External GPS problems

[Jabs1542]

I've been using Track Addict all season and finally decided to get a better (external) GPS unit. I purchased the Dual XGPS160 as recommended (I am using an iPhone 5S for data collection).

The GPS unit works as proven by the Skypro app. However I can't get Track Addict to communicate with the device. The GPS icon never locks in, when selecting 'Enhanced' in the GPS area of the Settings page I get a message telling me that I may not get an acknowledgement but the GPS is connected and working. A quick trip around the block and I get no GPS data.

Within settings I have Location Settings turned on for Track Addict and of course the Bluetooth is working properly since the Skypro app works fine.

I searched around and no one else seems to have this problem and I'm hoping it's a goofy setting I missed somewhere. Any insight would be helpful.

My setup:
IPhone 5S running IOS 7.1 (I'm not fond up of upgrades unless they add something I want)
OnPoint OBD Bluetooth
GoPro Hero 4 Silver
Dual XGPS160 (new and not working)
Car is a 2013 Porsche C2S

Thanks

[Jabs1542]

Update - I upgraded my iPhone to 10.0.2
the Dual XGPS is running firmware 2.2.1
and Track Addict is running v3.3.7

Still no external GPS... bummer

[Weston@HPTuners]

The message you get in TrackAddict occurs when it is able to communicate with the XGPS160, so that part should be good. You should also see a battery level icon on the main Setup screen in that case. If you didn't have communication with the GPS, you could also make TrackAddict reset its connection to the GPS by pressing the Home button to exit the app, and then returning to it a few seconds later, but I don't think that's necessary in your case.

When the GPS icon is red or orange, that typically means that the GPS receiver just hasn't locked onto enough satellites to get a confident position fix yet. It may technically be reporting a position (which you might see in the Skypro app or others), but it just has such a poor accuracy at that time, that we don't consider it useful for our purposes. If you are standing outside with it, it should become green within a minute or so, and then subsequent uses may tend to lock on a little faster. If you are inside a building or have other significant obstructions between the receiver and the sky, that would often cause it to take longer or just never get a good fix at all. GPS'es really want a clear line-of-sight to the sky, with no metal in or near that path. A good mounting spot is often on the dashboard under the front windshield, which really helps limit the impact of the vehicle's metal roof and other obstructions.

[sph]

The message you get in TrackAddict occurs when it is able to communicate with the XGPS160, so that part should be good. You should also see a battery level icon on the main Setup screen in that case. If you didn't have communication with the GPS, you could also make TrackAddict reset its connection to the GPS by pressing the Home button to exit the app, and then returning to it a few seconds later, but I don't think that's necessary in your case.

When the GPS icon is red or orange, that typically means that the GPS receiver just hasn't locked onto enough satellites to get a confident position fix yet. It may technically be reporting a position (which you might see in the Skypro app or others), but it just has such a poor accuracy at that time, that we don't consider it useful for our purposes. If you are standing outside with it, it should become green within a minute or so, and then subsequent uses may tend to lock on a little faster. If you are inside a building or have other significant obstructions between the receiver and the sky, that would often cause it to take longer or just never get a good fix at all. GPS'es really want a clear line-of-sight to the sky, with no metal in or near that path. A good mounting spot is often on the dashboard under the front windshield, which really helps limit the impact of the vehicle's metal roof and other obstructions.

I am having exactly the same problem with the Dual GPS160 - the Dual device shows a clear lock on (12 satelites) other apps show position info but TA Pro shows the flashing X in the GPS box. I have left the devices outside in clear air (no overlooking buildings etc) for >5 minutes with no change.

iPhone 6 on iOS 10.1.1, Dual GPS firmware 2.2.1 TA 3.4.2

what else can i try?

thanks

[Jabs1542]

So far I am getting yellow icon, that's when I'm outside for over 5 minutes with the GPS sitting on the roof of the car on a clear day. I really hope to get this to work soon, and wonder if it's not the GPS unit itself, because my iPhone's GPS is garbage - due to where it sits in my car when I'm on the track - I'm using a Fusion Dock built into the center console.

[Weston@HPTuners]

I've been looking into this issue further and believe that this is related to firmware version 2.2.1, which apparently changes the NMEA GPS data in some way that breaks compatibility with their previous GPS SDK that we use on iOS. I've read other reports of similar issues with this same specific firmware version, affecting our app as well as others. 1.4.1, 1.3.5, and other 1.x versions seem to work well as we'd expect, but unfortunately my own device doesn't seem to be letting me upgrade beyond 1.4.1, so that explains why I can't replicate the problem. It would appear that the 2.x firmware versions are only for a newer revision of the hardware.

In any case, it looks like a firmware version 2.4.0 may now be available for the XGPS160 via either the "XGPS Status" app, the "SkyPro" app, or just as a direct download from their website ( see the "Firmware" tab here: http://gps.dualav.com/explore-by-product/xgps160/ ). I would suggest giving that a try to see if they have resolved the issue for your hardware.

[Jabs1542]

Weston: Based on your avatar it looks like you are located near Denver. Would you like for me to send you my XGPS160 (which is now at 2.4.1) so you can experience this, and hopefully debug it? It's pretty useless for me without this integration so I'm not losing much by letting you test with it.

[Weston@HPTuners]

Thanks for the offer, but I already have some good news for this... I was able to get the problem resolved!

We should have our version 3.4.5 update released this week, pending a few other improvements that I'm adding right now, and of course depending on how long Apple's review will take.

I never did get a response from Dual about this, but I was able to patch the existing SDK we've been using, so that it can understand the data provided by the newer firmware. I've verified the fix on firmware 3.3.0 and 3.4.1, and I'd expect it to work for 2.x versions as well.

[rhyary]

What should TrackAddict reports when it does get a GPS+ signal?
Do you get better than 5 Meter accuracy?
Can you get better than 3.5Hz?

[Weston@HPTuners]

What should TrackAddict reports when it does get a GPS+ signal?
Do you get better than 5 Meter accuracy?
Can you get better than 3.5Hz?

That will depend on which GPS you are using and which platform...

For iOS, when you put the app in "Enhanced" GPS mode (this is the default), an XGPS150 or 160 will get you 5 Hz or 10 Hz, respectively, and can be as good as 2.5m accuracy. For other GPS'es on iOS, it wont be as good because their updates are delivered through the iOS system, which tends to lose some timing accuracy and we might not get all of the data samples either. Anything delivered through iOS will likely report as 5m or 10m, as this number comes from iOS itself.

For Android, when you set the app to use Bluetooth GPS and select your device, you should get the full sample rate that it is providing to the app via NMEA, assuming there are no bluetooth conflicts or performance issues on the device. Ideally, you want to use TrackAddict to connect directly to the GPS, rather than using a "mock location provider" or similar utility for the GPS; using those is more of a last resort for GPS units that don't provide compatible NMEA data for us to use directly. The accuracy reported is an estimate based on certain known GPS devices and its current reported HDOP value... XGPS150/160 and Qstarz should report as good as 2.5m. Others will be higher, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are worse; we just don't know their accuracy specs, so a generic baseline value is used there.

[rhyary]

Thank you.
I hope the GLO will be good enough for the 2017 track season.

[Jabs1542]

Thanks for the offer, but I already have some good news for this... I was able to get the problem resolved!

We should have our version 3.4.5 update released this week, pending a few other improvements that I'm adding right now, and of course depending on how long Apple's review will take.

I never did get a response from Dual about this, but I was able to patch the existing SDK we've been using, so that it can understand the data provided by the newer firmware. I've verified the fix on firmware 3.3.0 and 3.4.1, and I'd expect it to work for 2.x versions as well.

It works!!! Awesome - thanks.