SOLVED! - LED interrogation

[AerialRob]

Hello
The quick start guide at item 3 describes alternating red and green LED's appearing approximately 1 minute after powering up.
I observed this on initial power up but now on subsequent power up only the green LED flashes a repeated series of 4 then nothing for a count of three then a series of four.
I mention this because on taking the device to the airfield for a test flight I could not get it to operate and different patterns of red and green flashing occurred .
Both a battery power pack and a 2A mains charger were used with the same result.
Are the colour sequences for a functioning device known together with the other LED's .
This would give confidence of normal operation and perhaps assist in interrogating faults.
Thanks
Bryce

[Admin]

Hi Bryce

Red / green constant flashing indicates no valid license, which is what you get on initial bootup
Subsequently a green indicates a working interface, a red indicates a failing interface
The same leds are shown on the web home page
Were you able to connect to the home page ?

Thx
Lee

[AerialRob]

Hello Lee
Thank you , that's interestingly.
It worked ok at home but at the airfield I could only obtain an intermittent wifi connection with the device.
I tried rebooting a number of times and twice got the message " unable to connect to wifi"
I didn't get a chance to see the homepage.

Back in the house it is now functioning properly both on mains and battery .
I will try again at the airfield tomorrow.

Am I correct in understanding that it is possible to connect more than one tablet/phone to the device by wifi .

Regards
Bryce








Sent from my iPhone

[Admin]

Yes multiple devices can connect

Thx
Lee

[SteveN]

Hi Bryce

Red / green constant flashing indicates no valid license, which is what you get on initial bootup
Subsequently a green indicates a working interface, a red indicates a failing interface
The same leds are shown on the web home page
Were you able to connect to the home page ?

Thx
Lee

Confused about all the LEDs. There seem to four on the Bridge.  As well as green my bridge is flashing a red LED to coincide with   PAW TX and I can hear the TX "crack" on my scanner.  Does this mean there is a still a failing interface?

[Admin]

Hi Steve

You are right there are 4 leds on the bridge
2 indicate TX(red)/RX(green)

and 2 indicate status

The red green status LED's, should match what is on the web home page.
sequence is
            (sysdata.status.test.dvbt);
            (sysdata.status.test.trx);
            (sysdata.status.test.baro);
            (sysdata.status.test.gps);
Thx
Lee

[AerialRob]

After repeatedly starting and stopping the device yesterday evening with success this morning on power up I was left with a flashing red LED and the gps LED did not commence flashing.

I could connect to the device by wifi and took these screen shots of the homepage and log.
SkyDemon connected but advised waiting for gps .

I disconnected the gps dongle counted to ten and reconnected but it made no difference.

I donot seem able to achieve consistency in startup which is definitely required for aircraft use .

The test last night were all satisfactorily achieved with the battery power pack and I donot believe it to be a power issue.

Thanks

[DaveStyles]

Hi Steve,

You are correct, there are 4 on the bridge. 2 are used by the RF transceiver and 2 by us.

Looking at the front of the case, the RF ones are to the right, the status are to the left.
RF is red for transmit and green for receive. You'll see them flashing away merrily.

The status ones give the same code as on the setup page. So you should usually be flashing greens.

there are of course 2 on the Pi itself as well!

Steady red for power, and green for disc access.

These are all useful for a quick glance, but really it's the home page that gives most detail.

Hope this helps

[Admin]

Hi Rob,

it is a GPS issue, I can see from the home page, you have receieved 0 packets in the last 5 seconds,
so this is not a 'fix' issue, its simply receiving no data.

Couple of questions

Q. where is the unit positioned, does it have a good view of the sky ?

Q. you say not a power issue, are you using the power cable supplied ?
(I presume using the same power supply as yesterday?)

The GPS may not be working, although it does say it received 1684 data messages since bootup

Thx
Lee

[AerialRob]

Hello
The next power up was successful .
4 Green flashes from the device LED's.
Connected to SkyDemon .
These are the screen shots of homepage and log.

[DaveStyles]

Hi Bryce,

you're using the supplied power lead aren't you ;-)

The GPS needs a good view of the sky, in my particular instance it will work fine on a windowsill at the front of the house, but only ever find a couple of satellites at the back of the house.

a unit will ALWAYS take a minute or 2 to start working, even if at an airfield, this is for the GPS to come online and is true of all GPS.

Your unit probably just needs to be powered up and left outside for a while. I'm not sure if the GPS can be hot swapped (I don't do it), but to avoid confusion, I'd just put it all together, power it up and leave it outside for 15 mins.

I'd power it up, let your GPS sort itself out, keep an eye on the home screen and connect SD when all is green. It's designed for the sky, it doesn't always find satellites quickly on the ground, but mine will run at 8 or 9 satellites on the ground, it just takes longer to find them all with all the clutter.

<edit>

Seen your update. You should be fine from now.

[exfirepro]

Hi Bryce,

I see you have been receiving assistance from Lee and Dave and that your unit has now booted successfully. Looks like this has been the 'standard' issue of the time taken for the GPS unit to obtain its initial data - during which it needs a good clear viesw of the sky and preferably outside - not through 'e-glass'.

Now that it has established in effect 'where it is' it should function normally.

Regards

Peter

[AerialRob]

Hello Lee

I have the device on a windowsill connected with the supplied power lead to a new Anker 20100 battery and the mode s aerial is located on the external windowsill .
I have the components connected as I intend to use them in the aircraft .

Can you advise if the gps dongle green LED flashes on power up or following power up when satellites are aquired .

Thanks
Regards
Bryce

[Admin]

Hi Bryce

Can you advise if the gps dongle green LED flashes on power up or following power up when satellites are aquired .

I think it flashes when receiving data, so not necessarily a lock, but dont quote me on that.

Can you try the unit on the other side of the glass ?
I am not sure if it is true, but somebody told me certain types of glass have a coating which will restrict the GPS signals getting throuh - only one way to find out....

This is not the same for your iPad, which uses location services from your WiFi Router

Thx
Lee

[Paul_Sengupta]

Yes, the Pilkington-K type glass will block the GPS and much of the ADS-B signals. Solution is to hang the whole unit on the outside. Obviously if this is an upstairs window in the wind, or even a downstairs window really, make sure it's attached to something.