Taxi Driver Online

I wonder if anyone could sprinkle pixy dust on this. I have a number of vehicles on a mixed private / hac fleet. Some TX1 and Metros throw the GPS off of mercury mobile data-heads when vehicle is started. Data-heads still work but without the GPS. I've tried running a mobile cig-lighter direct from the battery but problem still exists. When vehicle sits with engine off problem goes. Can anyone supply an answer please ?

I heard of an interesting scenario a few years ago, where a firms vehicles were having trouble with GPS. It was found that if the driver of a Skoda Octavia was listening to a certain radio station, their GPS would go off!

Weird as hell, and as far as I am aware, one which still affects them!

Just wondering, could it just be a bad batch of antenna's, ie solder joint in antenna, ie, dry joint, when vehicle started vibration causing reception loss

GPS receivers are on low signal levels, and have sensitive receivers, picking up RF [radio frequency] noise from vehicle could also be a problem, ie bad electrical connections on the vehicle

The T X 1 has a inbred fault regarding the immobiliser system, the cab will cut out and not start, we have found this to be caused by mobile phone mastes any chance your problem is being caused by the fob

Heay rewflective/heated windscreens cause the gps to not find a signal aas well, have you tried bluetooth and put the reciver in the boot somewhere out of the way?

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/ ... e/rake.htm

see what happens when you press the key fob, catch it on your camera phone, fire the fob at the camera and photo, you get a white captured dot on the photo

I think the point has been missed on this one (I think). The problem as I read it seems to be that the Mercury system stops reading the GPS unit each time the car starts up. It's more likely that the voltage dump that occurs when starting the car has upset the settings on the data terminal making it not respond to the GPS rather than the GPS itself stopping working but that's a guess.

Golden rule number 1... don't use fag lighters for anything but lighting fags. If the problem persists then try a filter in the line to get rid of the nasty voltage dips and spikes that may be upsetting the equipment.

Bill

Oh and while on the subject, just to confirm Stinky Pete's valid comments about GPS receivers being low level radio receivers because we often forget that fact and think of them being some kind of optical device that looks at the sky.

One of my customers up in Scotland had a nice on a few weeks back. The GPS wouldn't work in one car work but neither would any car that parked near it. The fault turned out to be the domestic radio in the car had some screening removed to make it fit and it must have been radiating spurious signals like mad that blocked GPS reception anywhere near the car.

Bill

Firstly,
I want to thank every for your input. In this instance the problem seems to be amps dropping to much. I have tested said vehicle and the amps drop to 7.4 / 7.6 where all other vehicles only drop to a minimum of 9.6. I am attempting to trace filters to deal with this. I will let you know final result as I wouldn’t want anyone else to be as frustrated as I have been this week. Kindest regards to all of you.

Nortax. hopefully or even

Ah the missing clue!

If the voltage drops that low then you really need a new battery. It may well be starting your car at the moment but as the nights get longer and the weather gets colder your poor old battery will just give up the ghost.

Bill

When we fitted CCTV in the T X 1 they used to do the same trick, it used to switch the equipment off, their answer round it was to put in a small separate batterie. that worked, when they changed the supplier of the equipment the same problem did not apply

If the engine is left running does the GPS recover after a few minutes or does it remain "off" until the engine is switched off?

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Next time you wave, use all your fingers.

No GPS remained off until either aerial un-plugged then plugged back in, or then stopped working again when engine switched back on. This time it was down to naff battery. Although when vehicle started first time every time it doe's throw you.

If it's a mercury 600 unit leave it out of the cradle when you start the car that way it dosent effect the pda at all. If you've got a Pug 406 etc put the gps ariel either in the back window or in the roof sign the windscreen f**** it right up!
And if anyone could explain why I was tracked by the office computer as being in Norway I'd be grateful!

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Life? Don't talk to me about life!
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