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@mark-silver
Thank you again for your suggestion. That setting checked.
End Tin Foil Hat——
hardly….
that’s the state of the world today, esp now goofacwhatsgramppleoid has been curtailed in public settings allegedly….
legit update on the Bluetooth is the second wave…no politics just facts here… ????
@mark-silver
Zoom 90, Long Range Handle, Carlson Surveyor 2
About a week ago bluetooth was only working to 100 feet. I tried raising the antenna which I rarely do as it doesn’t seem to make a difference – no help. I took the handle off the Zoom 90 to Reboot it? When putting it back on, I noticed it wasn’t on properly, so I snapped it into place. It seems to be OK. Mark Silver, you’re just ahead of me!
@larry-best I have had the antenna pop off and then only partially go back on myself. Same deal with crappy range. Initially I fixed it by replacing the entire handle and then noticed that the antennas were pushed in differently. The build mechanics are impressive if you pull it off and look at the 0-rings.
Because this thread is probably going to end up being the destination for all future Google Searches on ‘Zoom 90/95 Bluetooth’ issues, I took these pictures to show what we are talking about here:
This is what the antenna is supposed to look like:
This is what it looks like if it is not pushed in all the way:
This is what the connectors look like if you take it all the way off:
The difference between all the way in and not all the way in is subtle.
This talk of Bluetooth antenna fully seating reminded me: I have a happy Zoom 90 story from the end of last year to share. An insurance company called and asked me to do an insurance adjustment on a robot that was in a flood. Water pipe in ceiling broke and the robot was in the open case, SD Card slot side down, battery tray installed, filled with water, water dripping onto the battery side, for a couple of days. There was a foot of water on the ground too and the office was totaled (all new drywall, ceiling…)
The robot looked horrible, but they had wiped it down and cleaned it up. There was no water in the battery compartment, the SD card area had no water, the contacts for the Bluetooth handle were clean and shinny. I pulled the antenna off and there was no water in the LR Bluetooth handle either.
Took it outside, set a prism 300 feet away, it power searched, I did a field calibration and it seems to be as good as new to me. The new ‘calibration values’ were all under 15″, but we had a really short top calibration point (it was snowing like crazy) so probably even better.
HQ recommended that they send it in to check for hidden damage, I don’t know how that is going.
So the take away might be to store guns with the battery tray inserted and closed, always keep the SD card cover closed and check the Bluetooth antenna to make sure it is pushed all the way in so it won’t leak. Just in case a pipe breaks.
I have always told customers to leave the cases open at night so any residual moisture can evaporate. But, I am rethinking that. Perhaps just put a plastic tarp over the open case?
Anyway, it was an impressive visit. I have pictures, however I need to get permission to share them.
I do love a happy robot story.
@mark-silver
I only had the radio handle pop out like that when I had my summer student set it up. Not sure how he did it.
For storage I always leave it case open in case of moisture, like you mentioned. But I only leave it with the battery cover open etc if it got really wet working in rain or snow.
Like this?:
The thing that worries me is: you pick the gun up and the handle falls off, gun drops to the ground. Plus, the Bluetooth won’t work of course.
Most users probably never realize that you can remove the handle.
@mark-silver
Sorry I meant the antenna on the handle, not the actual handle. I’d have a heart attack if that ever happened. I usually held that robot from the sides to try to be more gentle on the radio handle and then you don’t have to worry about if the handle might pop off (even though it should never happen).
Most users probably never realize that you can remove the handle.
Some users figure that too many people know how to remove the handle and don’t want them doing that.
@jim-frame that’s weird. What if you need to shoot something above? I liked the removable handle better than the awkward shaped handle on the Trimble s series.
What if you need to shoot something above?
Above what? The handle only obscures maybe 20 degrees of the zenith, and I’ve never had to shoot anything close to that. Nevertheless, if the situation ever arose (though I’m at a loss as to what it might be), a Torx driver will have those caps of in a minute or two. I’m far more concerned with the handle walking away when I’m 1000 feet from the gun.
@jim-frame
I hadn’t really thought about theft, but that makes sense to make it harder to steal. We haven’t even had a robot or GPS or anything stolen that I have heard of here in Canada.
I’ve never had to remove the handle for anything but always knew I could if I needed to. The steepest shot I’ve needed was for the field collimation adjustments.
@jim-frame
You think someone would bother to take just the handle? Would think only surveyors would know it comes off, your average thief would just take the whole thing!
Which means the lock system you use I’ve seen pictures of in another thread makes sense. I generally just don’t get more than 150m away so I’m in shouting/running distance.
I’m just paranoid enough to imagine the worst, so I like to take reasonable mitigation steps. The likelihood of someone stealing the handle is low, but the cost if it happens is high, so the small amount of time required to lock stuff up allows me to relax (some) when I walk away from the instrument. I know it’s unusual, I see unattended and unprotected robots all the time. (I suspect that most of those are operated by people who don’t own them.)
@jim-frame
Most people around here don’t know what these things are worth and if they do they don’t know if they can be tracked (if anyone ask me – I tell them they can). I don’t think our boss pays for the locate service thing, but he does have insurance.
I’m not usually far from the robot but I would never leave it anywhere I thought was risky, that I couldn’t see it.
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