Trimble 5603 Cable Pinouts

Do you have the cable to try it? I run a 5603 with a TDS Ranger (300x) Survey Pro connected to the georadio with a hirose/db9 cable with no problems. I think things are pretty standard on the db9 end.

hi

do you have a multimeter? can you test what pins connect on the cable..

Your easiest solution is to speak to your Trimble dealer. If you are in the northern part of the UK Survey Solutions are very helpful, I've not dealt with Korec so I can't comment on their support.

Some Trimble cables, apparently identical, occasionally have pin to pin links within the plugs. This is presumably because there has been a pin use change during some hardware version update and allows the new cable to be used on both new and old versions of the instrument.

On the Hi-Rose socket, looking down on the outside, the first pin anticlockwise from the wide slot is power negative, the next pin is power positive. then there are two narrow slots.

The remaining two pins must be TX/RX : experiment should identify which is which.

I contemplated (and started) doing a similar exercise some years ago, but decided that
there were some advantages to the Trimble cradle (which holds the keyboard, rather than your separate logger).

Hi Chris,

Im based in north wales so will try survey solutions..

I just dont like the cumbersome cradle setup - the radio and battery on the back seem very exposed, also the cable connection moulded into the cradle for the radio i think looks like a potential weak spot..

next thing to try and sort will be the active prism power cable.. just dont get on with lots of bulk around my detail pole, i find that surveying near things it all just gets in the way!!

cheers for the reply

Hi Fin,

The moulded cable connection is actually very robust; we have never had any problem with ours. the potentially weak spot is the battery "clip" onto the cradle - there isn't one. It hangs there by friction, so if you jerk the pole violently the battery can slide a fraction and break contact - effectively a power off so you need to make the radio link with the instrument again.

Our solution to that is to loop a thick rubber band around the back of the radio and the outer face of the battery - it works.

I assume you didn't get the power pole with the 360 degree prism. With the prism that mounts in the active block on a normal pole you either need 2AA batteries in the block (best solution) or the curly cable run from the second radio socket up to the prism (worst solution - catches on everything).

The cradle does get in the way, but anything above prism height will need an offset to get to the corner anyway, so once you have worked out what the left/right/forward offsets are for the cradle you can hold the cradle onto the wall/building face and record an offset on the point.

For inside buildings the power pole is better since it will stay against an internal corner and I then use the cradle off the pole if I'm working by myself.

I have the 360 prism (rmt606) with a power pole - but one of the pins in the pole is broken!! so I have to run a cable from the radio to the prism - the plan is to sort the power pole end out but not sure where to get one, my prism does have the "hot shoe" - will aslo need that little adaptor to charge the pole..

Just need the pinouts for this cable. just spoke to KOREC they said that I can buy a cable!!
Dont understand why this isnt freely available.. I have made cables for topcon, leica, and sokkia instruments in past and had no trouble finding the pinout drawings..

Have you considered using serial bluetooth adapters instead of the Georadio?

Parani SD1000
[msg=225244]BeerLeg thread[/msg]

If you update your profile to include an e-mail address, I will send you some information that may or may not help you figure it out.

> If you update your profile to include an e-mail address, I will send you some information that may or may not help you figure it out.

Hi,

Profile updated 🙂

Cheers

> Have you considered using serial bluetooth adapters instead of the Georadio?
>
> Parani SD1000
> [msg=225244]BeerLeg thread[/msg]

Hi

Yes I am very interested in this option.. Presumably I will need a RS232 > RS232 patch cable at the logger end, And a RS232 > Hirose at the Robot end??

Thanks

I cannot attach a file using the Surveyor Connect interface. If you e-mail me back, I'll send you "Trimble Conventional Instrument Support Document V1.21", which has numerous wiring diagrams.

It may be available on the Trimble site, bit a quick search didn't turn anything up.

I had one sitting on my desk, so, I tested it and added the results to Jim Frame's cartoon from here https://surveyorconnect.com/index.php?mode=thread&id=120125#p120166

I have opened a lot of these wires through the years and the color codes have never changed, Trimble or Geodimeter

> Yes I am very interested in this option.. Presumably I will need a RS232 > RS232 patch cable at the logger end, And a RS232 > Hirose at the Robot end??
>
> Thanks

Really just one cable at the 5603. Plug the other BT radio directly into the FC200 if you want to bypass the patch. The antennae is a bit in the way if you plug it in direct, but it doesn't bother me too much. You should be able to emulate a serial connection via the bluetooth radios. It's kind of hocus pokus getting the DC talking to the gun, then unplugging a direct connection and then plugging into the BT adapters while still maintaining a data link with the gun. I'm about 90% successful first try and 100% the second. The Parani's out perform the Georadio for range like 3:1 and they cost about 25% of what a Georadio does.

The bulky battery setup is the big problem, so my solution was to go with a LiOn battery and re-wire some cables. My current battery setup, which fits inside a Nomad data collector pouch, which then fits in the back left compartment of the gun case, lasts several days in the field doing boundary surveys, and at least a full day of topo. It looks like this:

It's very slick and lightweight, and I haven't had any problems with it for the past four years.