USB GPS

[ericjkelly]

Hey guys

I know this has been discussed many times but I am struggling with my usb gps devices. I am using the US GlobalSat BU-353-S4 devices. It seems parts of the day the devices are being powered but cant find a signal. I have tried moving them around to make sure I have nothing blocking them. I actually have two of them and both are giving me issues.

Solutions? What are you using?

 

[Randy Jennings]

My chase partner had the same issue with his GlobalSat usb puck last season. It turned out that his laptop was not supplying enough power via the usb. You might try a different laptop if you can to see if you have the same issue.

 

[Bob W]

Hey guys

I know this has been discussed many times but I am struggling with my usb gps devices. I am using the US GlobalSat BU-353-S4 devices. It seems parts of the day the devices are being powered but cant find a signal. I have tried moving them around to make sure I have nothing blocking them. I actually have two of them and both are giving me issues.

Solutions? What are you using?

I can say that these work well. Ublox-7-Usb-GPS-Glonass-Dongle ... Pop that into eB or Ama. There's a bunch of different flavors out there - some on the end of a USB cable to be stuck on the roof, others like this that just plug in to the USB port, though you can get it off of the PC with a USB extender cable. I'm partial to uBlox chipsets. Experience is that they are very sensitive. I use them as timing receivers - NTP, etc.
Screenshot below is indoors in a house. Have lock and good levels from GPS and Glonass (Russia) satellites. SN client likes the output just fine. Works fine inside a car. No problem with USB supplying enough current as mentioned by Randy in subsequent post. These draw something in the 20 ma range with lock.

 

[B. Dean Berry]

BU353 units can suffer from power supply issues. The MR350P doesn't seem to, though.

 

[Ethan Strite]

I'm using a VK-162 which can be found here. All I do is plug it into my laptop/PC and then GRLevel3 recognizes it, same with Spotter Network. Works very very well and gets the job done. I would just buying that GPS receiver, especially since it's only $15 and you can see if he works well for what you wanna do with it.

 

[Drew Terril]

To add to Randy's points, some laptops have certain USB ports that are designed to provide more power than the others. On my chase laptop, I know I have to plug mine into a certain port or else it won't power up completely.