GPS loss question

[PatR]

I’ve come to associate the compass warning that is generated during gear cycling as a voltage drop issue. I don’t exactly know what the voltage requirements are for the GPS and compass, although I suspect them to be 3.3v and 5v. Depending on how they set up voltage regulation it’s possible they have a couple regulating circuits in series. The first one limiting voltage to the second one. If voltage drops before entering the first regulator it could drop even more before getting to the second one, leaving it a bit short of what’s needed.

In any case, from what I’ve experienced the brief compass warnings associated with gear cycles are of little consequence. As I always fly in Angle mode I ignore brief GPS warnings and just keep flying, but without any reliance on GPS. If I was using Smart mode there would be a lot more concern as it mixes compass and GPS info to maintain positional reference to the controller. Compass info is really important in Smart mode as it establishes orientation of the nose relative to north, which in turn assists “fixing” boom positions.

While lotta stuff has to work right 100% of the time when using Smart mode.

 

[rdonson]

Good point. As I've thought about shielding I've become more interested in the compass than the GPS. The compass warnings seem to occur lower than 30' and when raising and lowering the gear. When reviewing telemetry, error code 32 is common even though the duration is short of a warning. It would be interesting to see if additional shielding would reduce the number of 32 errors.

Thank you for that observation. ~30' and below sort of corroborates my experiences. It happened today on my first of four flights. I wasn't sure so I stopped, shut down the TH480, removed the props and camera then performed a compass calibration. However, after the calibration my subsequent 3 flights where I was flying as low as 10-20' for minutes at a time registered no compass errors on the ST16.

Where in the telemetry files should I be looking for the compass errors?

 

[Steve Carr]

the voltage requirements are for the GPS and compass,

Full battery voltage is supplied to the GPS module. It has an onboard 3.3v voltage regulator and a 3 v backup battery. Those are shown in post #6 above.

Where in the telemetry files should I be looking for the compass errors?

Error flags, column U

 

[rdonson]

Thanks, Steve!

 

[KEITH KUHN]

When I purchased a new upper shell for the H it came with a new shield that needed to be installed. I’d bet that Terrestrial Imaging would sell you a new upper shell with a shield or perhaps just the shield.

N

 

[KEITH KUHN]

Can you please tell me when you turn off the GPS on your controller does it turn back on by itself ?
mine does. Why ?
Keith Kuhn

 

[TheChiefUSN]

I have also discovered that depending what kind of watch I'm wearing(full divers, chronograph citizen eco drive and my seiko kinetics) can have a huge effect when calibrating my compass on all my birds! I have also noticed that if I'm in an area semi residential that if I use a WiFi detector to determine the amount of modems that are concentrated in 1 area that I have to try and stay away from those areas even when doing roof top inspection foe solar installation

 

[KEITH KUHN]

I have also discovered that depending what kind of watch I'm wearing(full divers, chronograph citizen eco drive and my seiko kinetics) can have a huge effect when calibrating my compass on all my birds! I have also noticed that if I'm in an area semi residential that if I use a WiFi detector to determine the amount of modems that are concentrated in 1 area that I have to try and stay away from those areas even when doing roof top inspection foe solar installation

That is interesting about your wrist watches

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Can you please tell me when you turn off the GPS on your controller does it turn back on by itself ?
mine does. Why ?
Keith Kuhn

Keith,

Did you ever get an answer for your GPS question?

If not... my question to you is: when does your GPS turn back on by itself? Is it when your power off the controller and then power back on? If this is the situation, perfectly normal.

If you disable GPS and do not power off, and... do not touch anything else, yet GPS comes back on; that I do not know. Others may not either since I am not seeing any replies to your question.

Jeff

 

[KEITH KUHN]

Keith,

Did you ever get an answer for your GPS question?

If not... my question to you is: when does your GPS turn back on by itself? Is it when your power off the controller and then power back on? If this is the situation, perfectly normal.

If you disable GPS and do not power off, and... do not touch anything else, yet GPS comes back on; that I do not know. Others may not either since I am not seeing any replies to your question.

Jeff

Thanks
Yes only when you power the
Controller on and off this ocurres.
Thanks again.
Keith

 

[NorWiscPilot]

Thanks
Yes only when you power the
Controller on and off this ocurres.
Thanks again.
Keith

Normal operation. No faults to be worried about.

Similar to camera settings resetting upon power cycle.

Jeff

 

[PatR]

GPS switch default is ON when powering up. Doing that assures people don’t inadvertently power up without active GPS positioning.

 

[KEITH KUHN]

GPS switch default is ON when powering up. Doing that assures people don’t inadvertently power up without active GPS positioning.

Darn good idea

 

[TheChiefUSN]

That is interesting about your wrist watches

I'm told by a very reliable source that it has to do with the type I wear ie: my dive watches have a lot more metal than avg. and they can have a sensor like the drones for altitude or in this case what depeath I may be at. The Seiko Kinetics has a mini magnito that self recharges the battery and finally my friend who is a Master Electrician the Citizen Eco Drive it has to do with some interference that the solar voltage cell in the watch,

 

[TheChiefUSN]

Keith,

Did you ever get an answer for your GPS question?

If not... my question to you is: when does your GPS turn back on by itself? Is it when your power off the controller and then power back on? If this is the situation, perfectly normal.

If you disable GPS and do not power off, and... do not touch anything else, yet GPS comes back on; that I do not know. Others may not either since I am not seeing any replies to your question.

Jeff

I believe that every time you shut down the Radio Transmitter it reverts back to the default setting which is GPS on

 

[KEITH KUHN]

I'm told by a very reliable source that it has to do with the type I wear ie: my dive watches have a lot more metal than avg. and they can have a sensor like the drones for altitude or in this case what depeath I may be at. The Seiko Kinetics has a mini magnito that self recharges the battery and finally my friend who is a Master Electrician the Citizen Eco Drive it has to do with some interference that the solar voltage cell in the watch,

Wow

 

[TheChiefUSN]

Hey Kieth how are you?
Listen I got 2 crazy scenarios that have happened to me more than once in the last couple of weeks. Keep in mind that weekly I fly 15-18 hours conservatively. But I have experienced a couple of rotors being thrown while at altitude (thank God for my new emergency parachute system mod see below) And more than a dozen time I have had more than 1 if my 500's all of a sudden out of nowhere decided it;s going to do a 360 spin but on a dine and faster than I have ever seen before. I mean just like as if you were spinning a top. Yes a top remember those toys you would spin by the handle real fast and it spun in the same place more or less. Well imagine a 500 doing the same but just 1 360 at speed.
Got any thoughts
Make sure you check out the attachments coming up how I modded the parachute to Q500 this is a completely self contained rechargeable reusable light weight system. Weighs less than the CGO3 4k camera hardware and gimbal. And a safety pin for transport to avoid accidental deployment I also get a better rate on my insurance with this mod same as for my collision avoidance..

 

[KEITH KUHN]

Hey Kieth how are you?
Listen I got 2 crazy scenarios that have happened to me more than once in the last couple of weeks. Keep in mind that weekly I fly 15-18 hours conservatively. But I have experienced a couple of rotors being thrown while at altitude (thank God for my new emergency parachute system mod see below) And more than a dozen time I have had more than 1 if my 500's all of a sudden out of nowhere decided it;s going to do a 360 spin but on a dine and faster than I have ever seen before. I mean just like as if you were spinning a top. Yes a top remember those toys you would spin by the handle real fast and it spun in the same place more or less. Well imagine a 500 doing the same but just 1 360 at speed.
Got any thoughts
Make sure you check out the attachments coming up how I modded the parachute to Q500 this is a completely self contained rechargeable reusable light weight system. Weighs less than the CGO3 4k camera hardware and gimbal. And a safety pin for transport to avoid accidental deployment I also get a better rate on my insurance with this mod same as for my collision avoidance..


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Hi it is Keith
I only have experience what's the typhoon H.
I love the parachute idea I have to make a quick run but I will get back to you in awile.
Keith

 

[TheChiefUSN]

Hi it is Keith
I only have experience what's the typhoon H.
I love the parachute idea I have to make a quick run but I will get back to you in awile.
Keith

you need 2 or a larger canopy for the H I have not yet figured out how to install it yet on an H due to the fact that it is another companies product and have only perfected it to the Q and my walkera scout

 

[TyphoonPete]

Hi all,
I have a Casio Protrek which I purchased a number of years ago.
This watch has..... altimeter, barometer, compass and solar charging.
All of which are electronically active at any given time especially when there is ANY movement of the watch.
Now, translate that to being on your wrist at most a foot away from the unit you are trying to calibrate and you can see where problems can arise.
The manual states " at least 11feet away from all electronic devices"
Just because you do all the whirly whirlys for a minute and get a green light doesn't mean that the result is an accurate one, just that you completed the required task.
The bird doesn't know whether the result is accurate, just that it has created a solution based on input, rotation and a little electronic input from the watch...AND whatever other electrical interference may be around at the time.
How does that affect your bird in the air?? Who knows, but it could explain some of the problems.
How far away does interference occur from power lines, those 300,000volt lines carry some mean juice.
These must all have some effect, however miniscule on the calibration of the bird which is supposed to be able to hover in 3d space without moving. Also I'm sure that the system is not designed to compensate for things like solar flares, etc etc etc.
Just random thoughts as to why a calibration may not be as accurate as we might like, but especially the watch one.
Cheers all
Pete