u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

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u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Sun May 31, 2015 12:04 am

Hi, does anyone have a solution for broken connector plugs on the M4 V2 board? The're just destroyed--too fragile for this in my opinion.

Is there a part number. has anyone just soldered wires? I wonder if there's a way to make a radio and GPS antenna without using them?
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby aBUGSworstnightmare » Sun May 31, 2015 7:18 am

Hi,
you can use any u.FL socket, i.e. Taoglas Limited RECE.20279.001E.01 (Digikey 931-1107-1-ND).
How did you 'destroy' them? Those things are fragile by nature and you need to be gentle with them.
Soldering the wires only is not a good idea. The insulation of the small koaxial cable from the GPS antennas melts quite easy, so for the average user a connector is better. By the way: there are no GPS antennas out there (afik) without a plug.
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Sun May 31, 2015 4:48 pm

Hi Abugsworstnighmare, thanks for your help. I've ordered some generic ones.

What happened was that my GPS 3D fix has been intermittent so I've been trying different GPS and radio positions and antennas and so on. Just inserting and removing the plugs over time, with the board deep down in the body of the quad has caused the outer brass circle on the connector to become torn and bent. Also one of the plugs--on the radio antenna doesn't look intact anymore.

Some of the plugs look different to others. The Taoglas had a white ring around the center pin on the plug, whereas generic ones don't. The generic ones look cruder.

I'm going to try one of these active GPS antennas next: http://www.ebay.com/itm/271245662838 Any thoughts?

I find surface mount hard when I'm replacing individual components--no problem doing an entire board side because the heat propagates over everything. I destroyed my Taoglas 10mm trying to extend the cable with hot air soldering. But it never held a 3D fix anyway.

Overall I'm happy with the M4v2.
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby LPR » Sun May 31, 2015 5:29 pm

Hi

I bought some of these and I'm using them to make extension cables. They work for me and I expect to need to replace them if I connect them twenty times or more.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10PCS-IPX-U-FL- ... 233eef0ee7

Larry
Last edited by LPR on Sun May 31, 2015 7:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Sun May 31, 2015 6:08 pm

Thanks Larry, I'm getting something similar:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131000520444

from nearby.I'm also ordering a 3mm nozzle for my rework air device.

http://www.thelashop.com/soldering-nozz ... ation.html

I'm hoping that it will allow me to direct the air better for component replacing--I was using a larger diameter before that was unsoldering or even in one case burning softer components nearby.
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby LPR » Sun May 31, 2015 7:39 pm

I use this for removing delicate components.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/10925

Larry
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Sun May 31, 2015 10:36 pm

Thanks. Ordered, plus a new iron tip. Old one was getting a bit vague looking.
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:37 am

On this page, in the image--top left corner, there's a resistor between the GPS chip and another resistor. What's that for? It doesn't show on any of the other M4 images, just that one. I have that resistor in place too. Is it supposed to be there?

http://autoquad.org/wiki/wiki/m4-microc ... n-board-2/

Also, My board won't start. I just get a solid red between the USB port and arm, indicating "Charge." I'm using 12V. It failed after I replaced the coax jacks for GPS and Radio. Any ideas?

Also, one of the LEDs has fallen off. Is it required--it looks heat damaged to me. If I need it, is there a part number?

Thanks,
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Max » Wed Jun 10, 2015 3:55 am

Yes the resistor + cap from the GPS chip are "normal" on M4 v2 boards, although the production models might looks slightly different from that picture (or maybe just mine does :) ).

Does your M4 have the R26 resistor still mounted? That can cause a no-boot (or maybe just an issue getting into bootloader mode... I forget now), though why only after you replaced the connector, I have no idea. I'd start poking with a multimeter next. What do you mean by "I'm using 12V?"

-Max
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Re: u.FL radio and GPS connectors broken

Postby Patnet » Wed Jun 10, 2015 4:01 am

I mean that I'm not using the single cell lipo. I'm using brushless with a 3 cell. The wiki says that only a solid red on that LED means "lipo charging trough USB."

http://autoquad.org/wiki/wiki/m4-microc ... functions/
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