Yesterday, I worked in the rain, with Big Help, and Monster (Monster is Big Help's little brother, but his ambitious and driving attitude, have earned him the moniker, thus he is monster) It started short showers in the sunshine, then turned sort of nasty, and was thundering and all when we quit. We put all the equipment away in a pouring rain, and jumped in the truck, drove about 2 miles, and heard a weird noise, like something had hit the truck.
About 3-4 miles further, it occurred to me to check the data collector, and it was NOT in the truck. We slowly retraced our steps. About 1 hr later, THERE IT WAS. I had left it on the hood, driver's side, against the windshield. The driving wind, (There were tornadoes and fierce winds) had blown it off, and we found it on the side of the road, across the oncoming traffic. The key pad was off of it. We found the keypad 5 mins later. There was a hole in the bottom end corner of the data collector. About 3/8" diameter. Probably where it hit the pavement. We put the keypad back on, and IT WORKED.
We got home, downloaded our work, and all is saved.
Now, it appears that the case is made from carbon fiber. And, I can probably glue that little piece back in. If I can remove the yellow rubber protective thing that covers it.
Have any of you ever taken these apart?
After I back up and make an extra copy of all the files in it, I plan to either replace the back cover, or repair the one I have.
Any advice would be appreciated. I can buy a TDS Ranger off of Ebay, for around 50-200 bucks, and change my electronics to the new case. (I think I can) and get it going. Also, I think I can add a bigger memory SD card, to the TDS while I am at it.
It is a 200-c with 128 megs of memory.
There is nothing like knowing you did something like this. And wondering if you are going to find it in a PILE of parts, where an 18 wheeler hit it!
Thank God, it was not that bad, but the thought did occur to me!
Nate
Can the worker who carelessly left it on the hood.... Ooops.... Nevermind....
I left a 48 on my rear bumper once. Didn't think of it until I got back to the office. Crap. Retraced my route and found it. The soft case had a couple of scuff marks but the 48 survived with no marks or damage.
Yes, I already FIRED the dumb worker.
N
"I had left it on the hood, driver's side, against the windshield."
I hope "Big Help" reprimanded you for such carelessness.
Sound's like you have the situation under control, as usual.
I would be embarrassed to admit how many prism poles I have backed over and ruined!
Have a great weekend! B-)
It's hard to fire someone..
when you're sleeping with their momma.
- Old surveyor's wisdom
It's hard to fire someone..
It was the boy's father that did it. Yes, I did fire him. Re-hired him, so he would drive home, with the parts, and download the job!
N
What is the difference between a 200c and a 200t?
Thanks
N
C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet while T is the 20th....
Nate-
"Just after Jacques Cartier has arrived at Quebec City" era data collector story.
I was Instrument man in the 1960s to the late H. S. Bradstock OLS (still the best urban retracement surveyor Ontario has ever had) and was returning from a restaurant lunch when he mumbled about the whereabouts of his field book.
As we arrived closer to the site (the intersection of Sheppard Avenue and the CNR (?) railway tracks in Agincourt, Ontario) there were the remains thereof, fluttering like obese snowflakes hither and yon.
Needless to say, I well recognised all the adjectives, adverbs and nouns he used whilst on an 'Easter Egg Hunt' for the many pages of indiscriminately railway train squished field notes from the field book he had left on one of the tracks !
A true object lesson.
Cheers,
Derek
The poetry, in that comparison, to the field book is incredible!
I have searched in vain on the internet, for pics on the insides of one of these units. It seems incredible that some surveyor has NOT been inside one of them, and posted pics of it. I'm sure it is out there somewhere....
N
> C is the 3rd letter in the alphabet while T is the 20th....
So, to answer the question "what's the difference between a 200c and a 200t?"
200(3)-200(20)
600-4000
-3400
so the answer is -3400.
> It seems incredible that some surveyor has NOT been inside one of them, and posted pics of it.
Maybe it's because I've never owned one.
🙂
Reminds me of an engineer's story of leaving a job site. As they pulled away he freaked out and told the kid who was driving to stop the truck, but very slowly. He left the instrument on the roof of the truck. No damage.
is it color?
i think the C is for the model with the color screen.
My kids pulled one apart.
i got one on ebay. It came with broken enter key from a scoundrel who claims he has been a dealer in florida for 10+ yrs.
My kids pulled it apart and replaced the key pad with one from an old (non-working) ranger. its working ok so far.
I would dock the replacement/repair cost from the flunky's pay for leaving it on the truck 😉
Thanks goodness you were able to find it and recover the data.
Nate,
I haven't owned a TDS Ranger, but I have taken apart a few data collectors, including a Trimble TSC, a Carlson Explorer, and a Juniper Allegro.
What is common to all of them is screws that hold the 2 piece case together. If you need to get to the inside of the unit, you've got to find those screws, and remove them. There's usually a gasket or sealant between the 2 halves, and you may damage it on taking it apart.
If the 2 pieces don't come apart easily, don't force it, look for more screws, etc......
Once the two pieces are apart, don't pull too far apart, there are probably wires connecting the circuit board to the screen, etc.
No idea if that would help you.
As to whether you should do it - well, if the data collector is worth $200, and I'm guessing it's not worth more than that (excluding the value of the software on it), you might spend an hour at it, and if you are unsuccessful, you might look into repair options at a shop, but I'd bet the cost of a repair might easily approach or exceed the value of the collector itself, so you might be looking at a new collector, and sell the damaged one on eBay, noting the damage.....
Al
Is it just the case damaged....epoxy....
Epoxy is hardening as we speak......
It is all re assembled, and charging as we speak. I am now in the market for another 200c, and I plan to install Carlson into it, and finish learning Carlson. My long range goal is to go with JAVAD for a new GPS system.
Taking the back cover off is not major invasive at all. Only the little wire to the speaker should be disconnected.
I also put a very thin layer of silicone on the O ring, as I assembled it.
I think I am good to go.
Thanks everyone for the advice.
Nate