I have the latest arducopter setup on a Gaui quad frame. All works well, except the GPS takes too long to initialize, once initialized, which takes a few minutes, it works fine, disconnect the battery for a moment and it restarts the process. I have the MediaTek MT3329 GPS 10Hz + Adapter Basic. This thing has no battery, so is this why the reacquisition is so long? Am I missing something in setup?
Thanx
Rick
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do have checksums, however the software still has issues.
If you do not have battery back up you need to power the gps down for at least one minute before powering it up again.
Power application to the gps must be clean. No on/off/on conditions. This is fatal for gps units with no constant battery backup.
>this thing has no battery is that why...
Yes and no.
Without a battery, yes the unit will lose its clock and almanac and take longer to initialize. But it should not take "that long" unless there is a problem. If you have an unobstructed view of the sky, and no RF sources (laptop computers *will* cause this interference), a MediaTek should initialize in well under a minute, probably 30-40 seconds. Mine will get lock even indoors under a typical asphalt shingle roof and sheetrock ceilings in ~2-3 minutes except when I forget where I am placing it and set it next to my wireless router.
If you are wondering about the delay till first lock, I don't think you are missing anything - a cold start of a GPS normally takes a while. Like you say a battery would help, or else some other method like assisted GPS - this is where the APM would send some info about it's position to 'prime' it and make the acquisition faster.
I don't think anyone has done this (or even if it is supported by the hardware?) - I do remember someone hacking on a battery to the GPS a while back.
I have to say it would be nice to have a faster lock - especially as we always are changing flight batteries etc.