Topic: AS PC2 - Will it allow me to transfer navigation data to-from my unit?

[whosmatt]

Hi all,

Owner of a 768 here.  I like the unit, and was about to buy an additional power cable to hook up to a 12v supply just so I could run the head unit at my desk while working with nav data (I have a card reader, sd card, etc).  I found the AS PC2 kit which has a battery power supply in addition to the serial cable for not much more money.  Just wondering if the serial cable will allow me to skip the steps of swapping the SD card between the unit and my PC in order to upload and download waypoints, routes, and tracks.

Thanks,

Matt

[flatcat_auz]

AS PC3 is inmo the better option (usb over serial- both of my computers even the one which is six years old didn't have a serial port, had to purchase adapter     ) And yes it's for exactly the purpose you describe. Problem I have is that AS PC3 is not available for sale in the backwater known as Australia 

The only thing you can't do is download snapshots or recordings and here's hoping this is addressed in the next upgrade 

I own the 798 CXI HD SI

Hi all,

Owner of a 768 here.  I like the unit, and was about to buy an additional power cable to hook up to a 12v supply just so I could run the head unit at my desk while working with nav data (I have a card reader, sd card, etc).  I found the AS PC2 kit which has a battery power supply in addition to the serial cable for not much more money.  Just wondering if the serial cable will allow me to skip the steps of swapping the SD card between the unit and my PC in order to upload and download waypoints, routes, and tracks.

Thanks,

Matt

[whosmatt]

Excellent.  I already have a USB - Serial adapter, so I'm all set.

[flatcat_auz]

Excellent.  I already have a USB - Serial adapter, so I'm all set.

It does say on the packaging for the ASPC2 that you cannot use a usb port but I did and had no problems. I think the trick is to make sure the driver for the converter 'tricks' the computer into in thinking that the UBS is actually a serial port. Well that's all I could figure out as it worked fine after me not expecting it to.
Make sure you have high quality batteries as the unit will not work if the batteries are not 'brand new' as it were.

[whosmatt]

Yeah, I got my adapter years ago to work with an old Garmin gps and it's done fine for me for a lot of tasks.  Looking forward to editing my on the water waypoints with a real keyboard.  Also, I've discovered OpenCPN and its ability to overlay my .gpx files from the humminbird over free NOAA charts.  Shame I can't load the NOAA charts into my unit, but I can at least mark spots and create routes with it.

-M

[whosmatt]

So I got the cable today, and I have to say I'm a little disappointed.  For one, it's slow.  But more importantly, and the reason I wanted it to begin with, is that I thought I'd be able to power on the unit and look at my nav data on it.  No such luck.  I didn't realize that it has to be connected to the GPS unit (AS GR50 in my case) to even show the nav views.  I suppose this is different in the units that have GPS built in, but still, disappointing to me.  I live in southern california, and there are a number of areas closed to fishing.  Someone on a local forum was nice enough to map all of these areas as tracks and make them available as a .gpx file.  These load easily enough into my unit, but for some reason, they're not visible on the map until I modify each of them individually on the unit.  I was hoping to be able to do this at my desk rather than on the boat.  Oh well.  At least I'm not running my SD card out to the boat and back to transfer data.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Matt,
You should be able to see the GPS data on your unit when using it inside in the simulator mode.  If you only have power connected to the unit it should be default, go into the point-of-purchase simulator mode when you power it on.  If it isn’t than you can put your unit into the ‘forced’ simulator mode by:
 - Powering the unit on with the power button.
 - While the unit is still showing the Title/Start-up screen (shows something like “Humminbird 768 Combo”); press the MENU button.
 - The display should have three or four options shown.  Use the Up/Down Arrows to highlight “Simulator” and then the Right Arrow to activate it.
The unit should now be simulating a GPS Receiver being connected and allow you access to all of the GPS related Views and menus.  Any menu or waypoint changes made will be remembered while in the forced simulator mode.

[whosmatt]

Ah, ok.  That makes sense.   Thanks for the reply.

-Matt

[whosmatt]

Oh, and for anyone else who runs into this:  After using PC Connect mode and getting out on the water, my unit was no longer outputting NMEA data to my VHF.  Took me a while to find the menu entry for NMEA output, and I was a little perplexed because I have the AS GR50; I figured it would just spit out the data on the pigtail.  Not so, had to enable it on the head unit.   

Is there any way to save and restore the config of the unit?  Menu settings and the like?

-M

[Humminbird_Greg]

When the unit is running in the forced simulator or normal operating modes it should remember this and other menu settings.

There is no way to make a file or back-up of the menu settings.

[whosmatt]

Ah.  So the trick to having it remember settings is not to let it go into demo mode when powering it up at the computer?