No voice prompts after installation

[chickenlegs]

Help!
Just finished wiring up the 1200 with a new Garmin 2610. I have purchased, (and I'm sure correctly connected) the special cable and suppressor which is required to link the GPS to my Autocom Active Smart 7. Autocom suppressor plugged into the 'phone' socket and the stereo/mono cable plugged into the Garmin power/audio lead and the 'A' socket on the suppressor. I have ensured that the flat connector is slid all the way in at the Garmin end and I know that the unit gives voice prompts as I've used it in the car. I have checked the volume on the GPS and tried it at the upper level and the Autocom is working fine.
But no voice prompts on the bike. Why? Any ideas please, before I wait until Monday before ringing Autocom?
Chris.

 

[spock]

have you enabled, the voice promt????

 

[chickenlegs]

have you enabled, the voice promt?

Yes, the GPS voice is set to "Guidance and status", which setting works fine in the car.

 

[EURTRAF]

Chris

Check that the Autocom speaker cable is locating firmly in the Garmin audio lead.
Tried mine today and have found that it does not push all the way in and stay there, so causing intermittent voice prompts when moving.
Works fine when stationary if you press the jack firmly in the audio output socket and press the speek button.

Am going to talk with Autocom tomorow.

Steve

 

[Raindancer]

Help!
Just finished wiring up the 1200 with a new Garmin 2610. I have purchased, (and I'm sure correctly connected) the special cable and suppressor which is required to link the GPS to my Autocom Active Smart 7. Autocom suppressor plugged into the 'phone' socket and the stereo/mono cable plugged into the Garmin power/audio lead and the 'A' socket on the suppressor. I have ensured that the flat connector is slid all the way in at the Garmin end and I know that the unit gives voice prompts as I've used it in the car. I have checked the volume on the GPS and tried it at the upper level and the Autocom is working fine.
But no voice prompts on the bike. Why? Any ideas please, before I wait until Monday before ringing Autocom?
Chris.

Chris

If you are using a lead from your Garmin 2610 which has jack plugs on either end, you have to put one lead to the back of the Gramin audio lead and the other end goes into the Active 7 autocom in the MUSIC socket... not the phone socket. I have just installed mine and opted for the other audio lead from Autocom, which has the five pin din plug (grey) at the other end, so that I could use my music socket. This grey plug, plugs into the grey socket on you autocom.


Hope that works. If you have any probs email me [email protected]

 

[chickenlegs]

Hi Dan and Steve.
Many thanks for your help. After a few attempts I remember checking that the plugs were seated properly and that I followed the Autocom connection diagram which does in fact show the jack plug in the 'phone' socket and not the 'music' socket. After much head scratching, I eventually tried it in both, with no luck. The alternative grey socketed Autocom cable sounds interesting tho, (I've always wondered what that grey plug was for!) I am going to ring them tomorrow and see what they suggest. I do feel that it is an Autocom problem and not a fault with the GPS. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

One other thing! Do you leave your Garmin power/audio lead permanently on your bikes? Are you concerned about water ingress in the end of the Garmin lead? I've decided to hide mine in a plastic bag when I'm not using the GPS, which looks really nice as you can imagine!

Chris

 

[Raindancer]

2610

Chris

Yes I leave the lead covered with the plastic plug cover provided and like you if I left the bike anywhere in the wet........I would also leave the leads covered with a plastic bag as a double precaution.

One final thought on your speaker problem ...........have you turned up the volume on the autocom?

 

[Gussi]

I've just mountesd the plastic thing above the RID with som doublesided tape... When the 2610 is off the mount i just place the lead into the plastic protector...

 

[chickenlegs]

No voice prompts...

Just spoken to Autocom and a nice chap at GPS Warehouse. Autocom suggest that it is a fault with the Garmin power/audio lead as it is very unlikely to be a fault with the Active 7 intercom or their cables - mmmm? GPSW have agreed to take the Garmin lead back and replace it with another. So, we'll see if that works.
I'm getting very good at taking the side panels off the 1200 as I seem to be getting lots of practice. A good lesson to learn - never secure wiring or fiddly stuff, until you have thoroughly tested the equipment first. Now write that out a hundred times!
Chris

 

[EURTRAF]

I also spoke to Autocom today and they recommended that I hard wire the sound by cutting of the male plug from their cable and the audio socket from the Garmin lead and soldering the 2 sets of wires together. Doing this also means that you can reduce the length of their cable to just what you require rather than the standard 2 meters.

They recommend this because the Garmin sockets do not apparently last very well.

I will try this at the weekend after I have brought some more heat shrink for the wires and let you know how I get on.

Steve

 

[Grumpy Lee]

Chris

Check that the Autocom speaker cable is locating firmly in the Garmin audio lead.
Tried mine today and have found that it does not push all the way in and stay there, so causing intermittent voice prompts when moving.
Works fine when stationary if you press the jack firmly in the audio output socket and press the speek button.

Am going to talk with Autocom tomorow.

Steve

I posted a thread a while back about the same problem. I too thought it was the jack plugs, so I pushed them firmly together and used some heat shrink on the jacks. Didn't work, then found the fault to be the wire where it came out of the Garmin jack socket that when moved caused the voice prompts to disappear.

But for me it's more annoying than that as I have the same set up in the sidecar for SWMBO, and that lead has the same problem.

Sounds like an iffy batch to me

 

[chickenlegs]

Steve, you are obviously confident that you know which wires to solder together. I assume that as there is only a mono output at the Garmin end, the options are pretty simple?
The only down side to this method I guess, is that your GPS seller will not be able to replace a chopped and soldered cable if it unfortunately doesn't work.
Please let me know how you get on.
Interesting that the chap I spoke to at GPSW didn't bat an eyelid at the thought of having to replace the cable. Sounds as if this might be more common than one would expect.
Chris.

 

[EURTRAF]

Chris

I would not say I am 100% confident but am willing to give it a go.

Autocom gave me the details of which wires to connect to which.

They said that they have done installations themselves where the Garmin output socket has apparently failed within minuets of completing the installation, so they now try and hard wire the sound connection if at all possible.

With regards to the wiring they advised the following connections.

Garmin cable consists of the following wires:
Brown
White
Black
Red

Autocom cable consists of the following wires:
Screen
ANOTHER Colour (depending I think on where they were made)

Connect Brown Garmin wire to the Autocom 'screen' wire
Connect White Garmin wire to the Autocom ANOTHER colour wire
Black Garmin wire - Isolate
Red Garmin wire - Isolate

As I said I will give it a go as soon as I can get hold of some heat shrink from Maplins and let you know how it goes, will also try and take some pics.

Steve

 

[EURTRAF]

GL

Just read your previous post regarding the audio wire and it is exactly the same as the problems I have been having.

Have you managed to get a new cable yet and if so did it solve the problem.

Steve

 

[Grumpy Lee]

GL

Just read your previous post regarding the audio wire and it is exactly the same as the problems I have been having.

Have you managed to get a new cable yet and if so did it solve the problem.

Steve

Haven't got new cable(s) yet. Not wanting to strip out the problomatic cables, put bike/sidecar back together, send off aforementioned cables and await replacements & then put new cables in place, I have purchased two new ones for which I will be refunded when the swap is done (checking cables before fitting ) and the iffy ones sent back.

I will be phoning in the morning to see if they have been sent yet, as I had to wait a while between ordering and receiving the first two.

 

[chickenlegs]

No voice prompts cont...

Steve
I have confirmed the source of my problem (GPS problem that is)! As suspected by Autocom and others who have replied to this thread, the Garmin audio socket is a bit suspect as last night, I decided on some random wire jiggling, (my favourite method of testing electrical equipment). This proved that the socket is making a poor connection with the Autocom plug, as the voice signal cuts in and out. So, like you, I'm going to cut the two cables and connect them together after a trip to Maplins, this weekend. When I did manage to finally get the GPS to talk to me, the unit's volume was set to work fine in the car, unfortunately this nearly blew my head off. I have had to put the volume on the GPS at its lowest setting otherwise I will go prematurely deaf. Is this normal in your experience?
Your message indicated that Autocom have told you which wires to connect to which, but what is a "screen" wire? How are you going to identify this particular one? Does it have a particular colour? As the cables are providing a mono signal, it might not actually matter which way round you connect these up.
Perhaps we should compare pictures, or is that too sad?!
Chris

 

[EURTRAF]

Chris

As it happened I managed to pick up some heatshrink yesturday so decided to give it a go last night. - It works fine in the garage although have not been out for a ride yet.

These are my comments.

Autocom wire - this is similar to an arial cable in that the 'screen' is fine copper wires around a core wire. The core on mine was white.

Garmin cable - This cable has an internal sleave of some metalised plastic before you get to the 4 wires.

In both cases the wires used are very fine so you cannot use conventional wire strippers (at least not any I have) so I exposed the wires by shaving off the outer covers.

As it looks like you are going to give it a go here is what I did.

1. Disconnect both Autocom & Garmin leads from power sources
2. Cut of connectors from both Garmin and Autocom cables
3. Trim Autocom lead to the required length
4. Shave off outer covering from Autocom wire (approx 2.5cm)
5. pull ‘screen’ from around inner wire and twist to form a wire
6. shave off approx 1 cm of outer cover from white core wire
7. tinn both wires with soulder
8. slide small pieces of heat shrink back over the tinned wire (1 - 1.5cm)
9. Shave off outer covering from garmin wire (approx 2cm)
10. Separate the red and black wires, cover each with a piece of heat shrink slightly longer than the wire and heat up to ensure they are isolated
11. Shave off a small amout of the covering for the white & brown wires (+/- 0.5cm) & tinn with soulder
12. Slide 2 pieces of heatshrink over the autocom cable (2 different diameters long enough to completely cover the joint)
13. Solder the 2 sets of wires together (white – white, screen – brown)
14. Slide the 2 pieces of heatshrink from 8 above over the soldered joints and heat with hot air gun or hair drier set on hot.
15. Slide the smaller of the 2 pieces of heat shrink over the joints ensuring is covers the Autocom lead and heat up
16. Slide the larger piece of heat shrink up over the joint making sure that it covers both the autocom wire and the Garmin wire and then heat, this should provide a reasonably waterproof joint.

If you like PM me and I will send you some heatshrink, save buying it.

Going out now to try it out and visit GPSW for another RAM ball for the car.

Steve

P.S. forgot to take photos as got too involved in doing the job.

 

[chickenlegs]

Steve
Many thanks for your excellent advice. I have managed to complete the job without too much trouble and thank you for your kind offer of some heat shrink, but I managed to get some. I needed an excuse to rummage around Maplins!
I actually found a slightly different set of cables to you and an extra red cable in the Autocom plug end. There was a white core cable, but this wasn't connected to anything. So my connection was slightly different to yours and I discovered which should be connected to which by cutting away the plastic plug and socket to reveal where each wire went. The black and red Garmin wires that you suggested be isolated actually fell out of the cable and I guess isolated themselves. All seems to be well. Voice prompts are coming through ok.
Thanks again.
Chris

 

[allan]

I just finished fitting my 2610 to the bike and connecting it to my autocom easy 7, Im having the same problem. If I do this mod will it make a big difference to the volume of the voice prompts.?


Allan

 

[allan]

Just finished hard wiring the Autocom to the Garmin cable, I found an extra red wire in the autocom cable but just ignored it. Everything’s working great now, its now very loud, thanks to all for the info.

Allan