GPS replacement imminent

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After replacing the main circuit board following the crash of my 2 day old P2V+, I noticed today that I am not getting any GPS satellites locked at all. The Vision app says I am in ATTI mode and that never changes. I have done enough calibration dances to seriously affect the weather patterns, as well as reload all firmwares, open the body back up to ensure wires connections are tight, and even removing the GPS unit itself for inspection. There appears to be some kind of physical damage in the form of a long scratch across upward facing chip body. I'm not sure if that is a result of the crash or not, or whether it is a symptom of the issue, but it didn't look right to me.

So, before I pull the trigger on a replacement, is there anything left for me to try?
 
darwin-t said:
Did it happen to land upside down? The ceramic GPS antenna is on the underside of the top and is fairly fragile. You can buy replacements and they are cheap.

Worth a shot. Much cheaper and also more likely to be the problem.

http://www.mouser.com/Search/Produc...2virtualkey57580000virtualkey960-GP1575252A02


From what I can gather from the crash damage, the Phantom pretty much got hit hard on every side, including the top of the dome which had a particularly nasty looking scratch. If that the antenna you mention is indeed the problem, you're right in that replacing it first would be far more cost effective than replacing the whole module. I will check into where I can find one faster than the 8 week lead time in the link. Thanks!
 
Nevermind, it appears that factory leadtime referred to bulk orders. I just ordered the one you linked to and will shelve the Phantom until it arrives. Based on a quick exam of my existing module, it would appear the antenna is held in place via a single solder point pin through the board and likely some kind of adhesive beneath.
 
vagabondvisions said:
Based on a quick exam of my existing module, it would appear the antenna is held in place via a single solder point pin through the board and likely some kind of adhesive beneath.

Exactly, and be careful when unsoldering and removing, the first time I did one I managed to pull the entire trace off the board around the hole, it separated and pulled out with the post on the antenna, so the board was useless after that (without repair surgery beyond my ability anyway)
 
OI Photography said:
vagabondvisions said:
Based on a quick exam of my existing module, it would appear the antenna is held in place via a single solder point pin through the board and likely some kind of adhesive beneath.

Exactly, and be careful when unsoldering and removing, the first time I did one I managed to pull the entire trace off the board around the hole, it separated and pulled out with the post on the antenna, so the board was useless after that (without repair surgery beyond my ability anyway)

Good advice and thanks! I am going to get my precision soldering station ready for this particular operation.
 
just to check but you are plugging the gps unit into the control board, not the naza unit. (i did it wrong once)
 
Wedeliver said:
just to check but you are plugging the gps unit into the control board, not the naza unit. (i did it wrong once)

Correct, I'm plugging the GPS into the control board socket, which presumably connects to the Naza at some point via the underlying circuitry, hence the X2 connection for IOC switching.
 
vagabondvisions said:
Wedeliver said:
just to check but you are plugging the gps unit into the control board, not the naza unit. (i did it wrong once)

Correct, I'm plugging the GPS into the control board socket, which presumably connects to the Naza at some point via the underlying circuitry, hence the X2 connection for IOC switching.

I was working on one of my phantom v1.1.1 and when I plugged into software everything was working, stick movement, everything except I had zero's in the compass. I checked all the connections, plugged the cable into another compass and it worked. plugged in back into the compass on the leg and I noticed it had a hard time staying in. I pushed a bit harder, it went in and I checked again in software and all was good. So, lesson was, check them connections, reseat and make sure they are well seated.

good luck
 

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