Eggfinder LCD and Bluetooth interface
- Thread starter n27sb
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Ok, here are some generic instructions:
First, I assume you have the module wired up to the EggFinder LCD receiver and it is working? Flashing LED when you turn the unit on? O.K. good. For the moment we'll not worry about until the next steps are complete.
Second, you have an Android device or phone with an internal GPS receiver that is turned on and working? Make sure that's the case. Sometimes I turn mine off to save the battery so I can read PDFs or what have you and conserve the battery
Third, this makes it easier but not "absolutely" necessary. Make sure your device has a good internet connection for now, wi-fi or otherwise.
Fourth, either be outdoors or if it's winter and too cold where you are at, take your LCD, EggFinder and Android device out to your car and park it out in the open so you can set EggFinder/Android device in the windshield so they have a clear shot of the sky. Yeah, hard to get an internet connection with a wifi only device but we'll make do. If you're close to your house and wireless network, you'll be O.K. Don't attempt this indoors the first time. You'll end up struggling if the GPS signal reception is spotty.
Fifth, turn on your device and fire up GPS Rocket Locator now. What no EF LCD or EggFinder running yet............Trust me. Next sit there and wait. If your device chain for your internal GPS receiver on your device is intact, you should shortly see the "Blue dot" that is your position on the map. Congratulations, you're halfway done. Now, you could have opened another GPS app on your device to confirm you have the NMEA position stream coming into your device before you did that task above but you have to be careful and make sure the application doesn't run minimized when you close it. It has to be truly dead and closed to free up your internal GPS receiver before you fire up GPS Rocket Locator. You got the Blue dot? If no, you can go to the upper right corner, push on the "three dots" to get into the setup and try "Restart blue gps". That might get it going. Also, if you have no map in the window, go to the lower left side and click on the "Follow me" window which will light up blue. If you get this far, now is time to try and get the EggFinder to be plotted along with your Blue dot position. If you can get the GPS receiver to work with some other app on your device, you will get it going with GPS Rocket Locator as long as the GPS receiver is free.
Sixth, close down the GPS Rocket Locator app. You can turn on your EggFinder and the Eggfinder LCD. The B/T module should be flashing away. Go to your B/T setup on your particular device to scan and find/pair the B/T HC-06 module. Use the pairing code
"1234". When paired the LED might still be flashing, that's O.K. By now your EggFinder tracker might be flashing the LED that it's receiving valid position packets. I love that little LED mind you as you know you have a valid signal coming out of the thing.
The LCD receiver should be displaying the information. Got that working, right?
Seventh, Fire up GPS Rocket Locator. If should get you the "Blue dot" relatively quickly since you just had it working. If not, click on "Restart blue gps". Get that Blue dot on that screen! You'll also see the aerial photo map too if you're on the internet.
Now go to the three vertical dots in the upper right corner, the setup pulldown and get the pulldown open. You'll see "Settings" at the bottom. Click on that. You'll get a setup screen with three choices, two of which are self-explanatory.
The top one is "Bluetooth Device" and it starts out as null. Means nothing connected. That's the one you want to click. If paired correctly you should see the HC-06 from your EggFinder LCD as a choice. Click on it. Get back to the main screen. The red "tack" that's the EggFinder should start to appear and the LED on the HC-06 should go solid. If it's not coming up, click "Restart blue gps" in the setup window, that will sometimes "kick it" going.
Further Caveats:
You want the screen to follow you, the Blue dot? Go to the lower left corner and click on "Follow me". Easy huh? Now if you want to test without a map, you want to hit "Follow me" so GPSRL (GPS Rocket Locator) takes you to the Blue dot. Otherwise you might be staring at a bare screen and the Blue dot is off of it and you'll have no cue where it is without a displayed map.
North is up and the screen is not rotateable.
Maps aren't cacheable between uses. I've tried on a wi-fi only device so don't bother wasting your time. Got a mobile internet connection? You're O.K.
The application "WILL RUN" without maps, without an internet connection. Some apps won't run but this one will. You'll get the two spots and a course line. Remember north is "up" and walk the course line.
One suggestion is you might want to carry a handheld mapping GPS you could input the lat/long and see what terrain lies in your way. I failed to do this as the blank screen doesn't tell you what's ahead. Only where the rocket is.
REMEMBER! Trying to futz with this indoors first time could be fraught with a lot of frustration. Don't do it. You get it running outdoors, you can experiment and don't be discouraged if an indoors test is less than stellar. This system runs remarkably well outdoors. Believe me, I've found out the hard way more than once so you don't have to. Kurt Savegnago
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Since this thread was started, GPS rocket locator can now download map tiles over Wi-Fi for caching on the device, no internet required on site then. Photo maps are working too. Now go out there and fly a Tracker. You might want to use a motor to keep the rocket within sight for the first few flights till you get used to the hardware. Once you have confidence and the right venue, you can start punching it and taking those two mile hikes to recover them from those totally sight unseen flights. Kurt
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