Trimble 12V battery system

We've had great luck with these:

http://www.all-battery.com/li-ion18650148v2200mahrechargeablebatterypackwithpcbprotection.aspx

With just a little soldering, you end up with this-

We carry two: they last a little more than half a day, and the weight savings is huge! And even with the special charger, they're less than the Trimble batts. And because they're LiOn, they don't drain on their own for up to a year, and cold doesn't affect them. The only downside is there's no warning about when they're going to go dead: it happens all at once, usually when you're farthest away from the gun. 🙂

The only downside I can think of is the weight/size of the battery makes it a bear to carry any long distance. The pros are will last all day on charge, batterys are cheap and can be purchased at just about any auto parts store and in a pinch you can run the using the truck battery!

Welcome to the board 😉

I use a small deep cycle marine battery every day / all day. No problems at all. The battery lasts for days on a charge. The downside is, of course, the weight. Find a cooler, etc to place the battery in for carrying (note: some batteries may require venting, so don't seal it). Carry a set of jumper cables in the truck, too. In a pinch, if the TS battery dies, you can recharge it with the truck battery. Been there, done that 🙁

I use a lawn tractor battery with my 5600 robot. I was looking at 4 x $150 about a year ago. Decided it would be worth the gamble to try the $25 Walmart battery. That original battery still gives me 1.5-2 days in the field per charge. Works so well that I picked up another one and a truck charger so I always have one fully charged in the truck. I use a six-pack cooler with a shoulder strap to carry the battery and cable. Its a lot easier than carrying the 3 battery holder that came with the gun.

I am considering using a GPAC setup. http://www.gpac.biz/1218G6.html Does anyone have any experience with them? I have used the small sealed lead acid batteries to power Ashtech GPS for years and it is reliable. This looks like a good well thought system that will work with a varity of instruments. I am considering getting the Leica cable to power our SR530 GPS for long static observations, and the Geodimeter Cable to Power a Trimble 5601 total station. You could alos link 2 of them together to power your RTK base all day. A system like this protects you from reverse polarity that can damage your equipment. They alos make a 9 amp hoour model that is less expensive and lighter.

🙂

Where did you get your cable from?
Also, is it a 12-volt battery?...Will a 6-volt work?
I'm worried about "blowing up" my robot!

The cable came with the gun. Sat in the plastic bag for a couple years until I switched to the new battery.

I don't know the battery specs offhand. I will post this afternoon when the truck comes back. I was concerned about blowing it up too so I went with the smaller battery. On a full charge it only registers 20% but lasts a couple days.

> Where did you get your cable from?
> Also, is it a 12-volt battery?...Will a 6-volt work?
> I'm worried about "blowing up" my robot!

You need 12 volts (nominal) to run the Geodimeter/Trimble robots. You can make the cable yourself from any of the Geodimeter/Trimble cables with a 4-pin Hirose plug, observing polarity as shown below:

I used a car battery and a lawn mower battery for about six years with my 5600 after the first set bricks finally died. I thought it was fine and got used to the weight and extra trips back and forth packing everything.

Then I replaced my 5600 with a new Focus 10 last year and it came with a new set of bricks. I don't want to go back to lugging a car battery ever again. There is an outfit in Florida called Coastal that will re-cell them for about $80 a piece. Well worth it.

Great. Thanks!
Time to get on ebay for a cheap cord.

Id highly recommend the "bag" batteries. I have a slightly different one. mine uses the batteries that power old people scooters. One thing you have to watch out for is that with Trimble Direct Connect you need two ports on your battery to set up direct connect. My bag battery has the addional port, but it doesn't look like the one posted above has it. If you ever need to reiniailize direct connect in the field, you may need a different power supply temporarily. You could use the single battery attachment, since that has two ports, and keep a back up radio battery on hand. It's not too often that've had to reconfigure direct connect in the field, but something that you occasionally need to do.

True...or you could use the Trimble T connector, part number 572 202 312.

It has 3 4 pin Hirose connectors. One for power, one for the data collector, and one for the Hirose cable to connect to the instrument.

Like you are seeing, most people who use the 600/5600 eventually abandon the black bricks and go to a 12 volt of some kind or other.

I like the idea of putting something together with lithium ion batteries but I would want to include a voltage regulator. All-Battery has a switch mode regulator or you can get a linear regulator. Anybody tried anything like that? It would be easy to size it so it lasts for a day or two.

How about the com connections? Does anybody out there know which is Tx and which is Rx on the controller and the 5600? Alternativly, would anybody be willing to test a data cable and tell everyone if the data wires are straight through or crossed? I am hoping I can build a data cable rather than having to buy one. I already have a bunch of Hirose connectors. If I do have to buy a data cable I will test it and let everyone know.

Cheers. Mike.

The TX RX cables are crossed over, so a Hirose/Hirose cable pretty straightforward to build..

Fin, my recollection is that the cables are straight through and the crossover takes place in the the battery (or radio) pack that has two hirose jacks.

I will check one of my factory cables and report back.

I have alos purchased a serial port cable and will provide the pinout for that.

I got it wrong above. Tx and Rx cross over in batteries, power supplies AND CABLES.

The com wires in Hirose to Hirose cables are not straight through, they cross over.

Cheers. Mike

As for pin out, Hirose pin 1 is Tx, pin 2 is Rx.

Looking at the 2012-01-31 image above showing the end of a Hirose plug,

Pins are numbered 1 to 4 from bottom right, going counter clockwise.

Hirose pin 1 is Tx, Pin 2 is Rx. That applies at any instrument or DC.

RS 232 signals are designed to tollerate a sustained short so if you have to use trial and error you should be OK.

The Tx and Rx lines cross in any cable or battery to make the proper connections.