Ultimate GPS

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nova smith
 
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Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:21 am

Ultimate GPS

Post by nova smith »

Aloha,

I have found that even with 9-11 satellites locked on to my project while stationary, that it losses the lock rather quickly. When traveling sometimes it doesn't lock at all. on the data logger it shows my location pretty accurately for the most part if traveling, but when stationary I drift. I drift so bad that it shows me floating approximately 1/2 block away at times. When traveling there is points when its like it wasn't on at all. The project is based on the Arduino Fio, Ultimate GPS v3, and the open log breakout. of course depending on the amount of time it's not locked, i will loses the altitude amount immediately, date after some time, and the the time itself after really long periods. The Highest altitude in Hawai'i is just over 14,000 feet, in which I haven't been there yet. The temp here stays constantly between 70-80 degrees, and there is no large skyscrapers to block the signal. What I do find interesting is without the use of an external ant. I am able to get a lock on the bottom floor of a 4 story Walmart under a huge amount of concrete and steel. So I don't believe it's anything blocking the signal when it receives so well to begin with. Something is causing it to not maintain a lock in the open clear skies of paradise. I thought maybe at first it was over heating in the case by some slim chance, but it doesn't matter if it's in the sun or out, in the case or not. What could be the cause of this. It has been brought to my attention that there is 6 others with this issue out there that has seen the same issue as me that has made the purchase of this product within the past month or so. Has something changed recently with the product?

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

Do you have the backup battery installed?

seanbonner
 
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Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:28 pm

Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by seanbonner »

To add some extra context to this - this is for the Safecast bGeigie Nano kits. We've built close to 1000 of these without any issue since 2011, with the most recent batch of Ultimate GPS boards we received and have seen this problem in about 7 of the builds. We don't use the backup battery as we designed a PCB for the project that powers it more efficiently from the main battery. Again, we've been using this board installed this way for over a year and a half without issue and several devices from the latest batch are all having the same error. I emailed PT and he said post here as this was a new one to them.

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adafruit_support_rick
 
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Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by adafruit_support_rick »

It's a new one to me, too. I'll coordinate with PT

adafruit
 
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Joined: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:21 pm

Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by adafruit »

Nothing has changed lately - the firmware & design have been stable for a while - are you using the breakout board or the raw GPS module?

seanbonner
 
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Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:28 pm

Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by seanbonner »

Using the full breakout board, you can see the kit and build instructions here:
https://github.com/Safecast/bGeigieNano ... ANO-MANUAL

It's a new one to us as well so trying to get to the bottom of it..

seanbonner
 
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Joined: Mon Oct 28, 2013 2:28 pm

Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by seanbonner »

So, we got to the bottom of this - The boards did in fact change.

All of the boards that we got from you previously that had no problem had a sticker on the GPS with a part number P6HP12290311, the newer ones we're getting from you have P6H071310 and these are the ones having problems so something is different with these parts, even if they are physically identical. We also found a solution - the firmware needs to be flashed. Doing that solves the problem entirely. I'm not sure what source you have for the parts you are using on this board but we suspect these were set up for use in some specific purpose and then sold as parts instead.

Just wanted to follow up and let you know what we'd learned.

adafruit
 
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Re: Ultimate GPS

Post by adafruit »

whats the actual version number of the 'bad' and 'good' modules? you can get the version # with
$PMTK604*30

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