Can M2 run 24/7?

Is M2 built to run 24/7?
Will it withstand being on for long periods of time uninterrupted?

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Yep! I have one running for 2 months and counting.

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My M2 base has run for over a year now nonstop

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Hello,

What good news.
And do you use some kind of external battery to prevent in case of power outage?

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I use a powerbank 10,000 mAH connected to mains. The M2 is then connected to the powerbank. So working more or less like an UPS.

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Hi guys,

Yep! One more story: we use Reach M2 as a base for the tests in our office. By now, it has been working without interruption for more than a year as well :slight_smile:

It’s better to use UPS to protect Reach M2 against power surges. But the workaround suggested by Christian should work as well. In case of power outages, it’ll affect the power bank but not the receiver.

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Right,
Understand.

And, one more thing.
Is there any kind of protection against electrical discharge in the antenna, which could run along the cable and damage the M2?

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Hi @mauricioranzan,

Hmm, the GNSS antenna is powered by Reach M2, so I think it can hardly affect the receiver itself. But probably I am missing something. What kind of electrical discharge do you mean?

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Lightning, if I am to guess.

That,
Lightning.

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Hi there,

Oh, I get you now.

We don’t provide special protection from lightning in GNSS antennas or Reach M2. So, in this case, I can only suggest using lightning rods or something like this.

I’d also want to add that we don’t recommend working with the receivers in such weather. Electrical discharges in the atmosphere worsen the satellite signals, so they affect the receiver’s logs and solution as a result.

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Hi @julia.shestakova

I understood,
It’s not that constant.
The concern is more about prevention.
Since the investment of an M2 is not so low, right. :sweat_smile:

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I’d say compared to other GNSS solutions, it is a very little investment, but I do get your concern.

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Good morning @wizprod

Yes.
It’s definitely the best cost-benefit so far.
But any damage is painful, isn’t it? :sweat_smile:

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I have an M2 running for more than 3 months now on top of a roof. I put it in an enclosure along with an adapter board that enables 12V power and RS485 interface, so I used a 12 V wall adapter and a ~20m AC outdoor power extension. It runs fine.

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I don’t know of ANY receivers from any manufacturers that have built-in lightning protection. What you want is an external lighting arrester fitted to the coax cable from the antenna to the receiver. This then needs a decent size (> 6mm) earth cable fitted and taken into a well dug-in copper rod.

These are the external lighting protectors I use for my permanent bases…

https://www.diamondantenna.net/sp3000w.html

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Hi Mauricio,

Oh, yeah, I think that all of us try to avoid damages. But when the lightning strikes nearby, Reach M2 becomes the least of losses :sweat_smile:

However, it seems that @DirtyHarry has found a solution how to save Reach :slight_smile:

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Hello,

Interesting this solution of @DirtyHarry.
I’ll see if I can find something around here.

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Same here on permanent installations.

You need to ensure it is specifically for lightning protection. Most of them are for radio systems/antennas. You need to ensure the pass-band of the suppression device is sufficient to pass all GNSS baseband frequencies (so must be > 1.5 GHz). Its also needs to pass DC to enable the GNSS antenna to receive power from the receiver.

I could go on and on about this as it is something that I have direct experience in losing various equipment from lighting strikes. We are in a highly prevalent region for lighning damage in East Anglia in the UK - I had to get a Leica GR50 reference receiver main board replaced. So believe me I know the expense and pain involved.

Here is some further background reading which you may wish too read:

The Diamond SP3000W units are gas-discharge type, with replaceable “fuses” (the discharge element).
21042_21043_SP1000PW-SP3000W_Blitzschutz_Lightning-protection.pdf (116.2 KB)

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