Hello,
Yet again I am using your dGPS sensor for a science project of mine. I’ve been working on the project for a few weeks now. It involves collecting a lot of data over the course of a whole day, for multiple days. Because of the long span of data collection, I’ve noticed something interesting: the dGPS has a hard time keeping a solid signal in the middle of the day, when it is hot out.
My question is: Are the electronics of the dGPS adversely affected by hot temperatures or direct sunlight?
What I’ve noticed is that between 11:00am and 3:00pm, the GPS cannot hold on to a signal very well. The blue indicator light will flicker on and off every second, or lose signal altogether and remain that way for a while. Of course, this is when the dGPS will receive the most direct sunlight. It is very warm during this time too, with temperatures reaching up to 90 degrees F.
I don’t have any problems like this in the morning or evening, when it is considerably cooler and the receiver does not receive direct sunlight. I actually have a function in my code that monitors signal outages, so that’s how I know about the difference between time of day; there are none to at most one signal outages every three hours in the morning or evening, but I’ve seen up to 100 in three hours in the middle of the day, a huge difference.
What is the operating temperature range for the sensor? Do you think overheating of the sensor is to blame for the poor signal performance? If so, then I know to change my experiment and only collect data in the mornings or evenings.
Thanks in advance,
Kyle Markland