How do I connect Garmin Glo 2 Bluetooth

[islandtimeVan]

I am trying to get started with OpenCPN. I am struggling to get GPS data in. I have a Garmin GLO 2 bluetooth GPS unit. It works great with my iPad. I have used it with Maps and Navionics.

I have tried getting GPS data into OpneCPN on my Mac and on a Pi4.

On the Mac, I connect to the unit on bluetooth. I select Options, Connections, Add connections, Serial. For baud I choose 4800, protocol name 0183. Under data port I see two candidates
1. /dev/cu.GarminGLO20ba
2. /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
Neither seems to work. The GPS icon remains red.

I also tried on the pi. When I launch openplotter I am able to connect to the device through the bluetooth menu. After connecting I get a message "Pairing successful - this device has no services which can be sued with Raspberry Pi".

In OpenCPN I went into options, connections and chose "new connection" I selected serial. Under Dataport my choices are
/dev/ttyusb0 - 091e -003
/dev/gps0 - link -> /dev/ttyUSB0
/dev/ttyAMA0-
/dev/srial1 - link ->/dev/ttyAMA0
/dev/gps0

I tried all of these and nothing seemed to work.

After some googling it seemed I might need to bind the device so I went into terminal and said:
rfcomm bind /dev/rfcomm1 14:13:0B:C0:B0:BA

This appeared too work because when I then input "rfcomm" I got:
rfcomm1: 14:13:0B:C0:B0:BA channel 1 clean

I expected rfcomm1 to show up as a dataport but it did not.

Help please. I cant find much how to stuff on connecting gps. I also have an android phone. Is it possible to share the location of that phone with opencpn somehow?

[islandtimeVan]

Update. I wrote to Garmin. I asked about connecting the Glo 2 to a Mac or to a Raspberry pi. They did not respond about the pi but said the Mac won't recognize it.

"I'm sorry, the Garmin GLO series sensors are not compatible with Mac computers and will not pair to them. However, the GLO sensor will pair with Apple compatible phones and tablets."

[Sam Woodbridge]

Thank you for the update. I was so curious about your problem.

Sam

[islandtimeVan]

I followed up. Garmin said it works with Windows only. Not Mac, not pi. I think it is time to give up on that solution.

I have ordered a different gps dongle. This has been a very frustrating process. I have not found the documentation on OpenCPN very helpful.

[CarCode]

The best GPS unit for Apple devices is the Dual XGPS160.

[islandtimeVan]

Pricey!

I suspect I will ultimately want to get things running on a pi. Any suggestions for a gps that will play nice with a raspberry pi?

[Jonas Heart]

A bit late perhaps,
I just bought a Garmin GLO 2 to use with my openCPN on RPI.
It didnt connect by default but I now have it up and running and connecting from reboot :-)

I manually paired the device using:

bluetoothctl
pair XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
trust XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX ## This does not work with the GLO

To connect use:

sudo rfcomm bind 2 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

For some reason rfcomm0 does not work on my pi, rfcomm2 does.
Once connected its just to find the data port will be visible in the opencpn connections menue under options.

To automate the bind at reboot i edited the file:
/etc/rc.local

adding a line before the exit 0:

rfcomm bind 2 XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

Hope it helps!
//Jonas

[Jonas Heart]

If you want a bluetooth I believe the Garmin GLO2 is a good option