Like a lot of you guys, I went buying a RS2 years ago (3 years) just when all these Lidar stuff came affordable, at that price ~U$2,000 you wouldn´t buy anything with that specs. At first it was solid and reliable, no issues at all. This unit was treat like a baby, never crashed, hitted or wet, still in perfect physical condition. Suddenly, the unit stop working, it keeps flashing all lights constinuesly in boot mode and it never ends, can´t connect to app, can´t do anything. Checking Emlid´s forum I saw several similars cases and the answer is always the same: try reboot, try reflash,… Basically, there is no solution, if you contact Emlid support you gonna receive this type of answer: "Hi Andre, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We thoroughly test our firmware before each release to ensure reliability across all devices. After your report, I also tested updating and reflashing an RS2 unit but couldn’t reproduce this issue. Based on the full system report and what you’ve shared, this doesn’t appear to be related to the software version. The logs you’ve seen seem to be a symptom of an issue with the unit itself, and reflashing hasn’t resolved it, which points to an issue with the unit. Unfortunately, the device is no longer under warranty, so we cannot offer a replacement. Let me know if you have any other questions."
I share with you guys because I know there is more people here with same problems, and for those who are thinking to buy it, think again…
I bought my RS2’s in April 2019 one as a permanent base ( has been powered ever since year round +30C - -40C conditions no problem ) and the other as a rover and even mounted on a motor scraper for elevation grading and filling and have had no issues with the units .
From the posts over the years, it does seem a common issue when it does come about. The Flashing Lights of Death. Would be nice to know “why?” though. (pretty sure EMLID knows).
Wonder if the battery is approaching end of life and may be losing voltage or dead cells and not enough juice to operate fully?
I assume you already tried connecting external usb battery or power block? Charged over night etc.
How about trying an external Serial cable CBL101 to try to power it?
After reflashing, did it finish and say successful?
Personally, if you’ve exhausted all options, and it’s way out of warranty, next to trashing it. I’d check out the internal battery. It may be beyond that if battery checks out… i.e. the charging circuitry etc. Yeah, yeah, open it up, you may damage it, may not work to specs yada yada yada etc etc etc etc etc… but it’s out of warranty, it’s yours and especially if it will not be replaced anyways, fault or no fault.
If not power issue, then it’s obviously more. I.e. circuitry, memory, corrupt firmware etc.
Either way, sounds like you’ve been round and round with no answer what the problem is.
If nothing else, you can buy the same module I suspect Emlid uses in their receivers at DidgiKey com, part number 672-EVK-F9P-01-ND (EVK-F9P-01 evaluation kit). They are <$300.00. You’ll can buy a good antenna for <$200.00 and you can use a typical power bank with 5V output . I’ve got two of these I occasionally use as base stations but I don’t have an ideal place for an antenna. You can configure them in U-Center windows software. I leave one on at my desk sometimes with the antenna at the windowsill when playing hookie from work.
I also just got the new evaluation kit for the EVK-M10 module. I haven’t played around with it yet, but I’ve installed the U-Center 2 software.
There’s all kind of possibilities with these. They may not have a fancy field software interface to use but if configured right with the Window software, you can pretty much do the same as Emild’s products.
Another site you may want to look at is Ardusimple.com. You’ll be surprised at the packages they have developed based on the U-blox chip. There’s a lot of 3rd party software you can use with their stuff. Sparkfun.com is another site to look at.
I did several procedures tring to recover it, one of them was rollback to previous firmware using Reach Flash tool, back from v32.2 to v29.2, surprisingly, the behavior changed, no more flashing lights forever, after 3-4minutes of reboot it stop flashing and got a solid light, went to the app on cellphone and it start to perform check test and failed on test 2, I think test 2 means hardware but I’m not sure about that. After this, there is a option to generate and export report.
When I check the logs, in a file called reach-self-test I found this error:
" ERROR] — Antenna board is not connected (self_tests.py:56)"
I opened it, check cables connection using a multimeter, maybe it was just a connection issue duo to hot/cold changes,
but cables are ok, probably my antenna board has gone and I had to replace it. One think I can do it´s test using another antenna board from a working RS2, let´s see what´s comming next.
I saw a post awhile back about the physical antenna (below the dome shell)(other side of board) coming apart at the solders i think… I’ll look for it. Maybe disconnected at that point.
Probably would be good Emlid would replace their unit at a reduced cost from end of warranty projecting out 5 years for the first time buyers (not used units). Of course original proof of purchase would be required This would be a great way to keep customers coming back for a new unit.
EOW +1 YEAR= 25% discounted price
EOW +5 YEAR= 05% discounted price
Beyond 5 years after end of warranty purchaser would have to pay full price for same model but maybe a reduced price for new upgraded models also.
Don’t forget Emlid, people like Sparkfun and Ardusimple are nipping at your heels.
Stuck on loading can result from various causes, which are challenging to diagnose remotely. This is why we don’t offer repairs for certain internal components—replacing them might not resolve the issue and could introduce new issues.
Since you’ve already downgraded the software and the issue remains, it’s clear that this isn’t related to the software version, which helps narrow things down.
If others are experiencing similar issues, feel free to reach out. We’ll investigate it. Thank you!
bonjour
je confirme aussi moi l’appareil s’allume mais plus visible sous wifi
et EMLID me répond c’est plus sous garantie on répare pas
c’est clair que je me demande si je vais continuer à acheter EMLID
et surtout à le conseiller à d’autre
I share your disappointment and frustration; especially since I reside in a developing nation with a poor economy.
The way I see it, even if a receiver lasts 3 years, it has done it’s service for an RTK receiver costing $2000
It beats forking out $5000 for a Chinese equivalent receiver that can go down in a similar time or $12,000+ from a “big name” brand that may even require some annual subscription.
I think after 3 years you are still ahead (or at least on) the $$$ curve.
