My SOP for setting control and tying monuments on small sites is to turn 1 set, BSD-BSR-FSD-FSR.?ÿ Today started like any other, and everything was working fine until around noon, when at a new setup I tried to turn a set.?ÿ I got the BSD, BSR and FSD shots, but then the DC popped up an error message about a horizontal angle error of almost 180?ø.?ÿ I've seen this before and always attributed it to some kind of glitch in the DC software (SurvCE v5 on a Carlson Surveyor+).?ÿ Starting the set over has always cleared it up.
That didn't work today.?ÿ I checked my settings to see if I had inadvertently changed one, but didn't see anything amiss there.?ÿ I tried a new set a couple more times, then tried exiting and relaunching SurvCE.?ÿ When that didn't work I tried rebooting the gun.?ÿ No improvement.?ÿ I then rebooted the DC, with the same results.?ÿ Both had good battery levels.
I'm stumped.?ÿ Any ideas?
P.S.?ÿ After showing the error message, the DC shows zeroes for the FSR (I think) angle and distance, even though it appeared to take the shot.
?ÿ
(Forgot to subscribe to this topic.)
I had somewhat the same problem on July 3 and had to go back 40yrs and write all my angles and distances down in the field book for a 12+ acre ranchette NE of Mount Pleasant, Tx.
First shot from backsite to setup went great and everything flipped out when I started side shooting.
Messed with it and by backup DC for about an hour before they locked up and would not even turn on.
That night back at the office they both worked perfectly.
Ghost in the machine is all I can attribute to that.........
What kinds of distance was there between your collector and the robot (possible interference issue)? What version/build of SurvCE 5.x are you using? I've not heard of any issues like this (the Carlson Tech Support Group might have other insights). However, the "everything was working fine until around noon" phrase would lead me to believe there might be something environmental going on. Not knowing the area you are/were working in, I start to wonder if the BlueTooth radio frequency started to get trampled on by something else in the area. While not quite an apples-to-apples discussion, an article which deals with BlueTooth pairing at https://www.lifewire.com/why-your-bluetooth-wont-pair-534650 has some discussion points about what could cause interference. Said interference could be messing with the readings the instrument is trying to send.
Another thought... was the collector getting too hot? I'm not saying this is the problem or would be the problem... just trying to explore possible environmental issues.
What kinds of distance was there between your collector and the robot (possible interference issue)?
All close-in, ranging from 23' to 135'.
What version/build of SurvCE 5.x are you using? I've not heard of any issues like this (the Carlson Tech Support Group might have other insights).
v5.04
I start to wonder if the BlueTooth radio frequency started to get trampled on by something else in the area.
Possible, of course.?ÿ Maybe unlikely because the backsight shots worked fine in all cases, while the failure occurred consistently on the FS shots, which were roughly at 90?ø and 180?ø from the gun.
Another thought... was the collector getting too hot
It was hot -- mid-90s -- but nothing this DC hasn't routinely worked well in.
Thanks for the thoughts, and if anything else pops into your head please let me know.?ÿ I'll try again tomorrow from another setup and see how it goes.?ÿ The gun was setup behind a furniture store and close to the building, so I suppose it's possible that some piece of office equipment inside was messing with the comms.?ÿ I only tried from that one setup before packing up for the day, so maybe it was location-specific.
I might try a reboot of the Carlson on the collecor. Then checking the firmware on the data collector, through Juniper. It's up 1.8.9 or some such thing.
To eliminate the suggested possibility of an environmental issue, you might try setting up in/at the office to see everything works there before heading out to the site.?ÿ
However, the "everything was working fine until around noon" phrase would lead me to believe there might be something environmental going on.
Skeptical as I was about this possibility, I'm not skeptical anymore.?ÿ This morning I set up on another control point and successfully turned sets.?ÿ I was a bit bothered that I didn't have a definitive cause of yesterday's problem, but I was happy that things were working again.?ÿ Shortly thereafter an employee came out of the furniture store, so I asked him if they had any BlueTooth equipment running inside.?ÿ He said, "Yeah, we just installed a system of Bluetooth speakers throughout the store."
Good call, Ladd!
Aside from the apparent down-time yesterday, I'm glad the issue wasn't necessarily related to Carlson, GeoMax or you.
I had a similar problem where about 1% of the time the FSR distance would be recorded as 0.000. At Carlson's suggestion I upgraded the software and haven't had the problem since. One thing that still bothers me is that I have never gotten an error message about the difference between the 2 distances, it just averages the correct distance with 0.000 although distance tolerance was set to 0.02.
I had a similar problem where about 1% of the time the FSR distance would be recorded as 0.000.
I've seen that once or twice in the last 4 years, but nowhere near 1% of the time.?ÿ It sticks out like a sore thumb in the adjustment.
Can't answer your question, but I quit mixing and matching instruments, data collectors and software about 1990, only one supplier to point the finger out when things don't work if they all came from same manufacturer. I don't care what color you like, green, blue, yellow, pick one and standardize on it. It doesn't always fix the problem, but it eliminates the is it my total station, my data collector or my office software standing in a circle and pointing the finger at each other blame game.
SHG
?ÿ
It doesn't always fix the problem, but it eliminates the is it my total station, my data collector or my office software standing in a circle and pointing the finger at each other blame game.
In this case it wouldn't have mattered.?ÿ The problem was external to my equipment, and I got a useful response from one of the manufacturers in a timely manner.
In the 4 years I've been running this mashup I've needed assistance maybe two or three times, so I can't say that the single vendor approach would have produced better results.
If I were running a large survey department I'd probably go single-vendor just to keep things simple.?ÿ But being a solo operation and wanting to get the most bang for my buck, multi-vendor makes a lot more sense to me.?ÿ?ÿ
@jim-frame glad it all got sorted out, I am small too, but in my experience the perceived benefits of a mashup of equipment isn't there, but if it works for you that is all that matters.
