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aeronaut avatar image
aeronaut asked

GPS Issue with solar forecasts

This question has been asked before; but it has been a few months. Answers from Victron employees indicate "working on a fix", so in part this is a request for a status update.

I'm using VenusOS on a Raspberry Pi 3b+.

I have a Victron install in my RV. And while I'm perfectly aware that accuracy isn't as great in a mobile application, it spends most of its time in a fixed location (at home), and when we use it it's generally for 3 or 4 days at a time in one place, up to a couple of weeks. So this should, in theory, be a situation that 'works' for the solar forecast feature.

The problem is the USB GPS dongle that I use shows small bits of movement change when stationary, which consistently makes the Venus OS think that the vehicle has 'moved' and therefore it resets the clock on the solar forecasts.

Is there a way to set a null-zone in the GPS perhaps where if there is less than a certain amount of movement, it just ignores it? For example, could VenusOS be configured in such a way that if it detects movement of less than, say, a thousand feet from the last known position; it just ignores it completely? Looking at the GPS track data, the radius of the 'movement' is only a few feet in various directions. I very much like the GPS feature, including tracking where I've been and being able to map our trips. I don't want to just get rid of it. Has any solution been worked out for this?

Alternatively, are there GPS products that don't represent this much 'jittering'? I'm sure part of the problem is that the dongle itself is located inside the coach. Not an ideal situation for reading GPS signals but it does work. There is not a practical way to install an external antenna where the GPS is located. However I do have a Peplink 42g antenna on the roof of my RV which includes a GPS antenna. It's not located anywhere near the Raspberry Pi but it is connected directly to a router/modem. If there was a network-based GPS transceiver that would work with VenusOS; I could potentially explore that route if anyone knows of one. One that I could plug into an ethernet port on the router and to the rooftop GPS antenna that I already have. Or any other solutions anyone may have found!

Thanks!

-John

Venus OS
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kocki avatar image kocki commented ·
I'm also waiting for a solution of this issue for the installation an my sailboat.

Regards,
Gerd

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aeronaut avatar image aeronaut kocki commented ·
It does appear that setting a geofence works. Unfortunately that means you'll have to set a new geofence each time you move. I understand the feature was only ever really meant to work for stationary installations but it is a bummer that it can't just automatically reset itself when you move to a new location and begin providing a forecast after a day or so.
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1 Answer
kocki avatar image
kocki answered ·

I tried it again after a long time and I found this in settings -> location:

Your timezone setting will be updated using the new location only if you do not have it set on the GX device. Forecasts will be unavailable for up to 3 hours after the location change.

When changing the location (more than 10km), your forecast will become available in the next 3 hours.

And it´s working GPS mouse and solar forecast, thanks Victron.

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