Hey folks, so we purchased an RTK Mosaic-X5 kit with the SPK6618H GNSS L1/L2/L5 antenna around the beginning of June this year. Got it up and running, really pleased with the results with our Bad Elf Flex Mini Extremes. I took this after it was up and running correctly:
Until, this weekend it seems. I’m not sure exactly when it went down, we didn’t have any storms, but when I went to go get some points in the field I noticed I could not get corrections. Upon returning to the office and checking on the web interface, I saw that no satellites were in view:
So I went and checked the unit itself in our server room. All it continually does is readout its local IP address and the PVT green light is now off:
Resetting soft and hard, unplugging the POE, had no effect. Reseating the antenna connection on both ends had no effect. The antenna is situated on the roof with clear views of the sky in all directions. No evidence of cable binding or damage. I also updated the SUF firmware to 4.14.4 from 4.14.0 to no avail. It has been running 24/7 since we set it up, but the Mosaic itself has been in a temperature controlled server room and I’ve never seen the temps in the interface get above 57C.
I’m suspicious that the antenna has failed. Perhaps the cable. Do you have a different GNSS antenna that you could test with? If not, we can send a new cable and antenna. Alternatively, if it’s easier for you, we can have you return the unit to us for testing. Our building bristles with GNSS antennas so we could establish if it’s the mosaic receiver, cable, or antenna, then replace/repair as needed.
Hey thanks for the response! Yeah I might have posted this prematurely from a troubleshooting standpoint, as I actually will be able to test a cable and extra antenna tomorrow at some point, I have a line on both for testing. That would probably be easier and faster than sending the whole thing back. So I’ll keep you posted as to the results of that and we’ll go from there!
Also, I double checked the weather history over the last week and I was wrong in my initial post. We DID have a few thunderstorms over the weekend here at the office, just not at my house - which is not that far away. But, weather systems in the mountains are strange! But I’m not showing any lightning strikes in the immediate vicinity of the office, so I dunno if that is telling or not.
Anyways, thanks again, I’ll be back with my future findings.
Yeah I might have posted this prematurely from a troubleshooting standpoint
No worries and not at all. You’ve eliminated a bunch of potentials. The fraction of the population that has one GNSS antenna is tiny, those who have access to two is me asking for the moon, but it sounds like you’ve got a great lead! Let us know.
Oh nice, thanks for that! So I just went and did that diagnostic and interestingly, it reads out the same Voltage and Amperage whether the antenna is connected or not. Also, while the Voltage seems fine, the Amperage is way outside of spec it seems at 84.4mA if its supposed to be between 30-40mA.
I attached screenshots of that section for diagnostics run when it was disconnected and connected. Seeing that high amperage has me hesitant to plug anything else into it if I’m able to get the test unit today. What do you all think?
84mA is high. I think it indicates something has failed…
Are you disconnecting the antenna at the SMA connection on the RTK mosaic-X5 itself? If you are, and the current stays at 84mA while the cable is disconnected, then I think the ESD diode next to the SMA connector must have failed. That’s the only component between the X5 RF pin and the SMA connector. Possibly a lightning strike caused it to fail?
Hopefully it has done its job and has protected the X5 RF input. If you can return the unit to us, we’ll have that diode swapped out and give it a check over.
PS. The diagnostic report doesn’t auto-update. You’ll need to reload the page each time you connect / disconnect the cable. Thanks! (I suspect you did though - as I see one of the “V” voltages is different…)
I’ve disconnected at both ends and the result is about the same each time.
Yes, I’ve refreshed the diagnostic each time and it still displays ~84/88mA (see attached, this one is disconnected at the Mosaic’s end).
No worries at all, lightning is a strange animal for sure. I lost a Unifi switch to it a few years back and actually saw the bolt that killed it - but the strike was probably half a mile down the road. Why only that switch, I have no idea but it did the same sort of thing and messed up the voltage.
Alright so how do you want me to proceed with this? Do you want me to submit an RMA ticket or just send the unit in for repair? I’ll get our invoice info together from the purchase in the meantime. Thanks!
Hi Paul – I don’t like climbing on the “me too” bandwagon, but have a unit that’s presenting very similar symptoms. I’ve submitted a RA, but prior to shipping anything back should I troubleshoot anything additional vs what’s been indicated above? I’ve swapped and compared just about everything in the process after believing I was running in to a thermal issue (Mosaic-X5 RTK troubleshooting before RMA?) however am open to looking at anything I can before making this someone else’s issue
A brief update – reviewing the diagnostics page, I’m consistently seeing 172-173mA with the antenna connected, or not. This cable and antenna tests fine with another Mosaic module … so, will see if I can test the schottky diode next. Thoughts and feedback appreciated.
After confirming that I’m way too old (geez, I needed readers AND extra magnification), it looks like the diode may be out of spec, but not completely fried.
Thoughts, ideas, or “just leave it to the professionals” … appreciated.
Hey folks, I’ve sent our unit back for the RMA process. That being said, if I were to buy a lightning arrestor to put in between the antenna and Mosaic-X5 when we get it back, which would you recommend for compatibility? I have my eye on this one:
I don’t have any experience with those but that looks pretty functional; just be sure to run that ground connection to a metal spike in the ground or similar buried a few feet deep like it mentions and remember while that’ll save the equipment it won’t necessarily save you…be careful if a storm is a-brewin’
Side note: don’t forget you also might need an extra cable (if don’t already have a 2nd) after adding in the ‘fuse’ (depending on how close mounting is and such)
If you do get it be sure to leave a review…I looked around for a bit and couldn’t find any that matched that part
Hey all! I’m running into the same issue. I purchased the Mosaic X5 back in May. A few days ago, I was alerted that there was no NTRIP signal going out so I logged into the UI to see that there is no signal at all. No significant weather or anything worth reporting where it’s installed when it went out.
The OLED display is looping the IP address and on the diagnostics page is showing Ant#0: 4.643V 63.0mA with the antenna disconnected and does not appear to fluctuate when the antenna is connected.
Does anyone have a solution to fix this? It seems RMA has been the path for those in the thread here but happy to try to attempt some additional troubleshooting if there are some thoughts here.
Apologies for the hassle. It does sound like you have the same issue.
If you have the parts and can spare the time, please try a test for me. Please connect a passive GPS antenna to the unit. Do you see signals? It doesn’t need to be L1/L2/L5. Just plain old L1 will do. I often use a passive Iridium antenna for this test - the frequency bands are almost the same. If you see signals, it confirms the active antenna LNA is not getting power and that the internal antenna power circuit has almost certainly failed.
Either way, please RMA the unit and we’ll get a replacement to you.
Hey folks, thought I’d give ya’ll an update. So we got a replacement unit from Sparkfun and I also got two lightning arrestors similar (you’ll need different for each end) to what I inquired about above and grounded both ends of the cable at the base station and the antenna. Been working fine for the last month and a half. We’ll see how it holds up but I have a strong suspicion the static in the air in the presence of those storms we had got into that line and did some wild stuff to the system. I just can’t rule it out as a coincidence. Hard to prove a negative (“I got these arrestors and that’s why it hasn’t happened again”) but so far so good.
