.
As Stan said this is the simplest option to date to add an internal GPS if you have one of these daughter boards.
Sparkfun also sells an Eval board that would work like our daughter board but without the luxury of the ribbon cable to plug into CN-18. http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/categories.php?cPath=4_86

Print this picture out and study the pin-out notes and then check your GPS module’s requirements, solder the proper harness to appropriate terminals – poor yourself the required Adult beverage and enjoy.
Jim

Stan;
I have new wacky idea to make this real easy for everyone and a lot cheaper and I believe alot more rugged. I ordered the parts and I will PM you when they arrive and see if you are still interested.

 

cadilac
awsome~! i printed it out and this will work out. I luckily have the OEM pc board with all the ribbon cables right here and it seems straight forward in combination with the pic you posted~ For the gps I will be using the EM408 board
As far as the resistors and cap's go I just got back from rat-shack (ugg) and what i came back with is the following. (resistors) 470ohm 1/4 watt 5% tol and a package of 1k ohm 1/4 watt 5% tol (Capacitors) stan posted to use about a 10PF cap the packaging at rat shack were in UF so i bought a bunch because the i forget the conversion and the clerk (we wont go there) so what i have here is: 1) 100PF caps .01Uf caps and 0.001 uf caps Which should i be using if any IF i choose to ?

thanks

 

Just to make sure, you don't want or need any and of them for cadillacs mod.
To go straight into cn18, the 1k resistors on 1, 3 and 4 and (general rule of thumb for noise suppression) the bigger of the caps (0.01uf) on 1 and 5.
cheers

 

Stan
the caps are they wired IN-Line like the resistors?
If it makes a difference they are "metalized film" capacitors

thanks
john

 

No, wired from 1 to gnd, 3 to gnd and 4 to gnd. Doesn't matter about the type but check the positive and negative are right, and resistors are in-line.
It really isn't worth putting them in there though as most of it is already done on the motherboard. All they are doing is protecting the gps unit which will have it's own protection already.
cheers

 

Just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

You do not need to add any caps or resistors for the mod using the Panasonic daughter board.

You also would not need any caps or resistors if you use the Eval board listed before, but you will need to connect to plug CN-18 with your own connections. (These can be had for about $40.00 and is a great option if you don’t have the stock daughter board)

Lastly if you are extremely skilled and adventuresome and you want to connect directly from the GPS module of your choice to plug CN-18 then Stan is right you will need some type of protection for your work.(but if you are considering this option you should already know this and not be asking about it here. No offence)

These options go in order from skilled to extremely skilled and I’m not judging anybody’s competence I just hate to see you fry your Motherboard trying to make a cool computer if you don’t have to.

As I said before I would like to work on a different option for the less skilled or the guy that just doesn’t have all the tools but still would like an internal GPS that will function properly and be rugged. I will not highjack ToughBook’s thread and start talking about it any more here but I am working on it and Stan or I will start a new post soon.

Jim

 

fellas

thanks for the clarification I aappreciate the deteiled answers.

 

Jim... You aren't hijacking at all... Go for it. I appreciate the input and what you said NEEDED to be said. All we need is a bunch of people hearing about this and then frying their stuff. Then we'd hear the endless cries about that.

This is not for the unskilled person to do. If you lack soldering experience then I would stay away from it or have someone who knows what they are doing do it for you.

As a matter of fact... I think I will edit my first post here to reflect that!

 

I guess I got the wrong thread for the retrofit. So, I will also post the stock GPS board from tigerdirect.com hear as well.

http://tigerdirect.partsearch.com/PartSearch.aspx?PartNumber=DL3UP1211AAA+&x=25&y=11

Regards,

Recon

 

Cadillac,

The pic of my antenna mount. Sorry, I don’t have my high res camera and had to use my phone. I will post some better ones later.

Regards,

Recon

View attachment 13011

 

well fellas i got the em408 in the mail today and i hooked it all up. The bios recognises the "wireless modem" however i cant seem to get any of the gps software to regognise the gps on any of the com ports. I have uninstalled com ports 1 thru 4 and reinstalled them with no success. I have a few questions, as far as the bios setting you can set the wireless modem to "auto" or enable. When set to enable you can choose the irq values, which bios settings should i be using. The other question i had was the power switch for the old modem that is next to the carry handle should that be on or off, i assume on or does it matter. I am not using any resistors or caps the wires are solderd directly to the boards. Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

Geek

What are your DIP switches set to.
Mine are as follows 1-2-3 are off and 4 is on check the photo I posted for you to confirm this.