First Eggfinder Build--SUCCESS!

[Donnie]

Built my first Eggfinder Mini and Eggfinder LCD over the last couple days, and thankfully it all worked first go!

I say thankfully because I got into a little bit of trouble on the Mini's GPS module. I had the four resistor leads soldered in place to act as 'guides' for the GPS module, but a couple were canted inboard just a bit. I had also used heaver leads since I had a slightly larger resistor lying around. Long story short, I thought I had the leads bent out 'straight enough,' but didn't. In pushing the GPS module onto the main board, I popped one of the soldered leads off, pulling a pad with it. Much to my horror, as I was turning the board around to see what happened, another lead fell off in my hand, having been popped off as well... TWO PULLED PADS on the side of the Mini board.

With a launch upcoming this weekend, there wasn't any time to just order a new one. Digging around online, I found that the two pulled pads were labeled GND 9 and NC.

The one that was supposedly not connected (labeled NC) seemed to land at the top of the Mini board, so I just ended up soldering it as usual, just in case, albeit without the solder flowing around the board to the bottom. Seemed to wick in between the boards fairly well though. Figured it was best to go ahead and solder what I could, in case I was reading the pinout incorrectly (or the wrong version, etc.) and that pad was indeed supposed to be connected.

The other pad--GND 9--was a little trickier. The solder pad on the Mini board jumped this terminal around the side of the board to the bottom. I was able to pull a single conductor out of a small wire and get it to jump around the side of the board successfully, bridging the gap that the pulled pad left behind. Seems to be fairly solid, but I'll put some strain gage lacquer on it to hold it in place, just in case.

Once that was out of the way, things went fairly well. Both units powered up and did their thing as-advertised.

Bluetooth GPS is working as well. Next items on the list are getting off the default frequency, a little more ground testing, then epoxying the GPS antenna and putting on the heat shrink.

Thanks for reading!

 

[cerving]

Yes, those four corner pads on the Mini don't do anything significant... the only one that's connected is the one GND pad, and there's plenty of other GND pads on the module so losing that one isn't going to matter.

 

[Donnie]

So, I'm having an issue updating the frequency / channel on my Mini. It seems to get into program mode (red and grn LED's on radio module), but when I update the frequency and channel from the LCD it's like it never gets updated on the Mini. I went from 915-0 to 917-7... after powering down both units and reconfiguring the Mini, then powering back up, the Mini acts as anticipated (blinking red LED), but I never receive its signal on the LCD. No green sync LED on the LCD.

Programmed LCD back to 915-0 and it can see my Mini again.

Am I missing something?

 

[dvdsnyd]

So, I'm having an issue updating the frequency / channel on my Mini. It seems to get into program mode (red and grn LED's on radio module), but when I update the frequency and channel from the LCD it's like it never gets updated on the Mini. I went from 915-0 to 917-7... after powering down both units and reconfiguring the Mini, then powering back up, the Mini acts as anticipated (blinking red LED), but I never receive its signal on the LCD. No green sync LED on the LCD.

Programmed LCD back to 915-0 and it can see my Mini again.

Am I missing something?

The ID is reserved only for the Eggtimer TRS altimeter/GPS flight controller. When using the stand-alone Eggfinder GPS /Mini GPS units, the ID is set to 0.
In your example, try configuring the Mini to 917-0, and then update the LCD to 917-0 as well.

 

[Donnie]

Something Cris mentioned in an email helped me figure it out... wrong header. I was using the 3-pin header for the new LCD GPS option instead of the top 3 pins of the header I was using for the Bluetooth module.

As a note, you CAN use ID on the newer (rev C?) Eggfinders, as well as all Mini's. Mine's now functional on 917-7.

Thanks,

Donnie

 

[dvdsnyd]

Something Cris mentioned in an email helped me figure it out... wrong header. I was using the 3-pin header for the new LCD GPS option instead of the top 3 pins of the header I was using for the Bluetooth module.

As a note, you CAN use ID on the newer (rev C?) Eggfinders, as well as all Mini's. Mine's now functional on 917-7.

Thanks,

Donnie

Ahh, good to know. Glad you got it figured out!

 

[cerving]

The ID is reserved only for the Eggtimer TRS altimeter/GPS flight controller. When using the stand-alone Eggfinder GPS /Mini GPS units, the ID is set to 0.
In your example, try configuring the Mini to 917-0, and then update the LCD to 917-0 as well.

Nope, any of the Eggfinders can be programmed to any frequency/ID combination. Way back when the only receiver was the RX dongle and the transmitter wasn't programmable that was true, but that was like four years ago. I STRONGLY recommend changing them to something other than 915/0 after you're made sure that it works... this will help prevent frequency conflicts.