Reviving an old Magellan Meridian Platinum

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Hello GPS Folks. I carefully stored my old unit so was pleased to see that it started up just fine when I installed a cell. I reread my 94 page manual as some things I had forgotten. Now, after 3 days playing with it I have some questions that I cant find the answers for in the manual. First the info on my unit. In MENU, ABOUT I see the following page:
Meridian, c 2003 Thales Navigation, Rev. 4.06 Jan 23 2003 , sn: 00005982385, So based on this I assume it was made in 2003 and today is 2024 so its 22 years old.
First Question, UPDATES. The cable it comes with is to plug into the cigarrette lighter and the little power supply has the power feeder to the GPS and a data cable with a 9 pin female plug. I guess this will make it VERY hard for me to do any updates.
Second Question: The GPS gets my position very accurately so I am happy that this section is working fine but it always says 22APR05 in the date section. I guess this is due to the date roll over issues and guess I cannot do anything about this.
Third question: When I look at the screen showing the satellites in a circle after waiting until all the satellites are read I see two small w's which I assume are the WAAS extra precision signals yet nowhere does the unit say WAAS ready. Does this make any difference. Based on the precision I am achieving I am assuming that the two w's are indeed correcting as expected but just wondered.
4th question. I have been doing a lot of land surveying lately (not at the professional level) and I was contemplating buying a slightly better GPS for land measuring like the Te-Rich CM83 model. Will I achieve much more precision with this new unit or is it a waste of money and the meridian is just as precise with the WAAS?

Oh and by the way I am located in the Dominican Republic. 18degrees 26.414 min N by 69 degrees 57.343 min W

Thanks You all very much
Best Regards
John Van Allen

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

1) The 9 pin connector is a serial 'COM' port connector that was used on old computers, as they are not used any more you would need a serial to USB converter like this :-



2) Yes, it is probably the week rollover problem, you are lucky this sometimes prevents the GPS from getting a satellite 'fix'

3) The 'W's are WAAS satellites, see this picture in the user manual page 42 :-




4) You probably wouldn't see any more precision unless you got a surveying GPS

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Thank you for the response.
You showed me the type of converter required for me to connect the GPS to my lap top but didn't say your opinion regarding if I might make things WORSE by trying to update. I noticed today that it is also showing the time correctly so the date issue I can live with. What do you think?

Best Regards
John

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

What I saw in question 1) was a request for connectivity rather than a question about how safe upgrading would be, I don't know why you think it might make things worse by upgrading the firmware

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

I guess I am sort of thinking along the line "If its working don't mess with it" and since everything else but the date is perfect I just took that attitude. Do you feel that updating the unit would be perfectly safe?

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

I don't have any Magellan units or any experience of upgrading them but I would have though the software guys tested the upgrade procedure, I would look for some software release notes to see if the newer version has any feature you actually want, eg:- week rollover fix etc., it might help you decide whether to go ahead

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Ok, will do and thank you for your valued assistance. Have a nice day.

Best Regards
John Van Allen

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

I ordered the adapter you suggested and am ready to do the updates but not able to find the latest Magellan on line site to do so. Do you have that info. The site that I have in my manual must be too old.

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Also the adapter came with a small disc. I guess for uploading using a drive which my lap top does not have. Must I upload this disc to get the adapter to work?

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

It's a good idea to check which operating systems your serial adaper will work with before you purchase it, I have several old ones that won't work on anything after Windows XP, I would expect an adapter sold Today to only need the drivers on the CD when working with older Windows versions and to not need any drivers for Windows 8 - 11

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Thanks. The link I am using is as follows www.magellangps.com/en/support/products/upgrades/upgrade_meridianplat.asp but it does not communicate with anyplace and says check if too old. Do you know what link I should be using. Thanks for your help. John

 

[Nuvi-Nebie]

Unfortunately although I have some experience of using serial interface hardware, I no knowledge of Magellan products or software

 

[John Herbert Van Allen]

Ok. Thanks