Sparky Fun with RTK FACET

GPS/GNSS Development Boards
1

I am at wits end with this device.

First issues were build quality which I mentioned earlier in another post. I had to fix the screen and power button out of the box.

Then, it was usability issues like the one I mentioned in another post where Fixed position didn’t work but survey-in did. The issue resolved by updating the ESP firmware to 1.12-Dev at the time. Not sure if it was the reset that did it, or the firmware update itself. But it started working again.

Then, I noticed the issue flipped and survey-in stopped working. It just would never start no matter what I did. So, I changed firmware again to 1.12 release version and it magically started working again (again, maybe the factory reset?). But I noticed it would randomly stop working, and if I switched to Rover and back, it could again work. Then, I tried the Zed latest firmware thinking it maybe would make things less buggy, and then base mode wouldn’t work at all. So I settled going back.

Now, I noticed I can’t get any logging of any messages other than NMEA when I set them in the wifi config page. I want to do post processing, but all I get is ASCII in the file. Nothing binary as far as I can tell looking with a HEX editor and notepad. RTKCONV isn’t happy with my logs. I read somewhere someone enabled RXM-MEASX on the ZED to make RTKLIB happy, but I also noticed no matter what I seem to only be logging NMEA messages to the SD card.

Then I noticed a rattle inside. The battery had come loose. Feeling like I want to set this device on fire and end my love/hate relationship, I literally accidentally set it on fire. Sparky fun. A small slip of the hand and a gentle nick to the corner of the battery, IT LITERALLY SET ON FIRE. The freakin’ battery is totally unprotected other than a small plastic wrap over the pouch cells. It’s a tragedy waiting to happen. I ran outside and threw it on the ground. When it slowed down smoking it lit on fire. I immediately kicked it and the flaming battery flew out. Fortunately, it didn’t damage the circuit boards, but charred the inside of the case pretty badly. I spent the afternoon cleaning the boards with alcohol and scraping char out so it wouldn’t smell like toxic plastic so I could bear it inside. I drilled a hole in the side and now am using an external GNSS antenna.

But I still can’t log messages correctly to convert to RINEX … Another firmware update??? I’m seriously tired. Maybe I should set it on fire intentionally this time.

2

I forgot to mention I tried to use serial telemetry but for the life of me couldn’t get it to work. Looking in U-center, the Rover would get data but it didn’t show receiving any RTK data but had a whole lot of ignored data. I checked the radio port with a UART USB adapter and saw it would output some random baud or gibberish. I know it’s binary but it didn’t look right. I tried fiddling with the baud rate, checked in u-center, tried random baud rates, nothing was accepted by the rover as RTK in Messages view, and the binary I saw in terminal just looked wrong. I could connect fine to the DATA port via UART using the same cable, so it was not my USB/UART connection. I tried using Ucenter to manually alter the baud rate and test while connected, still no go.

This happened at the same time I was having issues with another setting. It resolved with the firmware swap … Serial Telemetry was alive. Again, was it the reset???

3

Hi DarkFun - I’m sorry it’s not working for you. It sounds to me like it’s time to throw in the towel and call it a day. Please let me know your order # and we’ll get you an RMA and a refund started immediately.