Hi everyone,
would like to ask whether anybody has experienced problems for finding a GPS fix with the MTK when it is cold outside. I have had issues with mine during last autumn and decided to remove the battery from the adapter board, since it was reported to cause more trouble than be useful. This summer I had a couple of flights with outside temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius (should be 68 degrees Fahrenheit) and could find a fix in around 1 minute when having a clear view of the sky. Now it is around 10 degrees Celsius outside (50 degrees Fahrenheit) and it could not find a fix at all within 30 minutes yesterday.
I'm thinking it's temperature related since some days before that I could even get a fix inside on the window board.
Now I'm thinking to order the Ublox and hope that works better in this climate. But given that some people seem to try high altitude applications with the MTK I was wondering whether others have experienced issues..
Cheers, Andre
Replies
I had a DIY Drones MTK GPS module out in 20degF = -7degC weather last week, and had no trouble getting a fix in a couple minutes. It was wrapped in electrical tape for weatherproofing but I doubt that it got much warmer than ambient.
Is it possibly a voltage issue? What is the voltage level of the APM board? If the 5v supply voltage on the APM is high enough, maybe the serial communication high signals from the 3.3v (or lower if the GPS regulator is drooping) GPS may not register in the 5v APM as a high signal. That's what I've been wondering this weekend.
When I put it in the freezer I cannot get any GPS readings at all. ;)