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jhoeke
GPS problem: internal leads?

Hi, 

A while back I aquired a second hand OVMS unit cheaply, previous owner warned he never got GPS to work. I tried getting a new external GPS antenna but that didn't work of course. I read up on a previous thread on the same subject https://www.openvehicles.com/node/2604 and even got a cheap multimeter. But in all honesty I don't know how to use it, lol. So I'm too unskilled to follow Mark's directions in https://www.openvehicles.com/comment/7071#comment-7071

Loving my OVMS and eager to use the gps as well I found another OVMS unit (complete with modem and GPS) and it works like a charm. So with a working unit and a broken unit I've determined that:

- the new unit  + modem from old unit = GPS works (so the old's unit's modem is ok) 
- old unit  + modem from new unit = no GPS

So the conclusion must be that either the external GPS cable connector or the internal cable that it's connected to must be broken. But neither are parts that I can replace myself without soldering, right? Then I would need to send it to openvehicles.com to get it repaired I guess. I'm afraid the shipping and repair costs would be more than the resale value of a fixed unit.

Would you guys agree? So I should try and sell the old unit as wifi only? 

regards,
Johan

 

markwj
markwj's picture
It does sound likely that the

It does sound likely that the cable is faulty. You can verify that by swapping the cables at the modem board, and swapping the antennas at the external connection. If GSM then stops working (or gets lower quality signal) and GPS starts working, then it is definitely the internal GPS cable.

Replacing the cable does generally require de-soldering the old connector. It is not particularly easy, and easiest to cut off the pins (on the underside of the board where the solder is), then removing with pliers. Then the cable can be replaced.

jhoeke
Awesome, thank you. Stupid

Awesome, thank you. Stupid that I didn't thing of such an obvious test. I'll confirm and then decide about the soldering. 

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