My TCRA1102 robot recently stopped displaying the electronic level bubble when the radio is plugged in. Plug in the radio and the bubble disappears; unplug the radio and the bubble comes back. Prior to a few days ago the bubble was displayed regardless of whether the radio was plugged in or not.
This matter hasn't risen to the the level of a problem -- yet -- but it's anomalous behavior, so I thought I'd see if anyone can shed light on the cause.
Thanks!
Leica Knows You Are Not There To See The Bubble...
...when the radio is plugged in.
Why show it when you are not there to see it?
So Leica is far ahead of you in thinking.
Paul in PA
Sorry to hear that you are having problems. My old gun (TCRA1105+) would tell me it was out of level. Go back to the gun and it was inside the circle. Happens when it was hot outside, 90ish and higher. Sent it off 2 times for repair and they replaced boards and it never was fixed. I traded it in on a S3. I think you are just going to have to deal with the problem or upgrade.
Leica Knows You Are Not There To See The Bubble...
You can view the bubble on the remote to check on your instrument level, of course if it is out you need to walk back to the instrument and re-level.
SHG
Can you turn it back on by pushing shift and then the level button?
Pauls funny!
> Can you turn it back on by pushing shift and then the level button?
That key combination brings me to the bubble reticle display and laser plummet controls. It's when that display is active that the problem is manifest: radio unplugged, reticle visible and bubble active; radio plugged in, reticle visible but no bubble indicator.
Jim,
The TCRA and the SSI. It seems like the gremlins are out and about in Davis.
So this only happens when you are in RCS mode. Is the bubble 'not visible' on both the RCS and the instrument or just the instrument? It has been a long time since I upgraded to the 1200 but it sounds like a communication problem to me. The RCS is basically a dumb terminal. Have you made any changes to you system recently? I think the first thing I would do is change the radio channel, them maybe the baud rate. As a last resort you might try a system reset.
Good luck.
> So this only happens when you are in RCS mode.
It happens during instrument setup, prior to transferring control to the data collector (in my case, an Allegro CX running SurvCE, which operates the 1102 via GeoCOM on-line mode). I replaced the stock TCPS27B radio with a Parani SD1000 bluetooth radio about a year and a half ago, and have been using this combination ever since without issue. But now, when the Parani radio is plugged into the Y-cable, the bubble image doesn't appear in the leveling reticle display. Unplugging the radio immediately brings the bubble image into view. The instrument's state of level doesn't seem to be a factor, i.e., even with the gun dead level, plugging/unplugging determines whether or not the bubble image is present.
It seems like an odd nexus to me, but there you have it. I'm just wondering why the phenomenon started only recently.
Come to think of it, I've noticed an unusual message on the gun a couple of times lately when returning to it after operating remotely. Because I'm so used to doing the gun shutdown without really looking at what's happening, I'm not sure if this is now a regular occurrence. The message is something like "An unexpected error occurred. If this continues to occur, return the instrument for service." I thought maybe I'd bumped the gun out of level when shutting down (unplug the radio, hit the two bottom keys, hit the "off" softkey).
The reason I have to unplug the radio before turning the instrument off is because whenever the radio is plugged in the gun will turn on as long as the comm and power cables are connected. I always thought this was kind of odd, but it was that way when I bought the gun (used) and just chalked it up to a quirky operating condition.
Jim,
I'm not really familiar with running the 1100 via the Allegro so I'm probably no help there. On the 1200 system running through GEOCOMM has the same shutdown issue but I think is a design feature. If you turned off the instrument that remotely, you can not turn if on again without returning to it. As I recall, on the RCS1100 when you hit the two key off combo it asked if you would like to shut the instrument down as well (this may actually be for the 1200 running in terminal mode though). You should be able to shut the gun down from its keyboard.
As for the problem, I would try to reload the firmware if you have not already done so.
Good luck. At least the 4000 is working again.
> As for the problem, I would try to reload the firmware if you have not already done so.
How does one reload the firmware on a Leica gun? I didn't see anything about it in the manual. Also, I bought the instrument used, and it didn't come with any media (e.g. CD) that might have firmware on it. Is it available on the 'net somewhere?
I did find a link to the TPS1100 firmware on the Leica site, but learned that I need an access level of "Contract Customer (2)" in order to download it. My access level is only "Registered User." I have an email in to my dealer to see what's involved in upgrading my status. I'd really like to avoid putting the gun in the shop right now...
Jim,
I may have a line on the firmware. The guy I sold my 1103 to thinks he has a copy I gave him somewhere. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from him.
> I may have a line on the firmware. The guy I sold my 1103 to thinks he has a copy I gave him somewhere. I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from him.
Thanks!
