Surepath Questions

[LK_skier]

We have been using Surepath for a few weeks now and I think it is a great tool and we should be very thankful for the technology being created.

 

I have got some questions though as we have experienced some issues - that I think will come down to set up but I'd like to see if anyone else has experienced the same problems.

 

Yesterday it was working perfectly in one direction but then it was reporting huge out of center measurements coming back the other way - consistently for every 2nd pass. I was driving and the pass was definitely not out by the figures that Surepath was reporting.

 

I think it could possibly be our set up. We use a Wifi hotspot from our phones and reception is normally pretty good at 4G. Our run ins are very short and it was overcast - could any, some or all of those cause this type of issue? Could it cause a weaker GPS signal perhaps?

 

We didn't have time to replot the course otherwise we would have done that in the first instance.

 

thanks

[Horton]

@Jtim3032 ???

[skiinxs]

Did you have a green indicator on the correction signal from the server? How many seconds old was the correction signal? Over sixty is not going to work. I had a lot of issues using a wifi hotspot from my phone that went away when I put in a sim card. If that is causing the issue, you should be seeing a "not ready" (not green) indicator in the upper left. Are your errors all 20cm exactly on the end of course screen? In my experience that indicates a loss of signal and have asked for another value to indicate that at each buoy, as I feel a lot of judges will think you were exactly 20cm off when in fact there was no signal. If you go to the breadcrumb screen, you will see no breadcrumbs when the signal was bad. You can go to those passes in history at any time and check to see if the breadcrumbs were there. No breadcrumb indicates no reading at that point.

[LK_skier]

@skiinxs - no the out of tolerance measurements were all over the place some 30cm some 25cm - I think the biggest one was 40cm?? so it looks like it was connected but just way out? And yes the green indicator is on - Is that the green GPS light? Is there a way to tell how good the signal is?

 

Actually on a different note id be interested to see how people use surepath's feature of the tolerance that can be set. I've started setting it to 5cm - that way the warning beep comes on early and tells me to correct well before I get close to being out of tolerance - works well for me. It almost needs a continuous beep that gets faster the closer your going to out of tolerance - that would give the driver continuous feedback - probably should make this a separate post.

 

[Jtim3032]

@LK_skier Hmmm, not come across this before as described. You can get apparent offsets in one direction if the course hasn't been mapped correctly of if the course has moved (floating courses). Concur with all the comments above. Ensure you have the latest version (2.1.1). Software has been tweaked so that if "Fix" is lost during a pass, then no figures appear in the summary screen for those particular sections. As mentioned above, the breadcrumb trail is the true indicator. Last question, are you using just a rover and the local CORS network or do you have a Sure-Path base setup?

[LK_skier]

@Jtim3032 it may have needed an update actually. We were in a rush so perhaps overlooked that. I’ll report back shortly. ??

[Rpc29]

@Jtim3032 another quick SurePath Question:

 

Is it possible to power the Sure Path rover Antenna (in boat) from the jump switch cable rather than the USB port?

[Jtim3032]

@Rpc29 I have sent you an email, but for others, I have no idea what power is available in the jump switch cable and would stay clear of it unless you have some detailed knowledge of electronics. There are better ways of getting reliable power to the rover receiver.

[Bruce_Butterfield]

@Jtim3032 I just started using surepath and would prefer the deviations to be in inches instead of cm, but couldn't find a way to change to US units. Does that exist and how can I change to inches? Thanks.

 

(personally I don't mind cm, but I'm afraid one of my main drivers will be challenged to compute how far a few cm is)

[Jtim3032]

@Bruce_Butterfield There has been quite a bit of discussion behind the scenes on this subject :smile: In the early days you could switch between metric and imperial but during the approvals process for use in tournament, it was initially removed from the displays which gave measurements referred to in the Rules. That only left the stats screen and so it was decided that if that was the only place Imperial might appear, that too could be confusing, so it was removed entirely. The main thing I think to remember is that the numbers shown in the summary screen at the end of the pass directly relate to the tolerances stated in the rules. Sorry :blush: I do feel your pain. In some ways we in the UK are even weirder than the US in that we mix imperial (speed) and metric (length) and are therefore not consistently one or the other.

 

Maybe there is a case for a little conversion chart on the dash like we used to do for boat speeds?

[MISkier]

Just remember that 5 centimeters is roughly 2 inches (10 cm is about 4 inches and 20 cm is about 8 inches).

[skiinxs]

@Rpc29 The jump switch does not have power, it is simply a a make/break continuity switch.

[skierjp]

Just use a portable power bank.

[Horton]

@skierjp too obvious

[MISkier]

What is the issue with obtaining power via USB? If there is not a USB source, just get an inverter with a USB plug (and, optionally, a regular outlet) to plug into the 12v socket.

 

 

[Horton]

 

[Jtim3032]

@skiinxs @Rpc29 Not quite true. For a continuity switch to be detected when closed, a voltage is applied to one side of the switch. The problem here though is that for this type of switch there is a largish resistor put in series to limit the "closed" current to the minimum required for detection. Hence it can rarely act as a supply to any other device.

[skierjp]

This last for days. Sure Path uses very little power.

[kurt]

@MISkier we found that if you plug straight into the usb the power may not be enough and tends to drop too low. If you plug into a 12v with a usb adapter it resolves that issue.

The power bank we found has been the best way to ensure no issues.

[Jtim3032]

@kurt the Sure-Path receiver uses very little power (we are talking maybe 300mA of current). The dropout you have experienced is almost certainly the boat cutting power to the USB outlet after a certain time period after the engine ignition has been turned off.

[kurt]

@Jtim3032 yes you are correct , that was when we had the issues. What I found works really well is you plug the power bank into the boats 12v and then the receiver into the power bank.

You never have to take the power bank out of the boat to charge and never lose power.

Win win!

By the way seeing as I haven't talked with you since last June when I got mine , congrats on the great system and success!

[Jtim3032]

@kurt yes that's definitely the best scenario! Thank you for your kind words :)