Adding Aftermarket Internal GPS to the CF-29

Thanks Ohlip.

You really are so helpful.

 

Zip.. your welcome.
BTW,Since I published the Mobilegps online(for Canadian customer that need an em408), they have increase the price of the engine instead of lowering it. Its too bad. Come on, Datung!


Ohlip

 

Its ok! coz the engine only start when you open the pc that why we have to connect the enable/disable function of the GPS engine and it is also support the backup battery of the em408.


ohlip

 

What if you do not want to use the GPS but have the TB on? does the gos still suck power?

 

For someone who has a yellow tab battery you sure are overly concerned about a little extra current draw But seriously the GPS is not going to flatten your battery, these things draw so little current that I doubt you would notice the difference whether the GPS is on or off.

 

Well every ounce of battery is precious there may be that time when i need it most and the **** battery is dead or about to die and i have no charger.

I love being able to run for 6+ hours on a single battery.

-James

 

Yu should buy the media bay battery and increase it to 10 hours!

 

For the heads up, The geohelix antena can be install on the corner of the lcd withouth the bump out. Just by thinning the black rubber bumper piece. I have done it to one of my unit toughbook cf-29 and its like the stock one too.


teo

 

pics please!!

 

Sorry, man. I have no way of taking the picture now coz I sold the item. This is the only photo left.

 

I saw that one on ebay. Nice job on the antenna and well the rest of the toughbook too some nice modding you did there.

-James

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Hey Mr. Ohlip, real nice job!

 

Here is another example of antena installed on cf-29. Next time you will see this is on fleabay.

ohlip

 

Finally made the interface board for the EM-408. I also added a connector for the USB port on CN18, but I need to check my pinout. I was hoping to utilize it for onboard bluetooth.

The board tucks in nicely, attached with double sided tape. No more trying to solder wires onto the .5mm pitch wires! I have about 15 of these boards (with enough components to build 5) if anyone is interested. I also have a link for the ribbon cable from a guy on ebay.

 

Wonderful! nice job, man! Now! How much the board and the cable ribbon?

teo

 

That looks beautiful!!!!

 

Wow Great work
I wish I was patient enough to do work like this

Alex

 

excellent job i am very impressed. I was planning on making one of those someday but you beat me too it

-James

 

***GPS INTERFACE BOARD UPDATE***

I found that I reversed the + and - data on the USB connector on my GPS board. I removed the USB connector and soldered wires directly to the board from a USB Bluetooth module. Covered the module with shrink tubing and stuffed it in the left bump out by the battery. The Bluetooth module was recognized and drivers were installed. I then was able to link to a set of Bluetooth headphones from over 75 feet away! Very satisfied with the Interface board. Easy GPS install and an internal USB port. Just need to find more USB accessories that could be integrated...

I was looking at the Jim Grey Active Patch GPS antenna (27db gain) as an alternative to the Sarantel. Looks small enough to put in the bump out (15mm X 10 mm), I'm just curious as to the performance.

If there is enough interest generated, I would build the rest of the boards and offer them to members. The board along with the smaller patch antenna would make for a really simple GPS install...

Robert

 

You have done a great job thanks for sharing with all of us. It would be really nice to be able to add GPS that easy and do bluetooth at the same time.

Post some pics of the new setup if you get some time i would love to see the new board with bluetooth on there.

-James

 

Very good! U maked it a better way then i. One hint only: The additional devices all consume power. If u want to avoid this just have a look in my bluetooth-instruction here in this forum. There describe i, how to switch on and off the bluetooth stick via panasonicsoftware. Or the simple way with an normal switch like i had described in the beginning of this thread.

Where did u got the cable and the connector? Itemnumber?

Thank u, Denis.

 

Fstick... Awesome... Just awesome. Thanks for sharing! Your design is similar to mine except that I solder the ends of the GPS 5-wired plug straight to the end of the ribbon cable. This of course takes a steady hand and great magnification. A circuit board like you made would simplify things greatly!

I'm eager to hear how well the GPS antenna in the bump-out works for you. It would be GREAT if we could find one as good as the Sarantel that works in the bump-out.

Keep up the good work... And please post the link to the ribbon cables... I bought 20 of them some time back for cheap and now the place I got them discontinued them! (I think I paid $2 each for them in quantity)

Good Job!

EDIT - BTW.... I have found that hot glue works VERY well in addition to a little double-stick tape to holding these things in place. Everyone must remember that when in use... These are actually upside-down... And prone to fall off if tape is the only means of adhesion.

 

I believe the XP bluetooth drivers (Toshiba?) have the ability to turn off the bluetooth device - at least the drivers that loaded when I installed the unit allows me to turn off the unit. As far as the GPS, it turns off with the laptop, and I haven't seen any real difference in battery consumption with the GPS installed.

The 40 pin connector is a Molex 0541324062. The cable is a 12 inch 40 pin flat ribbon cable from Raid Gear (seller - doctorstein) on Ebay.

The Bluetooth addition is just a USB bluetooth module that was removed from it's case, the USB connector removed, and wires soldered from the USB contacts on the module to the appropriate inputs on the GPS interface board. Covered the bluetooth module with shrink tube and placed it in the bump out so it would be able to transmit/receive outside of the laptop case.

Robert

 

OUCH! $21.83 per cable?????? Man... I KNEW I should have ordered more of those. By the way... I have several of the molex connectors if you need a few. I ordered 25 of them from Digikey last year when there was talk about making a daughterboard for the CF-28.... I gave some of them away for experiments... SO if you need a few... PM me your address and I'll get some to you... (Once I clean up my shop and find them!)

Do you have a JPEG of the circuit? I could try to make one at home...

 

Actually I want to try this next time with a 10 pin cable. Since I don't add internal USB to mine I don't really need the other pins. I only use pins 30 - 40 for internal GPS anyway.... And I have a bunch of 10 pin cables left over from taking apart the old modems out of the CF-28s... After throwing away the first few I started keeping them and now have a bag stuff full of 2-3 different types of ribbon cables.

EDIT - Actually... the ribbon cable connector are 50 pin for the old CF-28... Not the 40 pin needed for the CF-29.... But the offer still stands if you want some...

 

Yeah TB, the cables are a bit pricey . I'd like to find a cheaper source, but I had difficulty just finding this guy. He would probably give a price break for quantity.

I only have the board layout in a .pcb file (Eagle). I could do a screenshot and send it, but I think the extremely small pads and runs for the connector would be difficult at best to etch at home, unless you have a setup that is beyond the amateur homebrew boardmaker (me).

The cost of prototyping the boards was not too bad, until I had to do it again because of a parts mixup. I am in the process of ordering the correct connector for that board, so I should have about 30 boards built in the end. Thanks for the offer for the connectors, but it sounds like you may want them if you make your own board.

If the patch antenna would yield similar results as the sarantel, the whole GPS/bluetooth install would take about an hour, the most difficult part would be having the courage to take apart the laptop (not that anyone here seems to have that problem! )

Robert

 

Robert... If we could find a good patch antenna... I could install that whole thing in about 20-30 minutes... It takes me 2-3 now and I have a ton of micro-soldering to do... Assembly is the easy part. The good thing about your setup is that it makes the install a "No Brainer" after you went to the trouble of putting together a kit.

I may have to call Jim Gray and see what he thinks would be a good bet for our needs... I love the Sarantel... But then that takes away the WWAN in my installs.

 

Rick! My project now is a CF-29 with the original WWAN and at the same time an embedded gps em408. The sarantel antena will be installed at the other side of the LID. The wwan antena will be as-is.


teo

 

I thought about trying to add a second 40 pin connector on the other side of the GPS interface board input to make a pass thru connection so one could still use the WWAN. I'm just not sure if the GPS pins are populated on the non GPS sled. It still would be a tight fit for the WWAN sled and the EM-408, but it probably could be done. and like Teo said, you could put the Sarantel on the opposite corner of the LCD. I still would like a useable patch antenna to make it the "no brainer" install. That would make it a little more marketable.

Robert

 

I don't know if we could find a patch antena that can give us a reliable signal. So far, based on my experiment the sarantel antena is the best. Anybody here know what kind of an antena installed on cf-30 at the top of LCD? I just wonder if that is a patch antena maybe we can install the same type on CF-29 just a matter of fabricating a bump out corner piece.

 

@Robert: It sounds like u had not measured yet the current of an USB-Device in standby and the difference will you see, if u are far away from the next powersource...

 

Just got off of the phone ordering the following antenna from Jim Gray:

CERAMIC PATCH ACTIVE GPS ANTENNA 1575.42MHz 27dbi GAIN

He explained that the Carbon Black used to color plastics attenuated the gps signal, which may be why we have problems in the stock location. I was hoping that the extra gain from the active antenna would compensate for some of the attenuation of the plastic. I bit the bullet and ordered one ($27.00)with a 6 inch lead and an MMCX connector (extra $15.00 - OUCH!). I will be able to compare the signal against my Sarantel installation as well as the current patch antenna I am using with my polycarbonate bump out. I will switch back to the panasonic bump out when I test the new antenna, to see if we can get a working setup with useable performance. I will pass on the result when I get the antenna installed.

Robert

 

I too am looking at the em408 with the current WWAN sled intact; and space is a major factor! I have a few ideas though and will bounce them off you guys when I have more time. I would really, really like this solution though!

~Paul

 

I took the cover off the gps antenna on my cf-30 and looked at it

It’s a ceramic patch antenna similar in size (18mmx18mm ) to JD’s passive ceramic antenna

Can’t find any parts # on it

Alex

 

I think we would have to switch to a smaller GPS engine... There is barely room for the stock GPS engine along with the WWAN modem and the stock GPS engine is tiny... Postage stamp sized. Cadillac suggested this last year to start playing around with other engines....

 

@ohlip

Teo, you said you were able to mount the sarantel antenna on the RIGHT side of the cf29 LCD lid, opposite the stock WWAN antenna locale, and I have seen finished product pictures of you doing this, but can you please take some pictures of what you had to do to get the antenna to fit? Or, at least, describe it here?

Mucho appreciado....
~Paul

 

Doobi.. here is the initial progress of my project for an antena installation opposite to the WWAN area. The sarantel antena will be covered by a shrinkable tube totally to isolate from contact to any part of the lid and then by applying a quick dry epoxy to reinforce the lid integrity coz of shaving and dremmeling,. Afterthat the rubber corner piece will be be shave accordingly to fit it on place. Unfortunately I cannot finnish the whole setup of WWAN coz I don't have yet the corner piece for WWAN. I only have a bunch of antena taken from my previous modd..ed unit. If you could help me out getting the rubber bump piece with small piece of metal for WWAN antena. I am willing to send you out one of this mod..with Sarantel antena installed. here is the photo for your ref. I will posted more photos when I'm done with it.

 

I have everything you need, EXCEPT for the rubber cover piece. I have all the guts for one; the metal backing piece, as well as the small metal piece, and even the WWAN antenna. Basically, I have the whole antenna setup for the LCD spot, minus the rubber cover piece. Let me know if you can use these parts.

 

If you do have the rubber bump-out piece... You will also need the metal bar that traverses the gap and that the rubber top screws down into. You can cut the ends of the bar off and still use the ends, screwed into the lid so that you can then screw the top into the ends....

I think I just confused myself... But that is how I do it... But in place of the WWAN....

Hopefully I will be building one to list on ebay in the next few days... So I will take pictures. I haven't had a UTB on ebay in months!

 

Can someone please tell me the partnumber of this rubber-part?
@ohlip: Did You mean You isolate the metal-shield from the sarantel-antenna and why?

 

Onirakkiss... I have every schematic available for the CF-29 and the part isn't listed anywhere that I see... Just the regular ones.

 

I was having the same issue at one time. i did finally find the pn# but i no longer have it sorry.

But if you look around enough you will find it.

-James

 

Has anyone used the stock WWAN ribbon cable to hook up a EM-408? I thought I had the correct pin-out but there must be something screwy with the cable.... Anyone ever try it?

 

Okay... I have spent the past 5 hours trying the pin-outs on the WWAN cable to hook up the EM-408 in a CF-29 and I'm getting nowhere fast. It's time for a...



Apparently there are common pins that straight ribbon cables do not have... I knew they switched over... But I'm getting a short somewhere.... Where is my magic ribbon cable testing machine when I need one?

 

Ohlip has the pinouts. He sent me a copy too, but I don't have it with me. I will post back when I get to work for you.

 

I have the regular pinouts... They are off of CN18.... What I need are the pinouts for the opposite end of the WWAN ribbon cable. Is THAT what you are talking about?

 

I have the pinouts for the 12pin cable to the sled:

em408------------------sled(21c)
1(enable/disable)--------pin10
2(ground)---------------pin6
3(rx)--------------------pin 3(tx)
4(tx)--------------------pin 4(rx)
5(vcc)------------------pin 9
Note:------------------pin 2 of the 12c sled must short to ground in order to show GPS in the BIOS. So pin 2 and 6 of the 12c connect together to cable 2 of the EM408.

The pinouts for the CN18 cable to the sled is as follows:

Em408 engine---------- CN(18)cf-29
1(enable/disable)------- pin 29(RFPWRSW#)
2(ground) --------------pin 33,35,37 (any of them)
3(GPS Rx) --------------pin 38(Tx)
4(GPS Tx) --------------pin 39(Rx)
5(V supply) -------------pin 30,31,32(any of them)
Note: ------------------pin 40 must short to ground in order to show up on the bios that there is gps engine on the machine. So pin 40 must be combined with either 33/35/37 (whichever you choose) and cable 2 of the EM408 5 cable connector.

These pinouts are from Ohlip and both setups work. I have tried them both. BTW, Teo did get the EM408 to work IN the sled, with the 12c pinout setup but he had to remove the patch antenna from the EM408 to make it fit. I don't know what this did to performance of it, so maybe he can chime in on that part.

God Bless,

Paul

 

Paul,

Thanks for the info... I'll have to backtrack a little I guess to get my answer... These pinouts should help. I like to add mine without the sled. The weird things is... I traced out all the runs just like I would with a straight ribbon cable. I used the kind like I was discussing with Fstick (Above) and they always work great.... Somehow the WWAN type ribbon cables don't work when used in a straight fashion. I'll check them once again this morning... But I am sure that I have my wiring correct. There must be a crossover somewhere that is producing a short or some sort of conflict. I traced all the pinouts just like I was using a straight cable... They end up in different places on the WWAN cable though...

 

I am pretty sure that the FFC cables are straight through/no crossovers. That being said, I would ohm each lead out and look for a short across the cables, in case you have a bad one. The only other thing I could think of is if the lead side of the WWAN cable is on the opposite side of the other cable.( i.e. the leads are exposed on the top of one side of the cable but on the bottom of the other side). I had this problem when designing my board and pins 1-40 from right to left on one side became pins 40-1 right to left on the other side.

fstik