Problem with Platinum GPS
« on: March 12, 2016, 07:37:06 am »
Hi All, I got an openpilot Platinum GPS ages ago and have never managed to get it to work. It never gets a fix. It is hooked up to a Revolution board with the latest Librepilot firmware. It is correctly wired up according to the diagrams.

When powered up the power LED comes on and the MCU LED just flashes orange no matter how long I leave it outside. The GPS LED never lights up.

Anyone got any ideas ?

hwh

  • *
  • 1018
Re: Problem with Platinum GPS
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2016, 08:07:41 am »
The mcu led normally flashes about once every two seconds once the board boots up, it only shows that the board is running.  The blue led is supposed to blink about once a second and normally starts a minute or two after power up.   It indicates that the gps module can see at least one satellite well enough to read the time from it.  It usually comes on well before the gps has a usable fix.

Two possibilities come to mind, either the gps module is bad (or the antenna or lna connected to it) or just the gps led is bad.   I have one platinum gps that works fine but the orange led doesn't work.

When it's hooked up to the revo and gcs does the system see the gps?  The port it's connected to should be set to gps, 57600 baud, and ubx.  On the flight data tab what color is the gps in system health?   On the system tab on the right does it show any satellites or other gps info?  On the same tab on the left you can expand data objects, scroll down, and look at the entries that begin with gps.

Mateusz

  • *
  • 808
Re: Problem with Platinum GPS
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2016, 09:34:38 am »
Anyone got any ideas ?

I suggest connecting via OPlink and check what GCS says about number of satellites. Just go to scopes, change one of 4 scope views to GPSSattelites->SattelitesInView or GPSExtendedStatus -> Status. Also in System you should see GPSDisplay widget with Sats Used (this is different from sats in view) and what types of sats are seen.

Have you checked https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LPDOC/GPS+setup ? For Revo you don't need to set anything on GPS, but GCS side it should be correct protocol and port.
Can you even communicate with GPS ?

OP GPS v9 has three ports, one is gps+mcu which gives mag+gps data, but another port gps gives raw ublox stream. So you can use that port to connect to it via Ucenter from Ublox and check configuration and visable sats. Of course you would need usb-serial converter 3.3V level.

My GPS and others work just fine, so it's unlikely it's something with firmware, I would check wiring, if its right port, hardware wise, can antenna see clear sky. Sometimes it helps by turning vtx off to get lock a bit faster, but it never prevents from getting lock at all.
« Last Edit: March 12, 2016, 09:47:38 am by Mateusz »