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Handheld GPS

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tscott165(at)cableone.net
Guest

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:15 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

Anybody had any experience with a Lowrance 2000C? Looking for a  

portable unit and it got good review from Aviation Consumer last  

year. Reportedly has poor backup battery life. Looking for feedback/ 

suggestions.



Scott Boyce, N28339

tscott165(at)cableone.net

Robert.Dwork(at)Arbella.c
Guest

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 3:41 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

I've had the 2000c for two months now, and I like it very much. I can't

really compare it to any other aviation unit (my prior GPS was Trimble

Flightmate circa 1993) although I have a Garmin 392c marine GPS in my boat

which is similar in size, functionality, etc. Both are nice units.



I like the Lowrance, though. Very fast lock onto sats, great direct sunlight

visibility, all the functionality you would want and expect, nothing is

missing.



Backup battery IS very poor....turn down the backlight and you may get 30-45

minutes out of it. It is purely for emergency backup in the event of primary

power failure/rundown. I have mine hooked up through an input jack into the

panel, where it draws power off the bus and communicates with the JPI 450

Fuel Flow.



It comes with a great bracket system. I have it attached to the short arm

(rather than the yoke mount) that has a powerful suction cup on the

end....clamps right onto the windshield just ahead of the interior lights

rocker switch and I can punch buttons with my left hand while still holding

the yoke.



A few caveates: I find searching through the database for airports by

identifier isn't great, can't always find them that way, although by name,

there they are. There are a few popup alarms that are very useful to enable,

but you have to press a button to get rid of them....that can be annoying in

densely controlled airspace, where "Entering the X Airspace" message keeps

popping up every couple of minutes. It should remove itself after a user-set

period.



I did pretty extensive shopping for this unit once I decided the Lowrance is

what I wanted. I found Rob Rollison at airplanegear.com, who had by far the

lowest price, and he was a pleasure to do business with. I highly recommend

that if you don't plan to hard-wire the power in some way, purchase the

small powerpack called the "Go-Pak".



Bob Dwork

Traveler N9536L



--

n32romeo(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Thu Apr 27, 2006 7:45 pm Post subject: Handheld GPS

Since as I read the Lowrance 2000C is designed to run on 6VDC, what did you do to step the voltage down from the bus?  I have been thinking of this unit also, but in my AA-1B I have my old Megellan GPS and my portable Intercom wires spliced together and plugged into the cigarette lighter.  I see the Lowrance comes with a cigarette lighter with a built in step down transformer.

Rich Harrison

AA-1B N1632Romeo

 




I've had the 2000c for two months now, and I like it very much.

 I have mine hooked up through an input jack into the

panel, where it draws power off the bus and communicates with the JPI 450

Fuel Flow.

Robert.Dwork(at)Arbella.c
Guest

Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 4:30 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

I'll tell you exactly how I did it, Rich.

I said to my avionics guy: "Please attach my 2000c to my JPI FS 450", and he

did.

I'm sorry I don't have a better answer....the electrical system of my

Traveler scares me, because the more I read about it on the lists, the more

confused I get. Mechanical stuff I get: electrical stuff I leave alone.



I do know that for power alone (ie; a data cable is required and purchased

sparately to communicate with the fuel flow computer) the lighter plug works

just fine in the console lighter socket.





--

tscott165(at)cableone.net
Guest

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:49 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

The specs I saw said the Lowrance 2000c runs on 5-35 volts DC. It  

runs fine from the cigarette lighter in car or plane. Batteries are  

for standby back-up only and go down quickly when operating on  

batteries only. I bought an AC/DC 12V adapter at radio shack with a  

cigarette lighter outlet for $27. I plug the units power cord into  

the adapter and can explore the intricacies of the unit or set up  

flight plans and waypoints at home and not be concerned about batteries.



Scott Boyce

AA5B N28339



On Apr 27, 2006, at 9:44 PM, n32romeo(at)aol.com wrote:



 	  Quote: 	
		   



  Since as I read the Lowrance 2000C is designed to run on 6VDC,  

 what did you do to step the voltage down from the bus?  I have been  

 thinking of this unit also, but in my AA-1B I have my old Megellan  

 GPS and my portable Intercom wires spliced together and plugged  

 into the cigarette lighter.  I see the Lowrance comes with a  

 cigarette lighter with a built in step down transformer.

 Rich Harrison

 AA-1B N1632Romeo

 

 <Robert.Dwork(at)Arbella.com>

 I've had the 2000c for two months now, and I like it very much.

  I have mine hooked up through an input jack into the

 panel, where it draws power off the bus and communicates with the  

 JPI 450

 Fuel Flow.

n32romeo(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:48 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

This is from the operating manual (downloaded from Lowrance)

Input power:......................6 volts DC (uses four 1.5v AA batteries as

emergency backup power). Cigarette lighter

power adapter included. Optional rechargeable

battery pack available.

 

 	  Quote: 	
		  From what I understand the Cigarette lighter plug has the voltage step-down transformer built into it to feed the unit 6VDC.  I don't think you could connect the unit directly off the aircraft bus without providing some sort of step-down transformer.  The Lowrance Airmap 500 / 600 models run on 3VDC.

 Rich
	







The specs I saw said the Lowrance 2000c runs on 5-35 volts DC. It  

runs fine from the cigarette lighter in car or plane. Batteries are  

for standby back-up only and go down quickly when operating on  

batteries only. I bought an AC/DC 12V adapter at radio shack with a  

cigarette lighter outlet for $27. I plug the units power cord into  

the adapter and can explore the intricacies of the unit or set up  

flight plans and waypoints at home and not be concerned about batteries.



Scott Boyce

AA5B N28339

tscott165(at)cableone.net
Guest

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:20 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

Check it out on the Lowrance website:

http://www.lowrance.com/Aviation/Products/AM2000C.asp

It says 5 - 35 volts via cigarette lighter adapter. Isn't the  

cigarette lighter in your plane wired directly to the bus? I think so  

and therefore supplies whatever your battery or alternator is  

cranking out, somewhere between 12 and 14 volts, usable by most  

portable GPS, etc designed to run off the cigarette lighter without  

any further conditioning.

Scott Boyce

AA5B, N28339

On Apr 29, 2006, at 11:46 AM, n32romeo(at)aol.com wrote:

 	  Quote: 	

 This is from the operating manual (downloaded from Lowrance)

 Input power:......................6 volts DC (uses four 1.5v AA  

 batteries as

 emergency backup power). Cigarette lighter

 power adapter included. Optional rechargeable

 battery pack available.

> From what I understand the Cigarette lighter plug has the voltage  

> step-down transformer built into it to feed the unit 6VDC.  I  

> don't think you could connect the unit directly off the aircraft  

> bus without providing some sort of step-down transformer.  The  

> Lowrance Airmap 500 / 600 models run on 3VDC.

  Rich

 <tscott165(at)cableone.net>

 The specs I saw said the Lowrance 2000c runs on 5-35 volts DC. It

 runs fine from the cigarette lighter in car or plane. Batteries are

 for standby back-up only and go down quickly when operating on

 batteries only. I bought an AC/DC 12V adapter at radio shack with a

 cigarette lighter outlet for $27. I plug the units power cord into

 the adapter and can explore the intricacies of the unit or set up

 flight plans and waypoints at home and not be concerned about  

 batteries.

 Scott Boyce

 AA5B N28339

n32romeo(at)aol.com
Guest

Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:59 pm Post subject: Handheld GPS

Yes, but you must use the supplied cigarette lighter plug that provides the unit with the 6VDC (stepping down from the bus voltage) is my understanding.  I was just wondering what the installer did on Bob Dwork's Traveler to as he states: "I have mine hooked up through an input jack into the panel, where it draws power off the bus".  I am thinking the installer must have installed some form of step-down transformer to feed the unit 6VDC (or installed the cigarette lighter plug behind the panel).  

I have a similar issue that I am feeding multiple equipment from the cigarette lighter.  Currently I have the wires going to my portable intercom and my old GPS spliced together and then plugging into the cigarette lighter.  My intercom needs 12 volts, so this same set-up would not work with the Lowrance supplied plug.  This would be a minor problem to solve with Radio Shack parts, just need to put together the schematic.

Maybe I am wrong on this.  If someone with a 1000 or 2000 could measure the voltage on the connector going to the GPS out of the cigarette lighter and let me know if this is bus voltage (12 or 24) or stepped down to something close to 6VDC, that would tell me what I need to do.

Thanks,

Rich 

--

dwork(at)comcast.net
Guest

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:13 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

Rich, I can find out for you exactly what was done by the avionics tech. He 

did NOT use the cigarette power cord supplied with the unit because, as I 

said, I had to buy a separate data cable, which is a four-wire lead (one 

power, one ground, and two data connections to the fuel flow meter - which 

takes info from the Lowrance and tells me how much fuel I'll need to get to 

my destination, how much reserve I'll have when I get there, and what I'm 

getting for NMPG ). My statement that the GPS power goes into a jack isn't 

quite accurate - the jack is there for legality purposes ( as the portable 

GPS is not considered portable if it is directly hard-wired into the 

electrical system - so says my avionics tech ) but actually, the power lead 

from the gps DOES have a direct connection into the system. The 

"portability" arrives from the ability to disconnect the power cord from the 

back of the GPS and run it on batteries - for the 30 minutes it'll last).



Again, I suggest you might want to call or write Rob Rollision at 

airplanegear.com with questions about the 2000c- he knows this unit very 

well.

---

tscott165(at)cableone.net
Guest

Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 7:27 am Post subject: Handheld GPS

The reason you must use the supplied cigarette lighter plug is  

because the other end of the cable is terminated with a connector  

with the specific pin configuration to plug into the GPS unit.



Scott Boyce

tscott165(at)cableone.net



On Apr 29, 2006, at 9:57 PM, n32romeo(at)aol.com wrote:



[quote] 



 Yes, but you must use the supplied cigarette lighter plug that  

 provides the unit with the 6VDC (stepping down from the bus  

 voltage) is my understanding.  I was just wondering what the  

 installer did on Bob Dwork's Traveler to as he states: "I have mine  

 hooked up through an input jack into the panel, where it draws  

 power off the bus".  I am thinking the installer must have  

 installed some form of step-down transformer to feed the unit 6VDC  

 (or installed the cigarette lighter plug behind the panel).

 I have a similar issue that I am feeding multiple equipment from  

 the cigarette lighter.  Currently I have the wires going to my  

 portable intercom and my old GPS spliced together and then plugging  

 into the cigarette lighter.  My intercom needs 12 volts, so this  

 same set-up would not work with the Lowrance supplied plug.  This  

 would be a minor problem to solve with Radio Shack parts, just need  

 to put together the schematic.

 Maybe I am wrong on this.  If someone with a 1000 or 2000 could  

 measure the voltage on the connector going to the GPS out of the  

 cigarette lighter and let me know if this is bus voltage (12 or 24)  

 or stepped down to something close to 6VDC, that would tell me what  

 I need to do.

 Thanks,

 Rich

 --

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