From November until yesterday, I always had the solid green gps icon. Today when I sent it out on a plan into the middle of a work area with clear view of the sky, the gps icon alternated between orange and red.
Antennas are solid on the robot. Data Center light is solid green. Halow icon is green. I have never hooked up to my local wifi or to the cellular network. Neither data center nor the docking station has changed positions. No trees in the area, no new structures in the area.
RTK rover status is either 5 or 2. I’ve never seen the RTK rover satellite figure fewer than 12. RTK Data Center Connection is either 2 or 3.
As I wrote above, never had this problem until today. I have no idea what would cause this.
I’ve attached screenshots of diagnostics while the robot is sitting on the charging dock.
You may have had an antenna get bumped or it failed. DC looks fine. Try swapping your left antenna to the right and right to the left on your core. See if the numbers change or improve at all. Check the antenna cable connections in the core and make sure they are tight. Change in weather temps can cause expansion and contraction that could be a factor, plus bouncing around, something may have come loose. You could also check the connections for those cables on top of the computer board inside the core, but you’d have to remove the outer shell of the core to check that.
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You can follow Bryan’s suggestion to do some basic troubleshooting and submit a support ticket regarding the issue, including the steps you have taken, so that our support team can help confirm the root cause.
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“Check the antenna cable connections in the core and make sure they are tight.”
Sorry, but I need to ask: How do I do that? Do I have to completely disassemble the core in order to check that?
Depending on the antenna mount, you have a cable that comes from inside the core and you connect to the cable that is part of the mount (high mounts) or that cable connects the the antenna directly (low mounts). Either way, check those connections first. If you want to check the other end of that core cable, you’d have to remove the whole outer shell. That can be done with about 6 bolts. Generally not recommended but if you’re up for it, it’s somewhat easy to do.
Thanks, but swapping the antennas had no effect, and the wires were securely connected. I submitted ticket 167672.
Thanks. Swapping the antennas did not help.
A couple thoughts invaded my mind, interested in your opinion:
- Can the weather be the cause of this? This problem started on a day which began sunny, dry air, temps in the 50s, no breeze, but in 12 hours, a very dense and total cloud cover moved in, high winds, temps dropped to the 20s, rain and then snow, very high humidity. Still cold, total cloud cover, very high humidity.
- I needed to grease one track, so the day the weather changed, but before it changed because I wanted to do the work in decent weather, I tipped the robot on its side to work on the track. Could simply the tipping process and orientation cause this problem? I can assure you I did this very gently, no jostling or dropping or banging either when tipping it up or letting it back down, and the weight was never on an antenna, only on the opposite track.
Which track (Left/Right as you face the rear of the core) was on the ground? The reason I think it’s a bad antenna is the HDOP is really high and the L2 is really low along with the quality. If those screenshots are out in an open area with no obstructions around it, then that is why I think it’s something with the antenna. If it is, those numbers should’ve changed in the diagnostics when you swapped antennas. Are they still swapped? If so, can you put it back where those screenshots above were taken and compare? If you are 100% certain an antenna didn’t get bumped at all, then it could just be an electronic component failure inside of the antennas. They are powered with circuit boards inside. Or it could be a loose cable. If it’s the latter, the change in weather could help explain it (I think). Certainly, the cloud cover will have a negative impact on the GPS signal. Water infiltration and ice formation inside say the RTK antenna could be a possibility. That could pop something loose inside. Have you tried the usual hard power cycle procedures that we generally recommend? In other words unplug the power to the DC for 5 mins and unplug the battery cable of the core for the same 5 mins. Plug the DC back in, then plug the core back in and power up.
Right track was on the ground, I was working on the left track.
I have not tried the power cycle you suggest (I will). To “unplug the power to the DC”, do I simply unplug from the electrical outlet, or do I unplug the POE cable?
The antennas are still swapped, here is another screenshot, the robot is kind of in the same spot, sorry I didn’t note down originally where the robot was when I did those original readings.
(One question: There literally is a circuit board inside those black antennas? So, IF that is the problem, I simply purchase a new antenna to attach, simple as that?)
Ok, based on that I think your right antenna (or cable) has an issue. It seems that the problem was originally the left (Primary) antenna which explains the RTK status of 2 and 5 and now it’s 4 (normal). The L2 is now zero and the secondary antenna reports the L2 statistics. Your HDOP is considerably higher now too. I would suggest support send you 2 new RTK antennas and yes it is just a simple screw them on. I don’t know what is normal L2 numbers for you, maybe 7 is. But that is low. That’s why I’m saying send or order 2 antennas.
Thanks much, I will pursue that.
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My yarbo and rtk have been set up in the same spot since November. Never had any issues with GPS. Just the other day I checked app and noticed it takes the rover a long time to get gps now and when it gets it, its weak. I have been checking it over multiple days with same results. Today, I unplugged battery and reset rover numerous times as well as the rtk station with no improvement. I have manually driven it around its path and cannot get the signal to go green. When signal is orange it even shows the rover way off the map when it isn’t. I have checked all antennas, connections, etc. And all look good. The rover can be 10’ away from the rtk and still have a weak signal. What changed? It hasnt blown snow in a few weeks and been sitting out side on charging pad.
What does your HaLow section of the diagnostics look like? L2 10 is borderline where it should be, but should be fine. Your quality in the screenshot is the issue. When you unplugged everything, did you unplug both for 5 mins, then connect the DC and then power up the rover? If not, try that. It’s a good order of operations. Also under the RTK section click on the yellow Details, connect to your DC and please post that screenshot as well after giving it a minute or two to go into survey mode and show the scatterplot and CNR values.
This morning I went out and did a test of satellite signals and as soon as I did that the rtk immediately went offline and started rolling through colors. I unplugged it and let sit for a few min. It locked onto signal very quickly and went green. As soon as I connected back into it with phone and tried a satellite test it went to scrolling colors again. The rtk is mounted securely on a building and has not moved, been there since November without issue and always strong gps. Could it possibly be failing rtk? Attached are some screenshots of info from this morning.
So when you do the test (survey mode) it should go yellow on the DC. I Don’t believe it should cycle colors. It only does that during boot if I recall correctly. I think it may reboot after exiting survey mode. Did the scatterplot ever load with data? It should look like one towards the top of this original post. If not, it could certainly be a problem.
It used to load and have a good number of satellies. Ever since the rover obtained weak to no gps signal it goes to scrolling colors the second it tries to scan for satellites.
Just wanted to confirm you tried the 5 min power off of both units I mentioned. If so, then I do think it might be a problem with your DC. Can you video and screen record that and open a support ticket including that.
I have been emailing someone from Yarbo. Tried to open a ticket yesterday and the app would not let it go through. They wanted me to snap a few pics of setup and send to them which I did this morning. I also updated them on what we found out about the rtk not picking anything up and going into boot mode when trying. Im currently awaiting a response.
I hope they figure out something quickly for you. Please keep us updated. For reference you can call support at +1(631)818-1850 and also open and check ticket status at support.yarbo.com. If you’ve been emailing support@yarbo.com then that should automatically create a ticket for you too.
I will keep you updated on outcome. Thanks for the help!
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