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Garmin G3X RS-232 Serial GPS Data To Artex 345 ELT

Hello

Quick question hopefully someone can answer. I have a RS-232 serial connection from my G3X GDU460 system to the GPS input on my Artex 345 ELT.

When I run an ELT Self Test it beeps saying its failing with GPS data input. I believe this is due to the format of the data I am feeding it from the GDU460.

Can anyone confirm which RS-232 Serial Data Format I should be sending to my Artex 345 ELT? The Artex mentions it needs "Aviation Data Format 9600 baud" ... what does this equate to on the GDU460?

Thanks,
Jonathan
 
Just me

I just re wired my panel because of this. Here is what i found:
The elt comes in two flavors of rs 232. If it is aviation protocol than the rs232 data needs to come from the navigator. On my gnx375 it had to be from port 1 or 2. If the elt is setup for NMEA, than that can come from the 460.

Garmin told me the 460 can not output aviation protocol gps data
I just re wired my panel because of this, so have not tried it yet. Good luck
 
Hello

Quick question hopefully someone can answer. I have a RS-232 serial connection from my G3X GDU460 system to the GPS input on my Artex 345 ELT.

When I run an ELT Self Test it beeps saying its failing with GPS data input. I believe this is due to the format of the data I am feeding it from the GDU460.

Can anyone confirm which RS-232 Serial Data Format I should be sending to my Artex 345 ELT? The Artex mentions it needs "Aviation Data Format 9600 baud" ... what does this equate to on the GDU460?

Thanks,
Jonathan

The Artex 345 accepts either 4800 baud NMEA data or 9600 baud Aviation format data, but the Artex has to be programmed for the selected protocol.

Artex345RS232.png

The Garmin IFR GPS navigators output Aviation Format data at 9600 baud, but do not output NMEA data. The GDU 4XX outputs NMEA data at either 4800 baud or 9600 baud, but does not output Aviation Format data.

This GDU 4XX RS-232 format (PFD or MFD) should work for the Artex if it is programmed to accept 4800 baud NMEA.

GDUNMEA4800.png

4800NMEA.png

Steve
 
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I just re wired my panel because of this. Here is what i found:
The elt comes in two flavors of rs 232. If it is aviation protocol than the rs232 data needs to come from the navigator. On my gnx375 it had to be from port 1 or 2. If the elt is setup for NMEA, than that can come from the 460.

Garmin told me the 460 can not output aviation protocol gps data
I just re wired my panel because of this, so have not tried it yet. Good luck

+1

I found that all of the units shipped to ACS are set to aviation 9600. If you want NMEA, you have to send the unit to a dealer (ACS is not a dealer) and have it reprogrammed.
 
Artex 345 ELT reprogrammed

When I bought the 345 ELT I thought it had to have a waas gps signal for some reason but that is not the case. I have a GPS175 and G3X and as you have read the gps navigators have an aviation protocol output and the G3X only have NEMA 4800. An avionics shop that has the programmer can reprogram the 345 cheaper and with little or no lead time. ACR Artex charges $175 and a 30 day lead time. A local avionics shop near me said they could reprogram it for $110, 1 hr of labor.

Artex did reprogram it for me for free and a day turn time. Not sure if they did it for me as a favor or what. When I called Artex and told the rep I needed to change the input format from Aviation to NEMA she told me what it would cost. When Artex got the unit the tech manager called me to ask a question and when he found out all I needed to change/reprogram to NEMA he ask, “oh is that all, I can do that for you and get it to you right away”. He was thinking I also needed the tail number changed. I didn’t know that the tail number of the plane is programmed into the unit. I thought the unit has a serial number and when you register it with NOAA the tail number is then linked to the serial number of the ELT but maybe not.

FYI when you choose NEMA 4800 there are two parameters for NEMA: Output rate (Normal or Fast) and Lat/Lon format. Choose Normal and for the Lat/Lon format I think you choose DDMM.MMMM but not sure. Artex doesn’t know either
 
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He was thinking I also needed the tail number changed. I didn’t know that the tail number of the plane is programmed into the unit. I thought the unit has a serial number and when you register it with NOAA the tail number is then linked to the serial number of the ELT but maybe not.

r

This was my understanding and fairly certain that the tail number does not have to be programmed into the unit, though it may be possible that it can be.
 
kink in Armor

I had my panel all wired up and then discovered I had my GPS signal for the ELT from the GDU460. But the format was wrong. So I had to rewire a few 232 lines and bring the GPS for the ELT from the navigator. But then only a few of the navigator outputs had the correct format. I eventually found the magic sauce to get the navigator outputs to all the right boxes. In the end I had to swap 3 GPS (232) signals between the GDU460 and the GNX375.

Careful reading during schematic development would have avoided this wiring dance after integration. There are three conflicting requirements: the G3X reads the lowest number output as primary, only the first few GNX375 have aviation format as an option, the ELT was programmed with Aviation format and not NEMA(which was available from a spare output of the GDU460)
 
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