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MediateK GPS power supply problem

Posted by GillesW on October 25, 2010 at 5:08pm

Hello Everybody !

 

not very lucky this week :

 

I have just received my brandt new GPS Mediatek 3329.

I have soldered it on its dedicated board (the one with battery)

 

- tested with FTDI 3.3V : no problem. It has perfectly worked. I have updated its firmware without problem. and good features tested with VisualGPS application.

In case of very bad receiving conditions, blue led starts to blink,data are still understandable, but of course position values are locked to 0. Nothing wrong ...

 

- PROBLEM : tested with a FTDI 5V, it works few tens of seconds, and , randomly, starts to send completly erroneous data (and blue led is blinking).

Only one solution :disconnect physically and reconnect GPS, and sometime, it restarts ok.

I have done the same test connecting the GPS to my APM : same effect (so it doesn't come from my 5V FTDI interface)

 

Is it the known problem of battery ?

It should not work with 3.3V power supply , but it does  (and doesn't with 5V power supply !)

It looks like a thermic problem (OK with 3.3V, KO with 5V, and needs to come back colder)

 

=> I am very anxious about the reliability of this GPS !!!

 

=> and second difficulty, I leave in France, so I wouldn't like to pay twice the price of the GPS to send it back to DIYDRONES (especially for a new piece that doesn't work from the beginning !).

 

Chris or Jordi, how can I proceed ???

Thanks for your help,

Gilles

 

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Replies

  • GillesW November 23, 2010 at 4:36pm
    Hello everybody.

    Very bad news today : Chris & Jordi I really need your help !

    I have received the repaired GPS from DIYDrones : a brand new one (carrier with a battery)
    and I am very dubious :

    this GPS doesn't answer with FTDI 3.3 nor 5V !!!
    my FTDI boards are correctly working with my other GPS (LOCOSYS and Venus)

    Symptom :
    - no blue led (no fixed, no blinking)
    - random data sent back to RealTerm (at 1 Hz)
    - same situation with 5V or 3.3 FTDI interface
    - same situation with any port Baud (I have tested 4800 / 9600 / ... /115200 Bd !!!)

    Any idea please :
    - Is it in binary format ?
    - is it still charging the battery ?
    - what kind of GPS did you send me back : repaired , new, new with a new regulator ?
    - did you test it prior to send it back (with which config ?)

    I am sure I will not send it back a second time (I live in France !!!), so I really need you help to repair it.

    Thanks for your help,
    Gilles



    Have you a new
  • Jordy October 31, 2010 at 5:04am
    Hi there, I am having the exact same problem, I am using this GPS board connected to a normal Arduino. 5V is not working most of the time (garbage or nothing at all in serial monitor), sometimes a few minutes of normal output. I am measuring 3.1V on the module itself. What can we do about this, I did buy the board instead of the module because I would not have to worry about 3.3V/5V.
  • 3D Robotics
    Chris Anderson October 25, 2010 at 7:14pm
    Remove the battery. It may be dislodged and causing a short. You don't need it anyway, since the APM code resets the GPS firmware on startup anyway.
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