Difference Between Garmin® Marine Network Cables and Standard Ethernet Cables

Garmin® Marine Network cables are constructed very differently from standard Ethernet cables. A summary of the differences are provided below:

Garmin Marine Network cable:

• External ground

• Crossover wiring

• Shielded cable

• IPX7 Water resistant

• Built in Drain Wire

• The Garmin Marine Network cable uses the same Tx/Rx pairs for data transmission and also utilizes the unused pins (4, 5, 7 & 8) for power control of the various devices on the network

• BI_DA+ : Transmit Positive BI_DB+ : Receive Positive

• BI_DA- :Transmit Negative BI_DB- : Receive Negative

Standard Ethernet cable:

• Internal ground

• Parallel wiring

• No shielding

• Non-water resistant

• Crossover cables allow similar devices to speak to one another. (Garmin units)

• Also to link multiple GMS 10’s to create a wider network

• A Standard Ethernet cable uses pins 1, 2, 3 & 6 for network data, using one pair for Tx and the other for Rx as shown in the diagrams above. The remaining pins are unused

Even though a Standard Ethernet cable can be used on the GPSMAP® 4000 series and newer we only recommend using Garmin Marine Network cables.