Quote:
Thanks for pointing out the snafu about the active antenna. The GPS specs seem fairly complete but make no mention as to what type of antenna is used. You've convinced me that erring on the side of caution is the best route, and I can't imagine the heatsink should be too expensive anyway.

One other thing I noticed: the 5V PSU schematic also calls for a 100nF capacitor. Is that not needed in this application?


No a heatsink won't be expensive. You can get little clip on ones for TO-220 packages, that might be enough. It certainly won't hurt.

You should probably also put the 100nF (same as 0.1uF) cap in as well. The large 100uF/10uF caps provide bulk capacitance to smooth out ripple in the supply generally caused by varying loads. The 0.1uF is to filter out high frequency noise on the supply which could affect something like a GPS. It likely has this already on board, but for the cost of a 0.1uF cap (bugger all) you would be best fitting one as well - just good design practice.
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Christian
#40104192 120Gb (no longer in my E36 M3, won't fit the E46 M3)