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does heat affect your gps receiver?
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SHADOW
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 1:47 pm    Post subject: does heat affect your gps receiver? Reply with quote

hi just a quick post to ask if the heat from the sun affects your gps receiver as tomtom has been going ballistic in this heat ..according to the pda screen i am driving through fields and driving sideways up the roads..and spoken instructions are a nightmare..i have the hp rz1710 package and was wondering if anyone else is experiencing the same problems.. Confused
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NMatthew
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Last Summer I had a Tomtom Bluetooth GPS receiver replaced because it would crash when it got hot on the dash. The new one is much better, although I have made a little "house" for it to stop it getting full-on sun.

Neil
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sooty
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 3:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a genuine TomTom wired receiver which seems to suffer badly in hot weather, and a Globalsat BT-338 which seems to be fine whatever the weather.

I'm not 100% sure but I think I read somewhere that hot/humid weather has an effect on the transmission of sat signals irrespective of the temperature of the receiver itself.

I have run TTN3 and 5 from the same wired receiver and it appears as though TTN5 needs the signal strength for each sat to be greater, before it will use it.
i.e. in the GPS screen, TTN3 will show say 6 sats in use and V5 will show say 3 or 4.

Must be something in the software that says “only use this sat if signal is above xx”
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julianbarker
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I doubt it - I think the bars do not represent satalittes but satalittes +2. You need three sats for a fix so there is only a point counting once you get to three, so the bars probably represent 3,4,5,6 and 7. More than 7 doesn't improve accuracy or reliability much so isn't indicated.
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sooty
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was referring to the bars in the GPS status screen as opposed to the bar on the main nav screen.

I am far from a techical guru as far as GPS receivers are concerned but I would guess that all the work as far as which sats to use etc is done within the receiver and passed on to the software. If that is the case, then I suppose it wouldn't matter what software was being used, the No of sats in view/use should be the same.

In answer to the original question, heat like we have had over the last few days definately seems to affect the performance of my wired receiver. I can't make my mind up if this is down to the receiver getting hot or the weather conditions affecting the received signal.

Initially I thought it must be the temperature of the receiver, however today the car had been parked in the sun for about 3 hours and the receiver, which was on the dashboard, was V hot. When I set off TTN3's GPS status screen was showing 4 sats in use. I drove for about 2 hours with the aircon on and the inside temp of the car was down to about 18 C. TTN3 flickered between 4 and 5 sats for the whole journey, so no real change between receiver V hot & normal temp.

My Globalsat BT-338 seems to be unaffected by temperature changes either in the receiver itself or the outside temperature. I know the BT338 is a SiRF III so maybe it is either able to cope better with weak signals or its internals dont mind being hot.

I'm sure someone here with the technical know how can explain which it is, hot receiver or hot weather.
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Tommy3090
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My car was parked in full sun with my wired receiver for about 3 hours.
Then on my route I couldn't pick up more than 4/5 sats.
My work mate has same set up but his car was parked in the shade.
He had 7+ sats.
Later after my car was parked in the shade for about an hour, I was back to 7+ sats !!

Good Job our Summer probably won't last long !! Wink

Stuart
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julianbarker
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I don't seem to have any trouble getting 6+ sats in all weathers using my TT Wired GPS. BUt my otherh alf stuck a Beanie Baby on top of the receiver some months ago and as it appears to be transparent to GPS, but keeps the sun and the eyes of theiving toerags off it, I have left it there.
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rinkrat
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have the Ipaq 1710 and Tom Tom wired GPS. My GPS wont fix at all after standing in the sun all day at work. the statallites are all visable but just wont lock on. When the cars cool in the morning it locks staright away. As soon as the receiver cools again all is well. I have tried moving the receiver under the dash, but the signal wont pick up as well even when cool. going to France next month which is why I upgraded to TTN5. Just hope it cools down a bit soon otherwise I've wasted my money till the winter anyway ! Laughing Out Loud!

Rinkrat
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SHADOW
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

NMatthew wrote:
Last Summer I had a Tomtom Bluetooth GPS receiver replaced because it would crash when it got hot on the dash. The new one is much better, although I have made a little "house" for it to stop it getting full-on sun.

Neil
...nice one neil..i made a little cover for the receiver and it run fine all day in the heat without any probs...thanx to all for your replys and views on this posting.. :D
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julianbarker
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 11:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have had no heat related problems at all - do those that have have windscreens that have tinting or coatings that might block gps signals when hot?
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rinkrat
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dont think my windsceen is a blocking one as far as i know !

Shadow & Co. can you tell us how and of what you made your mouse house of ?

As this is maybe worth a try before I try another GPS mouse or send mine to be checked !

Thanks Rinkrat
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NMatthew
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 26, 2005 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My GPS house is made from some thick white card (from an art shop). It keeps the GPS unit in the shade and has no metal to block GPS signals (as foil might do). It's only a precaution as my old unit used to die in hot weather, but I suspect it had a fault as colleagues' devices did not suffer. However, in direct sun the units do get extremely hot, and that cannot be good for sensitive electronic devices. The signal from GPS satellites is extremely weak in the first place and introducing additional IR from heat would not help the antenna.

Neil
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tomjeffs
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be fair, most electrical devices list an operating temperature range - if left in a car, in sunlight, the receiver will likely be far too hot to touch, and obviously well outside its operating range.
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lbendlin
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 3:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Over the weekend I took to a longer highway trip "under the texan sun" and the TomTom Cable GPS (the silver one) failed twice on me because it got too hot. Interestingly the (black) Solar BT GPS worked it's way through the immense heat without exploding. But it got really, really hot too, too hot to touch.

The idea with the white cap is very good, it helps to reduce the heat a little bit without impacting the reception.
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NMatthew
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 28, 2005 6:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tomjeffs, while it is true that devices will have an operating range it seems to me that a GPS mouse should be designed to operate in direct sunlight. After all, the product is part of a car-based satellite navigation system (at least in the Tomtom case, mine came with a car cradle and cables for wiring into the car electrical system) and requires a clear view of the sky. Perhaps it should come with a "mouse house" or a warning to users to make one.

The other effect that you will probably see is that any rechargeable battery (as in the BT device) will not charge when it gets hot as typically any overcharging protection circuitry will be based on heat. After being left standing in the sun, mine certainly will not start to charge until the air con has been running a while.

Neil
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