Starting PostCard without Bluetooth
Hi, I’m answering questions about the initial tests of the Postcard RTK without the portability shield.
It works fine overall, but a couple of times at startup, when I plug in the USB, the blue light starts solid and doesn’t allow Bluetooth connections.
I don’t know what’s causing this.
Am I doing something wrong?
Does my Facet have a way to properly turn it off?
Does the Postcard require a special shutdown procedure?
Thanks
Angel
Odd - are you connecting to power only or a PC?
Plugged into a power bank. It’s been a couple of times, with many connections. A very low percentage in my tests.
Of course the postcard is in rover mode.
A solid blue light indicates the system hasn’t gotten to starting Bluetooth which may indicate problems starting the GNSS receiver. Do you have the display attached to indicate which step of the start up process it is getting stuck on? It’s probably an edge case that we haven’t seen often enough to fix in the firmware. Let us know and we can write a fix if needed.
Hi Sparky. You know, this happened to me a couple of times when I was connected to a power bank with a cheap antenna, so the rest of the project is traveling to me. I then connected it to the PC to see if it would fix the problem via serial configuration, and it told me something like I needed to reset it to be able to configure it. But I didn’t take any screenshots.
If it happens again, I’ll document it and send the screenshots.
A separate question: Is there a way to tell the Postcard to turn off while it’s plugged into the power bank? Or do I just unplug it?
Because of hardware limitations, there is not currently a way to turn off the Postcard while it is plugged in.
Okay. And the power on and off via the portability shield simply connects and disconnects the power to the postcard?
I’m worried about the micro SD card slot and other issues.
the power on and off via the portability shield simply connects and disconnects the power to the postcard?
Yes. Eeek, the schematic is out of date. Here is the version showing the switch.
The switch simply interrupts the flow from VBATT to 5V while preventing the 5V to directly backcharge the battery.
Your explanation is great, it’s very helpful since I’m just getting to know this card.
Regarding the micro SD card, how does it protect itself when powering off and on? Does the micro SD card mount and unmount correctly?
Regards
On the Postcard, there is no soft shutdown of the SD card, merely a power off.
Just skiming this thread and thought it worth mentioning that there is a Checkbox in the WiFI Configuration portal to reset the device. check the box and save/exit the config page to get the reset to trigger.
Hi, I’ll tell you what I did.
I connected to the postcard via Bluetooth. From there, I went to Wi-Fi settings. I connected without any problems to the Wi-Fi settings. I looked at the different menus for a while and then clicked “Reset.” It didn’t reset, so I unplugged it.
When I turned on the Bluetooth, the light was solid blue and it was showing the error I mentioned in the first messages. Today I took some screenshots to share.
It seems that the Bluetooth didn’t start and the four identification values don’t appear.
Hi Sparky. Now I really need help.
The postcard won’t connect to Bluetooth anymore.
Sometimes, plugging and unplugging the power would return everything to normal.
Now, it’s stuck with a solid blue light and won’t connect to Bluetooth anymore.
I connect to the PC via USB and it’s detected.
I reset the firmware to 2.1 just in case, and I don’t know what to do anymore.
I appreciate the help.
Outdoors, the yellow PPS light comes on intermittently, meaning it’s getting a GPS signal.
Hi amlago - Start with a factory reset and let us know if Bluetooth continues to be a problem.
I did it, but it didn’t fix the issue.
Next, I got something done.
I re-uploaded the 2.1 firmware using the ESP32 Flash Erase option.
That restored Bluetooth activity.
I’ll keep investigating.
Thanks a lot, Sparky.
I regret to say that after 4 restarts, that is, 4 turns off and on, the Bluetooth was blocked again.
I clarify that I only work with the postcard without a portability shield.
