doing some small tests and reporting

[jerabaul29]

@jvoermans there is still quite a bit to code, but if you have time for a small test today and letting me know how the serial over USB output looks like and how the files on the SD card look like that could be great :) . Will need a GPS reception to work. Of course no hurry, if it does not fit for you to test today another day is fine :) .

[jvoermans]

I was just about to open an issue. There is a problem with connecting to GPS I think.
Normally, the fix LED on the GPS breakout blinks every second or so while trying to get a fix, but now only one blink during start-up, that's it. Serial output (below) it says it can't wakeup GNSS. Any ideas what it could be? I tried with the general adafruit sketch and I did get GPS output that way. Are we using the EN pin for sleeping, cause I haven't connected that one...

OpenMetBuoy-v2021 | https://github.com/jerabaul29/OpenMetBuoy-v2021a
Compiled: Jan 11 2023, 9.2.1 20191025 (release) [ARM/arm-9-branch revision 277599]
git branch: DUMMY | commit ID: DUMMY
compiling hostname: DUMMY | username: DUMMY
Chip ID: 15245007187966232465     
***** all user configs start *****
use_usb: 1
file_start_modulo_seconds: 600    
***** all user configs end   *****
ERR: timeout GNSS acquisition
sleep for 900 seconds

[jerabaul29]

Thanks for the report, I will look into this :) .

[jerabaul29]

(just to make sure, you have good GPS reception when using the other sketch?)

[jerabaul29]

(when you show serial outputs, can you add the timestamps? :) If using the Arduino IDE serial viewer there is an option for showing timestamps; in platformio, I have added an extra parameter to platformio.ini that should enable timestamping, let me know if it does not show up :) ).

[jerabaul29]

About the GPS problem:

• I do not use the enable pin, should not come from this

• but I do use the standby / wakeup functionality to try to save a bit battery by "software sleeping it" (since the GPS consumes up to 30mA continuous when active, which may be like 10x more than the rest of the whole logger together, switching if off when not needed sounds reasonable). That may be the root cause. I will re-read the documentation a bit and add a few delays, if you can try again and let me know if this fixes the issue this would be great :) .

[jerabaul29]

(I have pushed a first fix attempt, so will be curious to see how it goes with latest version :) )

[jvoermans]

Yes, I used the main-branch so see whether GPS is working, and it does.

I now get the following output, still doesn't seem to grasp the GPS:

08:01:41.618 > WindInput logger | https://github.com/jvoermans/Wind_Input_V1
08:01:41.618 > Compiled: Jan 13 2023, 9.2.1 20191025 (release) [ARM/arm-9-branch revision 277599]
08:01:41.618 > git branch: DUMMY | commit ID: DUMMY
08:01:41.629 > compiling hostname: DUMMY | username: DUMMY
08:01:41.642 > Chip ID: 15245007187966232465     
08:01:41.650 > ***** all user configs start *****
08:01:41.651 > use_usb: 1
08:01:41.651 > file_start_modulo_seconds: 600    
08:01:41.651 > ***** all user configs end   *****
08:01:41.663 > init GPS, get first fix
08:06:43.920 > ERR: timeout GNSS acquisition
08:06:43.920 > sleep for 900 seconds        
08:08:14.110 > wakeupERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS
08:08:15.261 > ERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS
08:08:15.887 > ERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS
08:08:16.512 > ERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS
08:08:17.138 > ERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS

However, this time the GPS breakout does seem to have a fix. So during the 'init GPS, get first fix' the LED was blinking with long gaps, so it should have a fix.
During the 90 second sleep, the behavior of GPS doesn't change, still long pause LED blink (so maintains fix).
During the 'wakeupERR: cannot .wakeup GNSS' the GPS breakout seems to reset again or something, quick LED blinking. So it is actually waking up I assume? It looks like with every ERR message it resets, cause blinking is a bit odd during that period of time...

[jerabaul29]

Ok, thanks, I will double check the code. These standby / wake-up routines seem troublesome, interesting.

[jerabaul29]

Never had so much trouble using a GPS before ^^ . I will try to find some components around me to test. Should have time to look into this over the weekend, I let you know when you can test again.

[jerabaul29]

I got my hand on a chip thanks to a friend; I really do not understand what happens, it looks like I can receive data from the GPS module just fine, but that I cannot send any data to it; I opened an issue at sparkfun/Arduino_Apollo3#477 . First time I use the Adafruit GPS with the Artemis Redboard, I did not expect this would cause so many troubles :( .

[jerabaul29]

A possible (ugly) fix: just let the GPS run freely all the time, without trying to switch it between standby not standby etc. That means that it will draw 30mA all the time, instead of going to low power mode when not needed (which is most of the time), so will need much more battery than actually needed. What is the typical deployment time you expect / aim for?

[jerabaul29]

(note that this may be annoying but is likely not missing critical; the consequence is that with 1 D battery you may get 1 week of autonomy instead of a couple of months, but I guess you can always put 3 or 4 D batteries if needed...)

[jvoermans]

Sorry about that. We can always swap back to the I2C GPS from Sparkfun. What about the EN pin? Or doesn't that work? From the tutorial it reads like it can be easily turned off. Then can put a coin battery behind GPS to keep the memory?

…

On Fri, 13 Jan 2023 at 22:50, JR ***@***.***> wrote: (note that this may be annoying but is likely not missing critical; the consequence is that with 1 D battery you may get 1 week of autonomy instead of a couple of months, but I guess you can always put 3 or 4 D batteries if needed...) — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#17 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AKIGDYGM3WKPGFSWVI7DGOTWSE6RVANCNFSM6AAAAAATXICMKM> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jerabaul29]

Aaah, do you have some I2C SF GPS available under your hand? If so that would be much better indeed :) .

[jerabaul29]

We could use the EN pin, but then you will need to use the battery, so extra work to prepare, one more thing that can go wrong etc. But if you like better keeping the Adafruit GPS and adding the external battery, fine to keep the Adafruit GPS then :) .