EggFinder problems

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duggyhow

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Hey folks, I did some modifications to my eggfinder: I added a LiPo battery, a switch to turn it on and I hooked the backlight up. Well, after doing this, I can’t get a fix and I tied it outside to be sure. Before I modified it, it was doing good. I can’t find any wires not well soldered. It sometimes won’t recognize the gps module and when it does, it says waiting on the Gps module and won’t leave that. When it doesn’t recognize the gps module, it just sits on Waiting for Fix. Well, the GP mini is doing its part, sending out the data with the amber light flashing. Once it said i t got a fix but would never tell what it was or no tracking info on screen. Also, when I go into to programming mode and go thru on the setup it won’t say to reset, it just sits on the last screen and the green led won’t come on the lcd rf module. What could be wrong? Thanks.
 
Does your EF and LCD have the same frequency and ID?
 
Does your EF and LCD have the same frequency and ID?

Ah yes that's a biggie. Make darned sure your frequency and ID's match. Another thing, you mean EggFinder LCD with the receive station GPS modification? If so, and your LCD worked fine before you did the receive station GPS mod, you should be in
pretty decent shape. Make sure you got the three wires soldered correctly from the GPS modification to the early version LCD motherboard or if you have the lastest board with the socket, make sure you plugged the GPS board into the LCD
motherboard correctly. You need to let the LCD sit out and get a lock. Once that occurs, you should see the yellow LED flash. If you don't see that, something was soldered wrong or connected up incorrectly.
(That's aside from the frequency mismatch thingie. I hope that's your problem because it's easily fixable. Fingers crossed and go'in to the chapel for you here on this one!) Kurt
 
I’ve had the same issue a couple times, though I haven’t upgraded my LCD yet. I’d bet $10 that the frequency and ID reset somehow. You will need to adjust the frequency in the LCD systematically or plug your eggfinder into your PC to figure out it’s frequency and ID.


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... Well, the GP mini is doing its part, sending out the data with the amber light flashing. Once it said i t got a fix but would never tell what it was or no tracking info on screen. ...

The amber light on the mini is just confirming a fix. Does the red transmit LED flash too, about once per second? If not, then the mini is not transmitting data.
 
I'm with BDB and sl98 on this one. Plug the mini into the LCD and re-program a frequency and ID. I'm still puzzled. Is this just a stock Eggfinder LCD and an EggFinder Mini or was the GPS modification carried out on the EggFinder LCD?

I was under the impression the system did work at one time. Is that true or not? If the Hope module isn't flashing on the GPS mini that could spell trouble. Kurt
 
Okay guys, I haven’t been on here again until now. Thanks for all the replies. Well, I resoldered all the lcd assembly and the green led started blinking again as it should when the transmitter is blinking and the setup is working properly when programming. Well, now the GPS LCD module isn’t being recognized. When turning my lcd assembly on, it doesn’t see the GPS module and I have resoldered all 3 wires going to the LCD assembly. I also resoldered everything on the GPS lcd module. It was recognizing it but would get stuck on Waiting for GPS module. I’ve tried resetting the frequency, both are 923hz and ID is 0. I just don’t see how the GPS module could be the problem cause it wasn’t being tampered with in any way during the mod. I only modified the LCD assembly. It all worked good until I did the mod. Also, the mini does fine with the red led blinking once per second as it should. Thanks for any help.
 
Okay guys, I haven’t been on here again until now. Thanks for all the replies. Well, I resoldered all the lcd assembly and the green led started blinking again as it should when the transmitter is blinking and the setup is working properly when programming. Well, now the GPS LCD module isn’t being recognized. When turning my lcd assembly on, it doesn’t see the GPS module and I have resoldered all 3 wires going to the LCD assembly. I also resoldered everything on the GPS lcd module. It was recognizing it but would get stuck on Waiting for GPS module. I’ve tried resetting the frequency, both are 923hz and ID is 0. I just don’t see how the GPS module could be the problem cause it wasn’t being tampered with in any way during the mod. I only modified the LCD assembly. It all worked good until I did the mod. Also, the mini does fine with the red led blinking once per second as it should. Thanks for any help.

If you set both the LCD and the eggfinder to the same frequency and ID, and you are still having the issue, then I don't know what it is. It looks like I owe you $10....

Have you emailed Cris? He's usually very helpful.
 
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He guys, it's actually on 1.10N. It was recognizing it just fine before i did the upgrades. One thing I shouldn't have done was use solid wire cause it caused some pads to lift up off the board. I'm not sure why they sale that type wire at Radio Shack. I have been talking to Cris and he's very helpful. Now, it is not displaying anything on the screen when I turn it on. It then goes into a series of beeps while the red and green leds flash on the rf module. I'm gonna try cleaning it up today and resoldering and pray it works. Thanks guys.
 
One thing I shouldn't have done was use solid wire cause it caused some pads to lift up off the board.

Using too much heat when soldering will cause the pads to lift. Once the pads are lifted they will tear off of the trace very easily. Be very careful when you are soldering to these damaged pads. Broken traces can be repaired but it can be a tedious job.
 
Can be a real pita. Sometimes can scrape the mask and with use a wire bridge or copper foil. Depending upon the size can be very tough to do. I salvaged a couple of early version EggFinders when I cut some conductors with a cut-off wheel getting a
GPS base off (Gorilla repair). Scraped the mask and used a wire solder bridge and they work fine. If it's a "micro" pad a component rests on could be trickier. Kurt
 
Hey guys, I’m sorry, I just thought it was 1.10N, it is actually 1.10R. It has now stopped recognizing the mini again and I’ve desoldering and resoldering most everything on the lcd assembly and nothing has worked. Very strange. Cris is supposed to be sending me the new 2017 version of the LCD assembly, so I can start over with it. Will let y’all know how it goes. It is back to not telling me OK To Reset when I am finished programming it. I think the processor chip or rf module is bad. The green and red lights flash when I first turn it on but after that it starts up and sits on Waiting for Fix, then after so long it starts beeping like crazy and then the green and red lights just stay on and it says waiting for Fix. I don’t think it does this every time I turn it on. Thanks for any help.
 
Get a head magnifier, use good light and a very small tipped soldering pen. Take your time. Good Luck!!! Any consolation. I've built a lot of these things and dorked an Eggfinder, wireless switch and a Quantum. It happens and sometime the better
part of valor is to start over. Kurt
 
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