After I changed with Drotek m8n GPS module, I can always see following screen without any problem.
GPS Issues
- Thread starter marksde
- Start date
Installed mRo unit but no isolation plate (the mRo unit doesn't have the unlabeled chip on the bottom that folks were saying was contacting the shield)... had the solo for a week so I've only flown at my house so far (2 acre field surrounded by trees in a valley) and had 7-9 satellites pre-mod after ~2 minutes. When I first powered up the new gps I had 9 satellites within 20 seconds... and that jumped to 12/13 after a minute.
I use an MRO gps and the 3DR replacement gps cover you can buy direct from 3DR...it is not cheap but the combo works great. everything fit with no trimming period. I get fast gps lock and my sat count goes way up...this is money well spent...roughly $100 upgrade for this combo...
I installed the MRO and made a foam shield using the thin (1/32") plastic foam that protects TV screens in their boxes. I made a replica of the cardboard mod, then I placed the original Copper foil shield back in place. My first test after installation was under-whelming. It was slightly slower at declaring a lock but it did report more sats when it first showed any at all, then I noticed that as I landed after a couple of minutes of flight, my controller screen flashed that it was calibrating, for about 3 seconds. Hmm, so I made another flight and at landing, it calibrated again. So a third and fourth 1 minute flights also calibrated but now the message was lasting less than a second. I surmised that the MRO replacement was getting acclimated with its New Kentucky Home.
I shut down Solo and started from scratch with a lock at 38 seconds with 13 sats and 20 locked in before I was able to take off at 1 minute 11 seconds. I'm impressed. I never saw any pink display of satellites without a lock. Just BAM! 13 sats and counting.
The only test I did to select that foam was to convince myself that it wasn't conductive like it's pink buddies. I made a simple no-continuity test with an ohmmeter. Duct tape over the foil might have worked as well but this very lightweight foam offered spacing like fine corrugated cardboard would without the cardboard's humidity trapping potential.
I replaced a Rev B board which was actually OK since I'm not real fast at finishing the rest of my checklist. It does seem to hover in a smaller space now but every day has been pretty gusty the past couple of weeks so its difficult to tell much. On the plus side, I feel more comfortable with 8 or 9 spare satellites than I do with one or two.
If I find a Rev A board in one of my other 3 solo's I plan to document its performance and do similar tests with a Rev B and the MRO for a more detailed comparison. I'll probably replace the first Rev A with a Drotek M8x and compare that result with the MRO. Unless you are very unlucky the MRO is top notch.
Then again, I might not. I'm using these as primary trainers and will seldom use the GPS anyway. The low cost and the flight simulator was too good to pass up. The first one severely crashed will be the "hangar queen" for parts.
I shut down Solo and started from scratch with a lock at 38 seconds with 13 sats and 20 locked in before I was able to take off at 1 minute 11 seconds. I'm impressed. I never saw any pink display of satellites without a lock. Just BAM! 13 sats and counting.
The only test I did to select that foam was to convince myself that it wasn't conductive like it's pink buddies. I made a simple no-continuity test with an ohmmeter. Duct tape over the foil might have worked as well but this very lightweight foam offered spacing like fine corrugated cardboard would without the cardboard's humidity trapping potential.
I replaced a Rev B board which was actually OK since I'm not real fast at finishing the rest of my checklist. It does seem to hover in a smaller space now but every day has been pretty gusty the past couple of weeks so its difficult to tell much. On the plus side, I feel more comfortable with 8 or 9 spare satellites than I do with one or two.
If I find a Rev A board in one of my other 3 solo's I plan to document its performance and do similar tests with a Rev B and the MRO for a more detailed comparison. I'll probably replace the first Rev A with a Drotek M8x and compare that result with the MRO. Unless you are very unlucky the MRO is top notch.
Then again, I might not. I'm using these as primary trainers and will seldom use the GPS anyway. The low cost and the flight simulator was too good to pass up. The first one severely crashed will be the "hangar queen" for parts.
I just replaced my gps with the $30 mini uBlox M8N. Worked like a charm. First flight I was getting 15-17 satellites and hdop below 1 (as low as .6). And I was flying at around -10 C. Of course it would be nice to know the signal strength of each satellite and how many of those sats are actually used in the position solution. So it seems to be a good upgrade for $30. Only issue is that you have to be able to splice 4 wires together by some careful soldering. My hope is that I don't get any more sudden gps glitches while having 10+ sats. But who knows? If there is a glitch my hope is that it is only for a few seconds. Having used 3DR auto pilots for years, I find the mysterious gps loss of lock with Solos disappointing. Because I use the Solos for mapping I'm just waiting for one of my cameras to unexpectedly disappear over the horizon!
I bought my gps here:
Mini uBlox M8N GPS GLONASS W/ (35x35mm) Mounting backplane and Compass V2
I've got some more Solos so I think I am going to order one of those cheap ebay gps' for $13 and do the reprogramming and save a few $$.
These cheap Solos are just the best damn deal going! When these are gone off the market it will be at least 2-3x as expensive to build one and a lot more hassle. So embrace the quirks of these cheap drones!
I bought my gps here:
Mini uBlox M8N GPS GLONASS W/ (35x35mm) Mounting backplane and Compass V2
I've got some more Solos so I think I am going to order one of those cheap ebay gps' for $13 and do the reprogramming and save a few $$.
These cheap Solos are just the best damn deal going! When these are gone off the market it will be at least 2-3x as expensive to build one and a lot more hassle. So embrace the quirks of these cheap drones!
will this work as a gps upgrade ? Ublox NEO-M8N Flight Controller GPS w/ Protective Shell for PIX PX4 Pixhawk US | eBay
what's the difference between this one and the one you bought ? thanks,
what's the difference between this one and the one you bought ? thanks,
Nice to know you got 3DR service and a Warrentee. I thought thiose items were defunct!!
Bill Chrisman
Nope they took care of me no questions asked. That's the beauty of being able to send the flight logs.
If it costs $20, it is unlikely to be a real UBlox chip. It may work (see above, and the $30 board), but it isn't the real thing.
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what cable did you buy or did you have to modify or make a cable?
details on the cable would be great
also, did you have to reprogram that GPS module?
I apologize for answering another guy's question but he states he had to solder the wires.
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No worries. thanks for the info.
I'm going to play around with my backup Solo and see about the small gps unit without the mounting backplane, and then use this
GPS Case (45x45mm Format)
to mount the GPS outside of the solo with some more shielding in between.
Just using that Solo as a test bed.
Yea I've wondered about an outboard GPS myself.No worries. thanks for the info.
I'm going to play around with my backup Solo and see about the small gps unit without the mounting backplane, and then use this
GPS Case (45x45mm Format)
to mount the GPS outside of the solo with some more shielding in between.
Just using that Solo as a test bed.
Last edited:
I just picked a random cable when ordering. I used the Solo gps cable, but this requires cutting off the connector that plugs into the Solo gps. Then I cut off the connector on the new gps and then spliced them together. Follow this guide, but be careful you splice the correct wires together! This mini Ublox requires no reprograming. It is ready to go. Hope this helps. Oh ya, if you haven't spliced really fine wires via soldering I'd practice a few times before using the real wires. Don't forget to put on shrink tubing!
http://impconcepts.com/documentation/IMPConcepts3DRSoloM8NGPSInstallation.pdf
Just wanted to follow up for people that might have the same issues I did. After a few putting in the mRo and isolation mod I've had ZERO problems. I've only had it out a few times but each time I'm getting 17+ SATs with HDOP of less than 1. No more loosing GPS randomly. I will report back if the issue rears its head again, but if you don't hear from me just assume that I'm 100% fixed.
Hi, my two cents! Bought my solo from B&H, unfortunately the sololink never worked. Returned it to 3dr and they sent me a refurbished unit that worked fine indistinguishable from brand new. I would usually get between 8 and 11 sats. When flying, it dropped to 7 or 8. I ordered the mrobotics gps replacement and now I routinely get 14 to 15 sats. Very satisfied. The unit came with the rev A gps.
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