CNC carbon plate for m8n

Eagle Wong · Mar 2, 2016

I watch a lot of modification of GPS ground plate and m8n replacement, and discovered that my 7m GPS has the problem of replacing battery lossing the Sat., it need to wait nearly 10-15 minutes to fly at the clear sky. Finally, I decided to replace and rework the GPS part of solo.

1. DIY a 1.5mm carbon plate for interference isolation.

to be continue.

Eagle Wong · Mar 2, 2016

M8n connect with computer ucenter, test the sats, very fast and HDOP 1.0.

Shmity18 · Mar 2, 2016

Great idea. I've got some spare CF laying around. Might have to try this. What thickness are you using? Matte or Gloss?

Tyler

Eagle Wong · Mar 2, 2016

I use 1.5mm matte

Shmity18 said:
Great idea. I've got some spare CF laying around. Might have to try this. What thickness are you using? Matte or Gloss?

Tyler

CF

SPP · Mar 2, 2016

Holy cow.... Eagle, surrounding your apartment's north to east are all hills at 400+ meters high.
Now wonder you have hardtime getting sats lock, if only USA GPS is what M7 can get.
If you take off near the water, the whole apartment block to your north west and north will also block your GPS.
I feel your pain....

If say I interpret the GPS screen you shown, I think the G = GPS, USA and R = Russian
The S I don't know

Update us on how your mod goes yah...
Safe flight

Eagle Wong · Mar 3, 2016

That's right, you check my testing place! It's surround by a lot of buildings, i just put it on my little Terrace at lower floor. M8n is amazing!

fpvsteve · Mar 3, 2016

SPP said:
If say I interpret the GPS screen you shown, I think the G = GPS, USA and R = Russian
The S I don't know

... and S = SBAS, E = Galileo
and with that you can get easily up to 22 sats at HDOP < 0.9 with Solo

Eagle Wong · Mar 3, 2016

I have make it with original molex plug, plug and play for replacement.

Mr_Chris · Mar 3, 2016

I guess that would be a warranty issue..

But I so want that GPS fixed... A real frustration isn't it!

SPP · Mar 3, 2016

Oopps, S = SBAS....dang I should have known. Many thanks steve.
The Apps did not use PRN numbers, I think Eagle sky will be covered by Japanese MSAS.
You guys are tempting me to upgrade he he he
Keep the info coming please...thank u

Eagle Wong · Mar 3, 2016

My modification didnt need to cut the wires or remove somethings. Just remove the original 7m and plug on the new m8n, that's easy. It can easily restore to factory original. I order 10 original plug, has 9 left. Means I can make 9 more m8n GPS module for Solo.

If someone didnt want cut wires modification, PM me to buy.

Eagle Wong · Mar 3, 2016

ublox m8n FW3.01

Eagle Wong · Mar 4, 2016

After charge the m8n gps, there is no waiting time after replace the battery, it can flight immediately.

Before replace battery 13 sats. , after replace the battery 13 sats. immediately lock without wait!

User Name · Mar 4, 2016

fpvsteve said:
... and S = SBAS, E = Galileo
and with that you can get easily up to 22 sats at HDOP < 0.9 with Solo

So many questions!

Which model GPS did you use? I checked the Drotek site and they have numerous versions/sizes/included mags/no mag, etc.

Do these suffer from increased noise reported for cheaper units? I thought I remember a 3DR engineer saying that while you'll get more satellites with an M8N, there will be more noise.

When adding the copper shielding, do you have to ground it to be effective?

While I've never had a glitch or loss of GPS, I sometimes struggle to get more than 6 or 7 satellites before getting some altitude, and feel like taking off with so few is cutting it close. My cheapo M8Ns on smaller quads regularly get 16+, but I don't want to sacrifice signal quality for satellite quantity.

Thierry · Mar 4, 2016

I'm very interested in updating the GPS card.
The only thing I wonder is that if you're in a difficult spot (near a building, under trees, next to a mountain), will it still fly accurately once it has a GPS lock? Or does it drift a lot more that it would with an open sky.

The main reason I want this is to use cable cam in the forest. So I wonder if it would still fly precisely. I know the 7M would lose GPS frequently.

Eagle Wong · Mar 4, 2016

GPS test flight at yesterday. I use attached GPS. The circuit board has LNA low noise amp. and SAW filter. Antenna grounding plate on PCB side does not has any circuit. Also, the signal cable contains EMI protection same as original cable.

My test flight at yesterday using cable cam at 2 points.

fpvsteve · Mar 5, 2016

User Name said:
So many questions!

Which model GPS did you use? I checked the Drotek site and they have numerous versions/sizes/included mags/no mag, etc.

Do these suffer from increased noise reported for cheaper units? I thought I remember a 3DR engineer saying that while you'll get more satellites with an M8N, there will be more noise.

When adding the copper shielding, do you have to ground it to be effective?

While I've never had a glitch or loss of GPS, I sometimes struggle to get more than 6 or 7 satellites before getting some altitude, and feel like taking off with so few is cutting it close. My cheapo M8Ns on smaller quads regularly get 16+, but I don't want to sacrifice signal quality for satellite quantity.

I am using the Drotek m8n w/o compass.
The GPS quality depends on the interplay of all components of the GPS board. A highend Ublox m8n combined with a cheap crappy antenna will likely be worse than the stock gps, even though you have more sats locked.
Yes I grounded my copper shield.
I flew in the meantime about a dozen packs and never experienced any issues.
I never had any issues with the stock GPS either