A friend has a Trimble 5603 that is giving the message "Lost radio connection". He is using the latest TDS on a Nomad. I am NOT at all familiar with the software. It sounds like it may be the internal radio, or at least one of them is toast. How expensive are they to have repaired? is it even worth it? Also, can a pair Parani Bluetooth units be made to work? I couldn't find a way to even get them plugged in to anything that would work. the robot has a round RS232 port for the battery hookup and one on the faceplate. Of course, if you plug to the faceplate, the robot will rotate and the Parani in a holder on the tripod wouldn't.... Is it even good for a boat anchor?
We had a radio repaired, cost around $2800 said the board went bad. I had heard though that trimble is phasing these radios out, probably to force you into a S3/S6 setup. Hope it's an easy fix for him!
I'd try a new DC to radio cable and new antennas if you haven't already. That solves the problem like 95% of the time for me.
The Paranis can work. You plug one into the DC port, and the other you connect to the instrument using the same cable that connects the DC to the radio, plugged into the extra port on the battery pack, on the same side as the power cable. If you are not using the standard battery pack, there is a Y adapter that will allow you plug power and COM into the same port.
Mr. Carrol,
I have a Spectra Precision Focus 30 that has a problem with the radios. My local Spectra repair facility wants several hundred dollars to diagnose which end of the link is bad and has offered to fix or replace the offending part. Their estimate, in addition to the diagnosis, is $2600 for the remote radio and a bit more for the radio in the instrument.
I see where various Parani units offer different ranges and features. Do you know if these are an alternative to the Spectra radios, allowing for range up to 1,000 feet?
Do you or anyone else on this board use these units for surveying work?
Best regards,
JA, PLS SoCal
I'm not sure if this will work. It is an idea I've been toying with for some time. But they make long range serial bluetooth devices now that will exceed 100m easily.
There are many companies that make similar devices. The Parani is just one company. The cost is well below what Trimble repair is quoting.
I have heard that the FCC is instituting narrow banding. Not sure if that effects these radios, but they are probably in the age bracket when they were wide-banded.
Aloha, Stacy: I have 5603 and Parani works great. Since you have parani on your Topcon it will be easy to test it out. Le me know I'd be happy to help.
Yoginatha,
How are the connections made from the parani to the robot? As stated above, from the battery case? Can you send a picture or two?
I use the Paranis with my Topcon setup. it was seemless and the range was a mile. The RC2 stopped working at 2200' but the paranis worked to 5400'.
> Yoginatha,
>
> How are the connections made from the parani to the robot? As stated above, from the battery case? Can you send a picture or two?
Aloha, Stacy: I'll post few pictures once I get back to office.
The connection depends on what kind of battery setup used. I have motorcycle battery setup. For motorcycle battery setup you'll need a four pin Hirose connector "Tee." If you have the Trimble multi battery adaptor then you don't need the Tee. The battery adaptor has several female Hirose connectors build in.
First test would be to connect the DC directly to the gun--see if works. Just to make sure it is the radio problem and not a cable issues.I had at least two bad cable experiences. Again this can be done with a Tee or connecting to one of the Hirose connectors. Just use the cable (DB9 to Hirose) that goes from DC to brick battery/radio on the remote setup for this test.
The Parani setup would be
1. A Parani with null modem connected to gun via DB9/ 4pin Hirose to the Tee or Multi battery adaptor depending on the source of power
2. Second Parani connected to DC via a DB9 male to DB9 female cable
3. Leave all the setting on the DC the same as if it is still using the Trimble brick battery/radio
4. To make the connection to work with 5603 you need to connect to the DC directly to the gun as described for the test above. Once you see the electronic level bubble you can actually disconnect the cable and connect them to their respective Paranis as described in step 1 and step 2.
This should work.
I have SurveyPro field software and it works flawlessly with Paranis and 5603.
This thread was one I've saved and been meaning to try someday. About 3/4 way down is a diagram of a hirose connection and the pin outs thanks to Jim Frame.
[msg=120125]Hirose Pin outs[/msg]
Not sure which is the tx and rx pins though... Jim?
I can understand using the Parani Bluetooth if you want to connect to the built in bluetooth of a DC or tablet/PC but if you are looking at using a pair of radios, why use bluetooth rather than one of the wireless serial radio pairs? Bluetooth was designed for very short range initially while the serial radio pairs have always been meant for long range and have no Bluetooth protocol to deal with. When I looked at them a few months back the prices seemed comparable to the Bluetooth pairs.
