{"id":31,"date":"2011-03-04T19:30:42","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T19:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/?p=31"},"modified":"2011-03-06T09:43:04","modified_gmt":"2011-03-06T09:43:04","slug":"where-am-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/?p=31","title":{"rendered":"Where Am I?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Got the GPS module connected to the Arduino flight computer today. \u00a0Easy to connect except that since it’s an olde module it needs more power than the Arduino’s 3.3V output can manage (130mA needed; 75ma available). \u00a0Connected to a software UART to make the debugging easier (PC connects to the hardware UART).<\/p>\n

All connected, I could see the GPS data coming through but the position values were all zeroes. \u00a0This is normal at first until the GPS module locks onto enough satellites and downloads enough data to decode them. \u00a0So I waited. And waited. \u00a0Even after 30 minutes no position data came through. \u00a0Checking the GPS manual I saw that it only sends power to the antenna if I connect power to a specific pin for that purpose. \u00a0So out with the soldering iron again. \u00a0Power back to the GPS and, within a few seconds, position data! \u00a0It took a couple of minutes for the position to be accurate, but that’s normal. \u00a0One more thing on the checklist then!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also did some tests to see how long the camcorder can run on Lithium cells. \u00a0As per an earlier post these provide too high a voltage, so I connected through a schottkydiode to drop the voltage just a little. \u00a0Doing this also makes it easy to double up on batteries, so with 4 AA Lithium cells connected in this way I timed the camcorder at about 3 hours 34 minutes. \u00a0I can get more by shorting diodes out when the battery voltage has lowered a little. \u00a0One for the flight computer to monitor and control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Got the GPS module connected to the Arduino flight computer today. \u00a0Easy to connect except that since it’s an olde module it needs more power than the Arduino’s 3.3V output can manage (130mA needed; 75ma available). \u00a0Connected to a software UART to make the debugging easier (PC connects to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.daveakerman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}