Honda Goldwing Aspencade

GPS

Ben hacked his sons GameBoy SP to do the GPS mapping on the Goldwing. (Don't worry, Terry did ok out of the deal, he got a new DS!!)

GPS front view

The game boy only has a 3.3 volt serial port, the GPS you use will have a 5 to 12 volt serial port, if you hook them up, you will blow up your Gameboy, build a simple voltage clamp with a few diodes.

gps gameboy serial port clamp

Hook up the switches so you can use the Gameboy functions while it is in its new case (in Ben's case, the old Speedo case)

gps gameboy switch interface

Another example of how the switches are picked up and relocated to out side on the bike somewhere.

gps gameboy external switches

Over view of the "A" button and back light buttons hooked up.

gps gameboy external switch connectio overview

Here is the back of the Gameboy and how the battery and relay are stuck into the case. (Ben found that the Gameboy did not power up with out the battery, so he added a relay that switched the battery into its original position when on and dropped it out when the bike it turned off.)

gps gameboy overview

Here is how the Gameboy screen fits into the back of the old Speedo case. The switch fits in where the trip meter knob used to be.

gps gameboy fits in speedo case

I wanted to fill the empty hole in the dash, I also wanted a kph speed reading (the kph numbers on the speedo are small, red and *really* hard to read), a trip meter would be nice, and a compass would be icing. Sadly, I have pretty much neglected to take any photos of the process. I am not sure it would have helped anyway as it was just so much of a custom job that it would be hard for anyone (even me!) to do it again as you see it here.

hmmm, better photos coming. Trust me, it looks fantastic, you can easily see it in the bright sun, at night the back light is perfect. The green volt meter and amp meter on the other hand is a total waste of space. I will be replacing it soon with an LCD version. Watch this space

This is what the GPS screen looks like. The nice thing about the Global Map 100 is that you can build custom screens for it......

gps map and speed

Here is another of the original screen layouts.

gps map and bearing speed

This is what it looks like at night. The back light has about 4 levels of brightness.

gps screen night view

This is one of the custom screens that Ben uses most of the time.

gps standard screen

Fun, games and hacks with GPS

What's a gadget guy with no gadgets? GPS has been my fascination for many years now. Long before it was popular, long before it was as accurate as it is today I have been messing with different GPS units. First was the ICOM, a small white circle of frustrating joy. Then there was the Magellan Trailblazer. Then there was a Garmin something, now days I have 4. A Garmin GPS12, a Lowrance GlobalMap100 and two GPS modules.

The GlobalMap is destined for the Goldwing. To make it fit nicely I have had to make a few changes. Freddy says they have to be easily reversible, I love a challenge!

The start of the plug and play modifications I made to the GlobalMap100. (as usual, click on the picture for a bigger version)

Of course one thing that had to be done was to extend the keypad so that I could at least drive the basic functions from the handel bars of the bike, so here is the results of a rather tedious 1/2 hour.

Button = pins (short these out to trigger this function)

Pages = 3+8 Exit = 6 + 9 Enter = 5 +9 Power = 1 + 2 Menu = 3 + 4 Up = 7 + 8 Left = 7 + 4 Right = 7 + 6 Down = 7 + 5 Wpt = 8 + 9 Zoom out = 3 + 6 Zoom in = 3 + 5

There is a little dot on the PCB near the keyboard connector, this is pin one. All's I have done is run the 9 pins to a DB9, there is a matching DB9 that goes up to the handlebars. In the box on the bars is a bunch of switches, they simply short out the correct pins and thus drive the GPS. Since the mapping function is truly nonexistent, I don't need all the functions, thus not all the pins are used, thus not all the buttons are on the handlebar control box. I mainly am using the clock, trip meter (its in Km's, which is nice compared to the miles on the speedo) and ground speed (again, Kph, and its nice and clear, unlike the speedo). Over kill? Maybe, its my bike, my GPS and so far I'm quite enjoying the whole exercise.

This table of pins and colors are for Bens reference only. They are here so that I can wire up the switches any time I need to, I can now lose the scrap bit of paper I have been trying to keep track of for the last few weeks! Yah!

pin 1 pin 2 pin 3 pin 4 pin 5 pin 6 pin 7 pin 8 pin 9
grey white black brown red yellow green blue purple