GPS RS232 Breakout Circuit

9

Looks like the Holux GM-210 GPS unit is a good choice to interface to a microcontroller, the downside is that it doesn’t use a standard RS-232 port. A converter is available to change the existing port to what we need but since it is costly any serious hacker would build their own converter.

“The cheapest GPS reciever I could find was the Holux GM-210 unit. It’s a great unit since it supports both RS232 communication as well as TTL. This makes the unit very suitable for application with microcontrollers. If you consider playing around with a GPS reciever, I can definatly recommend you to buy the Holux GM-210. It’s very robuste, and has no problem getting a satelite fix even in tough conditions.”

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9 Comments


  1. Umm… Not to be a total skag on this, but the 210 does support straight RS232 out. He just didin’t want to buy a cable that cost the same as the GPS unit itself.

    I love my 210. Although, I want to upgrade to a SIRF III unit, I haven’t found a unit that I would want to purchase. They are all bluetooth, which is kinda silly.



  4. Nice! I have a gps module too and i decided to build a simple pic based version. No rs232 just a lcd.


  5. In whose world is 100 bucks the cheapest gps you could find, but still need to build a 20 dollar adapter board for it to work?!?!?

    Sparkfun.com has complete GPS modules with antenna attached, sirf star III chipsets and TTL out… Ready to go, one serial connection… geesh..


  6. Hi Steven.

    Have you ever considered that some of us find it interresting, challenging and fun to make such a board?

    Regards, David


  7. @Alan Parekh: No project, it is just installed in my car for when I go on trips to connect to my laptop for MS Streets and Trips. Although, I bought a new LG 9900vx which has built in cell-tower GPS (AGPS) and it is pretty spot on.

    @Steven: They are not $100 bucks. They are maybe $50 with a cable. Other cables are kind of expensive, which is why he went with this ‘breakout’ board. And the best part about this one is that it’s waterproof and has a magnet in the base. The one from sparkfun, obviously does not.

    I’m not saying that what he did wasn’t a good thing, but the 9v battery will maybe run the unit for an hour, tops. All you need is 5v, and he would get a LOT more runtime out of this if he went to a switching regulator, and used some rechargeable AA batteries.

    My circuit would consist of the regulator from here: http://dimensionengineering.com/DE-SW050.htm

    And 6 AA batteries instead of the 9v. That will give you a lot more runtime, depending on how many milliamps that the gps draws, but I think it’s relatively low. It will be longer than the 9v, for sure.



  9. If someone really wanted to use a little creative electronics to make a low cost GPS this is a great project:
    http://www.radiohound.com/randgps.htm
    This project made the rounds a few years ago. For a while those gps units got hard to find.

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