WTB Trimble Power Supply

Aloha, Imaudigger:
Check this out... https://www.martininstrument.com/store/category/accessories/total-station-accessories/

If you are still using NiCD or NiMh batteries, I would suggest a better charger anyway. Ok, I would really suggest changing to LiPo, but, the super charger isn't very good charger. No digital read and it sucks from a memory creation standpoint for those chemistries. Adapting cables to R/C chargers would be better. Plenty of options in that arena that you just need to adapt the positive and negative from and S-Video cable to use. I have stacks of Tekin BC112a's and c's and cables that I will sell cheap and they are far better chargers. I also have a full fire starter, ... I mean super charger (in new condition) I will sell as well

So does anybody know if you can power the Supercharger with a vehicle? I'd like to test the Supercharger to make sure it didn't get fried before I buy another power supply.

The user manual says that "..the Supercharger is fitted with a connector to suit both 19mm and 12mm cigarette lighter sockets. It shall only be used together with the Trimble Power Unit". It also has a second Warning!! at the bottom of the page telling you to never use any other power supply.

I am confused as to why it would have a cigarette lighter style connection and why it need to fit two different style cigarette lighter connections, if it could only be powered by the Trimble Power Supply Unit?

The Trimble power supply is rated at 13 volts, 4.6 amps.

imaudigger, post: 333967, member: 7286 wrote: So does anybody know if you can power the Supercharger with a vehicle? I'd like to test the Supercharger to make sure it didn't get fried before I buy another power supply.

The user manual says that "..the Supercharger is fitted with a connector to suit both 19mm and 12mm cigarette lighter sockets. It shall only be used together with the Trimble Power Unit". It also has a second Warning!! at the bottom of the page telling you to never use any other power supply.

I am confused as to why it would have a cigarette lighter style connection and why it need to fit two different style cigarette lighter connections, if it could only be powered by the Trimble Power Supply Unit?

The Trimble power supply is rated at 13 volts, 4.6 amps.

OK so I answered my own question. The warning to never use any other power supply is just Trimble's attempt in roping you into proprietary devices.

Maybe Norm will confirm this for me...this power supply should work...right?
Radio Shack Power Supply

Shouldn't matter what the amp rating is, as long as it's greater than the factory power supply?

Yes, you understand correctly and that power source should be fine. The nominal car voltage that you should see from a car cigarette lighter is 13.2 volts, but, those amps maybe an issue on some factory wiring harnesses. If the amps is an issue it will manifest itself as a physically hot plug or the total charge not being placed into the battery. Basically, Ohm's Law dictates that as the charge voltage goes up on the charge side the input amps have to rise as well.

If the difference between the stated required voltage and the power supply stated voltage is a comfort issue, you could always add a step down regulator rated at least 8 amps. They are not that expensive and you could pair it with a cheaper 15v power supply from an R/C store

I ended up ordering this power supply..after hooking the Supercharger to a jumper battery to verify it functioned correctly...
Powerwerks

The funny thing about the multiple Trimble warnings about not using any other power supply....The Supercharger input voltage is 10-30 volts DC!
I will adjust the voltage on this power supply to be 13 volts like the factory power supply was rated. I think that should work. Figured I could use this for a different project down the road if it lasts.

Norm, are you working on any interesting electrical projects currently? I always like seeing your work

The 5600 series instruments are no longer supported....I have an older style 360å¡RMT that uses the short cable. When the power stick goes out this time, I may be in a bind. For some reason nobody will re-cell these batteries and they don't sell the old style anymore. . I'll probably have to take it apart myself to see what's inside. I did find your RMT battery project info you posted a while back.

That's a nice power supply

I have just completed converting my Geod 600 / Trimble 5600's completely to Bluetooth. I have all functionality and lost the GeoRadio's both 2.4GHz and older. My conversion is several steps and they are in a nutshell:

1) 3D print and installed a Parani Bluetooth device at the instrument, nothing tricky here just make sure that the negative is wired as well as Tx and Rx and that you have a null modem as everyone else states https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/parani-yet-another-thread.316742/
2) 3D print my own LiPo battery cases for instrument power as they are far lighter than stock and fit on the leg https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/got-my-printed-battery-case.241500/
3) Convert to a modern data collector, I choose the Archer Mini 2 even though it does not list a full class 1 Bluetooth it still works like one. Gorilla glass and great sun visibility drove the decision. Software to run is painful. I could never get Carlson SurvCE to function well and ended up with a 2010 version of Field Genius
4) Change the top of the stock 360å¡ prism to the S6 seven prism array
5) 3D print a battery for the 360å¡ prism that lasts all day https://surveyorconnect.com/threads/got-my-printed-battery-case.241500/page-2

I have ended up with backup instruments that work so well I am no longer looking at phasing them out. On Bluetooth these things are fast. They are also light and not that complex

We did kick around the idea of 3D printing some instrument covers to snap over the instruments and makes them look like scanners or other instruments, but, decided it was just too much work when only surveyor's would have their minds screwed with ....

I will probably switch to an external DC when our ACU bites the dust.

The cost of that Archer with robotic SurvCE blows my mind!
Too bad you couldn't get the SurvCE to work properly.
What was the major problem?

SurvCE scrambled some coordinates for us on import and would not track correctly either, but, the main issue was the glacial response. You could request an action and 13 seconds (from timing it) it would react. Shoot a distance was around 30 seconds, but, it was never timed exactly. I think I traced the issue to software compromises made for the windows Bluetooth driver or it was the driver itself. When I used a SPP protocol driver outside of CE that just used and sent the one protocol the instrument was fast as it is with Field Genius. Every time I used this driver with SurvCE it would crash very quickly. Don't construe my comments as bad on Carlson, as we liked the program, it just does not work well with these instruments. We are very happy with Field Genius so far, we have two versions on the collector, current version for GPS and the 2010 for the Trimble 5600 driver

I have found that you get best results when you are using software/drivers that were written around the time the hardware was being manufactured. That doesn't surprise me that the 2010 version works better.

Trimble tries their best to keep their inner workings a secret.

Spectra Precision was a great company...I will probably not buy Trimble again (for many reasons).

I love the Trimble products, but, I cannot support their business practices and completely agree with you. The issue is once you have active tracking, you are really attached too it and only the very recent non active tracking systems are good enough to consider. They still want a lot for those new ones, the bastards! My desire to get away from them was so great i rented TSC3's until I could figure it all out. Well that doesn't mean much if you don't know that I lost five TSC2's to an electrical spike right about a month ago and have been scrambling ever since

Norm Larson, post: 334016, member: 7899 wrote: I lost five TSC2's to an electrical spike right about a month ago

Ouch! The power company should cover the replacements..no?

Maybe the manufacturer of the surge protector?

No surge protector?

An electrical spike can come from a fan that is forced to reverse spin by trapped hot air in a building, it is hard to say that the electrical company did it. It was an employee decision to run without surge protection and I didn't spot it, so, my bad, live and learn

My grandparents had a power surge (or maybe a brown out) that took out many of their appliances.
Lucky their house didn't burn down.

Somehow it was related to a tree limb that rubbed through a line near the house. It was on their side of the meter so they had to replace everything.

You did mention what was I doing electronically these days and this one is fun, I am 3D printing some circuit boards, ... can't wait to see how that works!

Norm Larson, post: 334024, member: 7899 wrote: You did mention what was I doing electronically these days and this one is fun, I am 3D printing some circuit boards, ... can't wait to see how that works!

Be sure and post up some pictures. I know others here enjoy your work as well. The 3D printing stuff is fascinating. Have a feeling high schools should be teaching 3D modeling now...if not several years ago.