Garmin 430 I/O Cable

[CharlesK]

Hello,

I have a real Garmin 430 I would like to incorporate into the simulator I am building. Is there a diagram for getting a cable made to connect it to my computer for use in Xplane and FSX?

Chuck

[Ronson2k9]

There was a way to connect a portable Garmin GPS to your flght sim using the Simulation mode in the GPS. However there is the GPS Docking Station - Sporty's.



With that and FSUIPC 4.0 or higher there is a built in feature that sends FSX location data out a com port on your computer. This is then connected to your GPS via RS232 cable. Which I think would come with the Docking unit? You would put the 430 into simulator mode to accept the data. I would under no circumstances hack into your Garmin to make the connection. It's a expensive piece of hardware and opening it to connect it via sim would be sin.

There are several other approaches.

Software based Garmin 430 units for FSX can be bought at Reality XP These are already integrated into FSX so no need to figure out how to do it. There is also a thread here on building the Garmin 530 (Garsim 530) While it's the 430's bigger brother much of the technique could be used to build the smaller one.

I've not tried the hardware approach as I don't have a 430 kicking about. So I'm not sure if the dock and computer could converse via cable/FSUIPC. From what I've read it does work on portable units but this is a much more complex piece of hardware. I'm thinking the FSUIPC (GPSout) only has positional information for the aircraft. So you wouldn't get all the added benefit from the 430 that the 'Software Simulated' version could provide weather data and the like. This would be downloaded from satellites as well as the GPS info but as there is only a limited data out from the FSUIPC the added info would be missing and or unattainable. GPSout communication is one way. That is you can't use your Garmin to communicate back with FSX. Only to display your aircraft on the Garmin. That's why the software simulation is much better from a sim standpoint.

At the very least you could use the your Garmin 430 without it being connected to your aircraft to simulate it's use and get the feel for all it's features. Connecting to FSX would be a bonus. You do have several options when it comes to the Garmin 430 and your home cockpit. Depending on what amount of time you have it could be best to build an input/display unit and add the Reality XP version to your sim. Your simulated flights would be able to show much more info in the simulated 430 then using the real one.

Hope that didn't confuse you to much and welcome to Mycockpit.org
Ron

[CharlesK]

Thanks for the reply. I believe I'm still at square one however.

1. That docking station is basically a power supply for the 430 to twist knobs and get familiar with the unit. Nice but no cable to connect to the sim, and unnecessary to spend $250 I would think.

2. I have FSUIPC and the Reality XP software. I am trying to take advantage of having a actual 430 sitting on the shelf. I hooked up a Garmin 196 and it worked flawless in Xplane. I'm nearly certain a cable can be made for the 430 and it shouldn't be very elaborate, I just need to find out what wires to run.

[Ronson2k9]

As you will note there is a bus cable in the photo. That would connect to your 430 and the computer. The difficulty you have in this is that you are using an aviation GPS not a the portable 196. So it's power supply is from the aircraft not batteries/AC-DC adapter. I think that is where the dock comes in. It will invert the house current you're on send the required DC current to your G430.

Some more information on the dock and some you can use for your set up if you want to go the home brew route.
http://www.lonestaraviation.com/comm...s-400-430.html

On the above website you will note that there is a Garmin master-slave cable. This I'm thinking is your connection to the computer. It's an extra $149.99. The places I've searched on the net for the cable all sell the Lonestar Cable (same company that makes the dock) so it would be good to contact them to get all needed info for what you are about to do. They along with Garmin are perhaps the best way to find out if what you would like to do can be done.

If you don't want the dock you (and the added cable it comes with) you can get the power cable separately and an AC/DC inverter via Radio Shack. The power cable for the GNS-430 for $49.95. You would then need to plug it into an inverter as shown in the pictures to the right example: Radio Shack - Goal0 Power Inverter $79.90

So ...

Power Cable 49.95
Inverter 79.90
GNS-430 master-slave cable 149.90

Total 279.75 (before sales taxes)

I wouldn't monkey about with the power cable as you could possibly fry your GPS unit. The master-slave cable seems complex enough to me (only one company making them) that I wouldn't try making my own. I would contact Garmin or Lonestar Aviation to find out if it's possible. Lonestar is in Mansfield TX. About an hours drive SW of Dallas. You could perhaps pay them a visit. Could be good to bring a laptop with X-Plane-XFSUIPC and your Garmin with you to see if their cable will work. As you have set up the hardware GPS before you should be able to do it again with you GNS-430. Just need to need know if the simulation mode on the GNS-430 can accept data via the cable and it would be good to know before sinking a few hundred bucks into the idea

After that it's just a question of getting the stuff and installing it in your simpit.

However IMO from FSX and the Reality XP GNS-430 standpoint. I had mentioned earlier most of the features of the real one won't be accessible when connected to the sim. It's only one way data reception will give your location, altitude, heading, map. The GNS-430 is capable of so much more though - WAAS, Weather Information and Autopilot integration. That's why I think despite the added work required it would probably be better to go the software route. You would get all the features of the GNS-430. You could also find that the cost to construct and interface the software version (simulated) is about the same as the above real GNS-430 to computer interface connection hardware.

In a way you have to think of the bigger picture. As you aren't just connecting your GPS to your computer but all the other components as well. This will require interface cards and other hardware that you will need to buy/make. In the simpit world time and money are inversely proportional to each other. The more you have of one the less you need of the other. So if building many of your components is what you have in mind then the hardware to connect that will be required ergo it's not an added cost in the long one as you will need it anyway.

If you check the thread on the 530 build project referenced above. The 430 would be a cheaper build. Smaller monitors are more in demand now so they are even cheaper. Or you could go for the radio stack overlay approach as I hope to do. One monitor with radio stack component interface (face plates) added on. So your one monitor does everything (comms, nav, gps, transponder, etc).

Running both X-Plane and FSX in your sim .. Reality XP doesn't make the GNS-430 for X-Plane so I can see where you would want to use that and FSX and in that instance the hardware would get you around the software issue. Purely from that view having the hardware for both sims makes better if even less functional standpoint.

Part of me would love to be in your spot where you have a real GNS-430. I plan on making a controller interface and using a radio stack (monitor) + the Reality XP version in my sim. For many here it would be almost the entire cost of sim to buy a real GNS-430 for use in one. I think this is primarily why you won't find someone here that has done this as it would be (accept in your case) way to expensive to buy the real one to connect it to the computer/flight sim. That you have a spare one that you can add is pretty amazing.

I hope that helps a bit more.
Ron