GPS - GPS Data Logger

Author

GPS Data Logger

Malcolm Hoar

2007-09-06, 3:33 pm

Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
but a week would be better.

Any suggestions?

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Pieter

2007-09-06, 10:33 pm

Well I'd suggest any ols GPS would work except for that battery life
thing........

"Malcolm Hoar" <malch@malch.com> wrote in message
news:fbpj7f540r2002m
alch@news.sonic.net...
> Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
> of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
> Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
> life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
> but a week would be better.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> --
> |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~|
> | Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
> | malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
> | http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Pegleg

2007-09-07, 4:33 am

On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 20:04:30 -0400, "Pieter" <pvcl@*nospam*plitch.com>
wrote:

>Well I'd suggest any ols GPS would work except for that battery life
>thing........

Then why make the suggestion?
DUH!

peter

2007-09-07, 4:33 am

On Sep 6, 12:08 pm, ma...@malch.com (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
> Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
> of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
> Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
> life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
> but a week would be better.
>
> Any suggestions?

Use a bigger battery. E.g. I have a Sony data logger that'll store up
to 360 hours worth of tracklog data and runs for about 12 hours on a
single AA cell. But if I substitute a wooden dowel in the battery
compartment with metal clips at the ends connected to an external D
cell then it'll run for about 40 hours. Wire a few D cells in
parallel and run it as long as desired. Of course running the wires
out of the battery compartment may require slight modification of the
cover and sacrificing some water/dust resistance.

Scuba

2007-09-07, 4:33 am

why not a solar gps?

http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/s...ps/iblue757.htm

"Malcolm Hoar" <malch@malch.com> escribió en el mensaje
news:fbpj7f540r2002m
alch@news.sonic.net...
> Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
> of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
> Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
> life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
> but a week would be better.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> --
> |~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~|
> | Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
> | malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
> | http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Dominic Sexton

2007-09-07, 7:33 am

In message < fbpj7f540r2002malch@
news.sonic.net>, Malcolm Hoar
<malch@malch.com> writes
>Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
>of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
>Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
>life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
>but a week would be better.
>
>Any suggestions?
>
I think you are unlikely to find such a logger which will run for that
long on an internal battery. Some loggers can extend battery life by
increasing the sampling interval and going into a low power mode between
samples. I believe some can use additional motion sensors to go into
sleep mode if stationary for a while and then wake up when movement
starts again.

These features probably add to the cost.

Without knowing more about your intended application it is difficult to
offer specific recommendations but you might find this unit fits your
needs if set to a suitable sample interval:

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/pr...roducts_id=8301

see the data sheet:

http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/...n_DS_rev1-1.pdf

for information about settings to change sample rate and extend the life
of the battery.
--
Dominic Sexton

Bert Hyman

2007-09-07, 10:33 am

Pegleg@usnavyret.mil (Pegleg) wrote in
news:o2j1e3ha5djtgup
v06gr2fglm6m5o858f9@
4ax.com:

> On Thu, 6 Sep 2007 20:04:30 -0400, "Pieter"
> <pvcl@*nospam*plitch.com> wrote:
>
>
> Then why make the suggestion?

Most receivers will run on external power.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

Pieter

2007-09-07, 10:33 am

I should have expanded on the comment I made. If battery life is not an
issue, then about any GPS would work. This suggests:

1. You might rethink the problem solution. Do you need continuous
coordinates recorded? How many? Is there an alternate way of getting the
data?

2. Can you engineer a solution from "off the shelf" parts - I ussed to use
an old Garmin 12xl with an alarm system 12 volt battery that would give me a
couple of days of run time between charges. Since we don't know the
problem, we can't engineer the solution, but perhaps attaching a GPS to an
auto power system so it is powered all the time might be a solution.

3. The density of data (track points) is another issue - if you need a lot
of data points, a plain vanilla GPS may not be good enough. If you can
tailor your solution so that the data can be less "dense", you can probably
make do with a GPS.

"Bert Hyman" <bert@iphouse.com> wrote in message
news:Xns99A451169BEE
FVeebleFetzer@127.0.0.1...
> Pegleg@usnavyret.mil (Pegleg) wrote in
> news:o2j1e3ha5djtgup
v06gr2fglm6m5o858f9@
4ax.com:
>
>
> Most receivers will run on external power.
>
> --
> Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN | bert@iphouse.com

Malcolm Hoar

2007-09-07, 10:33 am

In article < pYWYFkR4FS4GFwmj@nos
pam.demon.co.uk>, Dominic Sexton <{da-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In message < fbpj7f540r2002malch@
news.sonic.net>, Malcolm Hoar
><malch@malch.com> writes
>I think you are unlikely to find such a logger which will run for that
>long on an internal battery. Some loggers can extend battery life by
>increasing the sampling interval and going into a low power mode between
>samples. I believe some can use additional motion sensors to go into
>sleep mode if stationary for a while and then wake up when movement
>starts again.

Yup, those are the kind of features I'm looking for. I believe
that writing to the Flash memory is one of the biggest power
hogs in these systems. It seems to me, the GPS could get a fix
and compare it to the last fix. If they're the same (within a
few meters) there is no need to write/log anything. I haven't
seen any procucts advertising such a feature so maybe there's
a flaw in my logic!

>These features probably add to the cost.

Well, they certainly add to the price!

>Without knowing more about your intended application it is difficult to
>offer specific recommendations but you might find this unit fits your
>needs if set to a suitable sample interval:
>
>http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/pr...roducts_id=8301

Thanks, I'll put this one on my short list.

I have considered solar power but have seen very mixed
reports on the performance.

I'm also thinking about external battery packs. This too is
pretty hard to do without compromising robustness and
reliability. The fastening and connection of batteries is
NOT something that is easy to get right. Heck, many
factory-built products are very weak in this area. Ever
drop a cellphone, radio, child's toy and watch the
batteries come flying out...?

Hooking up external batteries is easy on the workbench.
Having it survive being carried around in the field is
much, much harder.

I've not completely ruled it out but any such solution
would need to be pretty robust.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Nigel Wade

2007-09-07, 12:33 pm

Malcolm Hoar wrote:

> In article < pYWYFkR4FS4GFwmj@nos
pam.demon.co.uk>, Dominic Sexton
<{da-sep03}@dscs.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Yup, those are the kind of features I'm looking for. I believe
> that writing to the Flash memory is one of the biggest power
> hogs in these systems. It seems to me, the GPS could get a fix
> and compare it to the last fix. If they're the same (within a
> few meters) there is no need to write/log anything. I haven't
> seen any procucts advertising such a feature so maybe there's
> a flaw in my logic!
>
>
> Well, they certainly add to the price!
>
>
> Thanks, I'll put this one on my short list.
>
> I have considered solar power but have seen very mixed
> reports on the performance.
>
> I'm also thinking about external battery packs. This too is
> pretty hard to do without compromising robustness and
> reliability. The fastening and connection of batteries is
> NOT something that is easy to get right. Heck, many
> factory-built products are very weak in this area. Ever
> drop a cellphone, radio, child's toy and watch the
> batteries come flying out...?
>
> Hooking up external batteries is easy on the workbench.
> Having it survive being carried around in the field is
> much, much harder.
>
> I've not completely ruled it out but any such solution
> would need to be pretty robust.
>
>
>

If you can find a device which is powered/charged by mini-USB then one of these
might provide sufficient power:
http://www.gpsforless.co.uk/product_details.php?id=6362

5400mAH is typically 4-5 times what the internal battery of a hand held device
provides, so you might get up to 5-6X the run time than just an internal
battery.

How rugged does it need to be? Would placing it in a box, such as an Otterbox,
help?

--
Nigel Wade

Holger Issle

2007-09-07, 3:33 pm

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 14:15:41 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
> that writing to the Flash memory is one of the biggest power
> hogs in these systems. It seems to me, the GPS could get a fix
> and compare it to the last fix. If they're the same (within a
> few meters) there is no need to write/log anything. I haven't
> seen any procucts advertising such a feature so maybe there's
> a flaw in my logic!

Well, look at the Xiaox ItrackU. It stores 250000 points with date &
time, Lat, Long, and altitude. It can limit the logging either time
based (every x seconds) or distance based (every x meters), and limit
it to above a certain speed.

Battery life of the unit is 16 to 18 hours, and I believe it is a
standard Nokia LiIo cell. Get a few on ebay and off you go, or take
the one from one post earlier (USB 5400mah battery).
--

Ciao,
Holger (GUS-KOTAL, GUS#1100)

90-92 Honda CB400 10 Mm | 93-95 Yamaha TDM 850 26 Mm
95-97 KTM 620 LC4 13 Mm | seit 97 BMW R1100GS 50 Mm (Die Renndrecksau!)

cu @ http://www.issle.de

peter

2007-09-07, 10:33 pm

On Sep 7, 7:15 am, ma...@malch.com (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:

> Yup, those are the kind of features I'm looking for. I believe
> that writing to the Flash memory is one of the biggest power
> hogs in these systems. It seems to me, the GPS could get a fix
> and compare it to the last fix. If they're the same (within a
> few meters) there is no need to write/log anything. I haven't
> seen any procucts advertising such a feature so maybe there's
> a flaw in my logic!

That's basically how the Garmin models work for recording a tracklog
when in 'auto' or 'resolution' mode. But they make it a little more
sophisticated by looking at the previously recorded pair of points and
seeing how far your new position is away from a line extended from
those points. A new trackpoint is recorded only when the new position
differs by more than a threshold value (fixed in some units and user-
settable in others). So when either standing still or moving in a
straight line you get very few recorded points, but when moving on a
twisty path you'll get many points.

> I have considered solar power but have seen very mixed
> reports on the performance.

Plus you then have to worry about clouds, after-dark use, orientation
and shadows affecting output, etc.
>
> I'm also thinking about external battery packs. This too is
> pretty hard to do without compromising robustness and
> reliability. The fastening and connection of batteries is
> NOT something that is easy to get right. Heck, many
> factory-built products are very weak in this area. Ever
> drop a cellphone, radio, child's toy and watch the
> batteries come flying out...?

Sure, but that's because the battery compartment is frequently
supposed to be easy to open with just light finger pressure.

One easy approach would be one of the Garmin handheld models, like the
60cx, that writes the tracklog to the micro-SD card for almost
unlimited track length and combine it with either a USB-type battery
pack or one of the many 12VDC rechargeable packs. Attach the GPS
securely on top of the battery pack with some Velcro straps that wrap
around both items and you've got a nice solid package.
>
> Hooking up external batteries is easy on the workbench.
> Having it survive being carried around in the field is
> much, much harder.

OTOH, if you're carrying it around, then I'm not sure I see the
problem with just using the internal AA cells and swapping in a new
set every 17 hours of use.

Malcolm Hoar

2007-09-07, 10:33 pm

In article < 9hv2e3d5hq571d2q3sos
rdek643fru1717@4ax.com>, Holger Issle <Holger@Issle.de> wrote:

>Well, look at the Xiaox ItrackU. It stores 250000 points with date &
>time, Lat, Long, and altitude. It can limit the logging either time
>based (every x seconds) or distance based (every x meters), and limit
>it to above a certain speed.
>
>Battery life of the unit is 16 to 18 hours, and I believe it is a
>standard Nokia LiIo cell. Get a few on ebay and off you go, or take
>the one from one post earlier (USB 5400mah battery).

Thanks all.

Although is rather more expensive than I wanted, I'm going
to try the SuperTrackstick:

http://www.trackstick.com/super_trackstick.htm

Provided it works as advertised, it will meet all of my
needs perfectly and with minimal hassles.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| malch@malch.com Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~

Dominic Sexton

2007-09-07, 10:33 pm

In message < fbsga28u0k8002malch@
news.sonic.net>, Malcolm Hoar
<malch@malch.com> writes
>Thanks all.
>
>Although is rather more expensive than I wanted, I'm going
>to try the SuperTrackstick:
>
>http://www.trackstick.com/super_trackstick.htm
>
>Provided it works as advertised, it will meet all of my
>needs perfectly and with minimal hassles.
>
The 2.5m horizontal accuracy spec is rather generous to say the least
(even with WAAS). Lets hope the spec you are relying on is not similarly
exaggerated.

Good luck and let us know how you get on with it.
--
Dominic Sexton

Holger Issle

2007-09-08, 4:33 am

On Fri, 07 Sep 2007 21:37:06 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:

> Although is rather more expensive than I wanted, I'm going
> to try the SuperTrackstick:
>
> http://www.trackstick.com/super_trackstick.htm

Hm, that website say actually nothing... please tell us how many
points can be recorded, and how the battery live is with 2 AAA cells.
--

Ciao,
Holger (GUS-KOTAL, GUS#1100)

90-92 Honda CB400 10 Mm | 93-95 Yamaha TDM 850 26 Mm
95-97 KTM 620 LC4 13 Mm | seit 97 BMW R1100GS 50 Mm (Die Renndrecksau!)

cu @ http://www.issle.de

Chris

2007-09-16, 10:33 pm

See http://homepages.tig.com.au/~robk/

Malcolm Hoar wrote:
> Looking for a low cost GPS data logger with a battery life
> of several days. Don't need bluetooth or anything fancy.
> Most of the devices under <$100 appear to have a battery
> life in the 10-24 hour range. I'd like 2-3 days minimum
> but a week would be better.
>
> Any suggestions?
>

Chris & Colleen

2007-09-18, 10:33 pm

Speaking of scuba & gps...

Are there any dive computers that incorporate GPS software for underwater
navigation? Or can the signals not penetrate to the ocean floor? I assume
not, but figure it's worth asking as my old wreck reel is a spaghetti
spool...

Thanks for any help.

Divosaurus Wrecks

in article fbqtps$pl1$1@aioe.org, Scuba at scuba13@ESTONOono.com wrote on
9/7/07 3:14 AM:

> why not a solar gps?
>
> http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/s...ps/iblue757.htm
>
>
>
> "Malcolm Hoar" <malch@malch.com> escribió en el mensaje
> news:fbpj7f540r2002m
alch@news.sonic.net...
>
>

Pieter

2007-09-18, 10:33 pm

There's no GPS satellite signals underwater unless you have a floating
antenna.

"Chris & Colleen" <vze4y5gy@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:C315D867. 65D9%vze4y5gy@verizo
n.net...
>
> Speaking of scuba & gps...
>
> Are there any dive computers that incorporate GPS software for underwater
> navigation? Or can the signals not penetrate to the ocean floor? I assume
> not, but figure it's worth asking as my old wreck reel is a spaghetti
> spool...
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> Divosaurus Wrecks
>
>
> in article fbqtps$pl1$1@aioe.org, Scuba at scuba13@ESTONOono.com wrote on
> 9/7/07 3:14 AM:
>
>

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