GPS tracker recommendation

[o1d_dude]

There are people out there who assemble the EggFinder GPS in exchange for a few dollars.

I had my system assembled for me (Eggfinder GPS Mini, receiver, LCD, and Black Aero LCD case.

The vendors involved know these individuals and will ship the bits and bobs to them for assembly.

BTW, welcome to the world of LiPo batteries.

 

[plugger]

The only catch is that you need something to navigate you to the coordinates. I use an old Magellan 315 hiker's GPS, about $20 on eBay.

You can take the BRB GPS coordinates and dump them into Google Maps on your phone and/or tablet to handle navigation. If you have cell reception that's great as you can get the satellite overlay but that's not explicitly necessary; you can still navigate to the coordinates without the satellite imagery as your phone's GPS will still work. If you really want the satellite image overlay and you know you'll be out of range when tracking you can pre-cache the launch site whilst at home which pulls the imagery down locally on your phone/tablet.

 

[askrob]

You can take the BRB GPS coordinates and dump them into Google Maps on your phone and/or tablet to handle navigation. If you have cell reception that's great as you can get the satellite overlay but that's not explicitly necessary; you can still navigate to the coordinates without the satellite imagery as your phone's GPS will still work. If you really want the satellite image overlay and you know you'll be out of range when tracking you can pre-cache the launch site whilst at home which pulls the imagery down locally on your phone/tablet.

That's a great option! I hadn't thought of that. I'm leaning to the eggtimer, and see if my soldering skills are up to par.

 

[askrob]

Just to put a conclusion on my decision. I decided to go ahead with the eggtimer solution. I'll be installing it in the nose, which I'll have to modify a bit. Planning on using John Coker's method (). Now to get all the materials.

Jumping in head first, hopefully not going to drown!

 

[Dan Griffing]

The Eggfinder LCD receiver with the GPS add-on is a single-device ground solution... you don't need a phone to navigate or view the data. Plus, it remembers the received data, so if you drop it and it shuts off when the driver of the Jeep you're riding in gets a little too yahoo, you can turn it back on and it will pick up where it left off.

My GPS add-on doesn't communicate with my Eggfinder LCD receiver, even though its orange led does comes on to indicate that it has a GPS fix. I've rung out the pin-out from the GPS add-on to the big chip on the LCD receiver board and the connection is good, but still no dice on the LCD receiver firmware indicating that its getting the signal.

I still haven't unpacked my good quality oscilloscope that I haven't used in several years and have forgotten how to use, to see if the signal from the GPS add-on was present on the board, cable and the pin on the chip on the LCD receiver board.

Rather than continue with the hassle, for the last launch, I just transferred the fix of the landed rocket to my cell phone to track it down.

But you said on some other post that your next version of the LCD receiver had the GPS integrated in and fit into the same box. Is there any way that I can purchase one of these? I was on the verge of just ordering a new LCD receiver anyway, but it would be a no brainer if you had the integrated GPS version available, even for a beta test.

I've already assembled many of your kits with my reflow oven and they're great.

 

[ether]

Dan, have you checked if you have the latest firmware installed on the LCD receiver? from the instructions it has to be at least 1.10N for the GPS module to be recognized.

 

[OverTheTop]

If you can solder, Eggtimer/Eggfinder are great products.

+1

You can get some surface-mount soldering practice kits from eBay for not much $. Worth the effort before you tackle the egg products.

 

[Dan Griffing]

There are people out there who assemble the EggFinder GPS in exchange for a few dollars.

I had my system assembled for me (Eggfinder GPS Mini, receiver, LCD, and Black Aero LCD case.

The vendors involved know these individuals and will ship the bits and bobs to them for assembly.

BTW, welcome to the world of LiPo batteries.

I have a soldering reflow oven that I've used to successfully assemble half a dozen Eggtimer kits in a fraction of the time that hand soldering takes, and I'm not looking for money. The only cost is that with anything there's a risk, and I don't want to have a favor end up costing me something. I might have time this winter or spring to assemble more kits than I currently have.

 

[Dan Griffing]

Dan, have you checked if you have the latest firmware installed on the LCD receiver? from the instructions it has to be at least 1.10N for the GPS module to be recognized.

I checked the firmware and it was 1.10N.

 

[cerving]

My GPS add-on doesn't communicate with my Eggfinder LCD receiver, even though its orange led does comes on to indicate that it has a GPS fix. I've rung out the pin-out from the GPS add-on to the big chip on the LCD receiver board and the connection is good, but still no dice on the LCD receiver firmware indicating that its getting the signal.

I still haven't unpacked my good quality oscilloscope that I haven't used in several years and have forgotten how to use, to see if the signal from the GPS add-on was present on the board, cable and the pin on the chip on the LCD receiver board.

Rather than continue with the hassle, for the last launch, I just transferred the fix of the landed rocket to my cell phone to track it down.

But you said on some other post that your next version of the LCD receiver had the GPS integrated in and fit into the same box. Is there any way that I can purchase one of these? I was on the verge of just ordering a new LCD receiver anyway, but it would be a no brainer if you had the integrated GPS version available, even for a beta test.

I've already assembled many of your kits with my reflow oven and they're great.

99% of the time that's because one (or more) of the solder joints on the GPS module is actually "missing" the half-moon pads on the GPS. It's very easy to get solder on the PC board pads and actually miss the GPS pads. Get out a 10x jeweler's loupe and examine all of the pads, you should see solder filling them

 

[askrob]

My eggfinder package came today! Looks like I have a project to work on later this week/weekend!

 

[PayLoad]

Received my EggFinder, received fast, excellent communications with Chris, highly recommended. HOWEVER, I'm a 55 year old guy who's eyesight is going and my hands are big and clumsy due to years of physical abuse.

This soldering job is about 3 levels above my ability - I know how, I can't get my body to obey - Anyone willing/experienced in assembling these?

 

[ether]

conman13 (Connor) is great at this

 

[Dan Griffing]

99% of the time that's because one (or more) of the solder joints on the GPS module is actually "missing" the half-moon pads on the GPS. It's very easy to get solder on the PC board pads and actually miss the GPS pads. Get out a 10x jeweler's loupe and examine all of the pads, you should see solder filling them

Thanks, Chris, I’ll try this, even though I think it was one of the things I tested when I rang out the P2P continuity.

 

[Dan Griffing]

99% of the time that's because one (or more) of the solder joints on the GPS module is actually "missing" the half-moon pads on the GPS. It's very easy to get solder on the PC board pads and actually miss the GPS pads. Get out a 10x jeweler's loupe and examine all of the pads, you should see solder filling them

I finally got around to using my DS1052E digital oscilloscope on the LCD GPS to determine if it was transmitting a signal. The oscilloscope definitely shows that a GPS signal is present and coming out of the LCD GPS board and into the fourth pin from the right on the bottom of the Atmel ATMEGA328P processor chip. And the LCD GPS board is also getting a GPS satellite lock as indicated by the 1sec flashing amber LED. The Atmel ATMEGA328P processor chip is also getting the GPS signal from my Eggfinder TX and displaying it when its turned on.

But regardless of whether there's a GPS TX turned on or not, the Eggfinder LCD Receiver doesn't behave as page 26 of the LCD-GPS Users Guide says it should by displaying a new screen after the "Waiting for Sync" screen. Instead it goes directly to "Waiting for Fix".

I've gone through all of the trouble shooting tips on page 28 of the LCD-GPS Users Guide, but beyond that, I've detected the signal on the receiving pin of the Atmel ATMEGA328P processor chip.

So rather than remain stalled with a LCD receiver that cannot receive and process the data from the LCD-GPS, I'm going to purchase a replacement LCD Receiver board from EggTimer.