I’m not throwing shade at ALL with this reply so please know that. The DC location is almost the opposite of what Yarbo says you need. No doubt it will work sometimes or maybe even most times but getting that thing installed in an area that follows Yarbo’s instructions really should be done first before knocking it in the forums.
My DC is probably 99% to the Yarbo rule but my docking station is not installed in the recommended way. I realize this and keep that in mind when something may not go as expected. I did it this way so I could never have move the DC (one and done) but realize the dock may need to move especially when the trimmer arrives.
I hope you can (safely) get it moved to have the 120° unobstructed view of the sky which clears up your issue.
I have a point to point wireless link to my shed and a PoE switch inside. I have the DC installed on the backside of the shed which has the proper view of the sky and powered by the switch which makes it simple to power cycle when needed.
Following the manufacturer recommendations and installation requirements is definitely a must for this complex system. I will say that it works well for a lot of people even when improperly installed. That’s a testament to their product. But, when things don’t work right, it’s usually an installation issue most of the time.
I agree. When I placed my dock I was nervous because I really try to follow the optimal install requirements for products to have the best experience. I figured I’d try it to see what happens and, it worked. I think I’ll probably change it in the future but that will be quite a bit of work and I’m not doing that at the moment because so far, I haven’t had any major issues where it is.
I will say, it’s because of this forum and all of your responses that I realized how important getting the DC install was and figured that was the most important to get right the first time.
Yeah, data center is very important for RTK, even getting the best range out of halo. The docking station I installed in a marginally good spot seeing that they’re working on the vision assist, which should allow even docking under structures with poor GPS eventually…hopefully not more than ~18 months or so we can get that:crossed_fingers:.
I understand now that having a “clear” view of the sky is crucial. However, Yarbo does not market the product this way. Apparently installing it “properly” means installing it high enough for a clear view. If the product was marketed with this caveat, I wonder how many people would actually purchase the product? If people are unable or unwilling to install the DC high enough so that there’s a clear sky view then the product will not work. Yarbo doesn’t make this issue clear in their marketing. I’m also concerned that if I install the DC in my backyard behind my house, the unit won’t receive a signal when it’s in my front yard, so in effect the only way for it to work is to mount it at the highest point in my home, so I can use it in my front and back yard, from my understanding. This is not something I’m either able or willing to do. I don’t care about other units. I didn’t purchase the other units. I purchased a Yarbo thinking that it would be “plug and play” but we all know this isn’t the case. Right now, I paid over 6K for a unit that’s basically a paperweight.
That’s not how it works. The DC needs to see as many satellites as possible. Yarbo needs to see similar ones and then the signals are compared and can be triangulated down to the centimeter. Just Google how RTK systems work. Yarbo uses halo which is much longer range than WiFi to communicate locally with the Data Center. If it is out of range the correction data can be sent over 4G to Yarbo, and with PPVS you should have pretty good reliability as long as you don’t have very dense tree cover. As long as you have fairly good view of the sky you can install it on the included post in the middle of your yard, on a deck, fence post, etc
Just adding to what Mike said. The core and Data Center do not need line of sight to each other. HaLow is 900Mhz and will penetrate walls and other obstacles more easily than traditional WiFi. Both of my Data Centers are ground mounted about 7FT from the corner of my house in the back yard. HaLow covers my property fine in this scenario. Cellular can carry it if HaLow signal gets too weak for any reason. It transitions to cellular seamlessly. Since you aren’t mowing right now, just go out from the house with it and ground mount it about 10FT away from the house (temporarily, and further if you can swing it) and see how things work after. If things improve, you know you need to work on permanently installing it somewhere less obstructed. The higher you can go, the better chance you have of having a fully unobstructed view of the sky and also HaLow will go much farther. The good news is, they are working on a Public NTRIP option. This will allow you to put your DC anywhere, even inside the home because it will just use HaLow to get internet access and connect to a localized commercial RTK base station. No idea when we will see this, but it will certainly increase the installation options for users while providing the best possible correction data as the commercial base stations are calibrated and using very expensive antennas and receivers and mounted in completely unobstructed locations.
You’re not wrong. You can easily shop the Yarbo site and spend $10K with no mention of the foundational install/technical requirements. I’ve said it here before, I watched every video I could find and was reading through forum posts to get the real details of the product vs relying on the Yarbo Marketing Machine to tell me how good it is, before purchasing. Not everyone does this and you can’t expect them to dig in this deep. That’s my biggest issue with Yarbo, it’s not the firmware updates, hardware, or unexpected behavior, it’s their sales & marketing department(s).
We can all admit that Yarbo’s marketing materials tend to overemphasize the features and ease of use, but to be honest I tend to expect that from most companies these days (to varying degrees).
Once you have your Yarbo set up properly, it will be a reliable and beneficial robot. But everything starts with a proper setup.
Don’t give up yet. You’ll get there. You can quickly do a semi temporary install of the DC in an open sky area just to test things out. Once you have confidence, you can then perform a permanent install. Just remember that moving the DC will require remapping again, so don’t spend too much time mapping until you have you final permanent DC location.
Isn’t that just about everytime it goes out? Mine loves to eat shear pins. It runs into the steps in front of my house all the time. I have a sidewalk programmed next to it, but it hits the step every other time. Obstacle avoidance? Never heard of her.
Put the front guard back on you say……. Tried that yesterday, and now I have a bent up guard that is so pushed in Yarbo got it in the auger.
Another odd one…….. Sent yarbo to do shop parking lot so I can put it inside to take now bent up guard off. There is a car in the way on the end of the path-start of parking lot. Good test as I am watching it. It drives, stops a few feet from the car, I get an alert it sees a vehicle and is going to go back to charge. It then proceeds to drive a head and hits the car, and at that point I stop it.
Yeah I have been trying to get sidewalks closer to the garage door but it keeps hitting the corner of the garage every 4-5 runs…same story next to the steps just a few feet further. Need to give it at least 8-12” buffer to get them reliable, but they’re doing good now…I’m getting ~95-97% confidence in my overall plans now…now I’m limited by slope mode doing crazy stuff and grouped sidewalks to account for the crappy zero turns not always running the same and/or trying to run backwards
I was worried about the accuracy next to the garage doors, so I deliberatly left about a 1.5 ft buffer between the door and Yarbo’s zone.
I don’t mind manually clearing that ~1.5 ft of snow next to the door. I’d rather have the peace of mind knowing how sensitive Yarbo’s GPS is when it’s next to any building.
