Please change the rubber plugs on RS2

I love the RS2 but the rubber plugs is very bad design. It is very difficult to plug anything in. The plugs need to open the other direction (down and toward outside). Y’all can easily modify plugs to open that direction and be good. Now a user needs to cut the plug off for serial cable port. The others don’t need to be cut but not easy to work with. Just my suggestion.

Hi Tim,

Thank you for your feedback. What kind of cable you use? One we have in our Online Store?

yes sir. I got them from Event38. I should not use the word terrible… maybe “less than desirable”. Here is a kindergarten sketchup of how I think the plugs should work :slight_smile:! I just took a razor and cut mine so I can pull them off and plug them back in when done. Only problem is I already lost one.

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Considering I do not leave my receivers in wet conditions nor do I survey in rainy conditions these are pretty much dust protectors so I am thinking about cutting a small piece of the gasket closest to the head. What’s interesting is that someone obviously already recognized this issue if you look at the missing edge on the gasket. Eventually this will tear when weathered from the fact that I have to pull it back with a decent amount of tension to get the antenna on without fear of potentially cross-threading it.

FWIW, I understand that the RS2 units are IP67 rated, even with the rubber port-protectors open. @dmitriy.ershov can you please confirm?

We find the LoRa port more cramped by the cover than the others. We have had another user complain about LoRa range and the trigger for their problem was that the antenna was not mounted properly, as one does need to take care to ensure it threads on properly, against the pressure of the flap.

It’s true that this is an area for improvement. At the same time, as a regular user, we’re familiar with the product and are able to succesfully connect everything we need to through these ports with the current design.

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I too have a problem with the rubber flap.
The adhesive that hold the blue plug to the body to the GPS has completely come off.

Flap just fell off one day

Same issue here, even with the supplied USB cable it’s a tight fit, and there’s now a small tear in the Lora antenna cover on both my units. They also make the Lora antenna quite difficult to fit.

We regularly use our units in the rain and never had any issues. One of our original RS+ units spent 16 hours in pretty atrocious condition, the unit was fine but the optical plummet on the tribrach was toast!

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I can vouch for the waterproofing…

One of my RS2 units was out on loan to a farmer doing A-B lines. We live in the Australian tropics (annual rain measured in metres) and this RS2 base spent the entire monsoon season out in the rain, with the rubber flap for the Lemo and LoRa ports open for permanent power supply (via an Emlid-supplied cable) and RTCM corrections broadcast, respectively.

NB. The quick release between the pole and the unit was only added to allow rapid dismount in case of cyclones.

After testing, the base unit continues to run just fine…

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In order to keep on topic the weatherproofing of the devices is not the point of this thread. It is simply the fact that the design does not allow for comfortable connection of the LoRa antenna and the fact that someone is going to cross-thread it at some point as a result. This isn’t an issue with a permanent/semi-permanent base, but when you are loading and unloading the receiver several times in a day it is.

Thanks for the feedback, we always appreciate it.

Engineering is all about making compromises and we have decided to go with this design as we believe that it provides more advantages than disadvantages.

Reach receivers are used in very harsh conditions and this poses certain limitations on the design. We believe that all connectors should be protected not only from water ingress, but also from salt, dust and dirt. Based on our statistics RS2 connectors/plugs design is more efficient than unprotected connectors of RS. This new, more protected design ensures a long life for your Reach RS2.

As for the tight fit of the LoRa antenna, we have updated the design of the antenna and made it thinner to make it easier to install. All new RS2 ship with a thinner antenna.

Again, thank you all for the discussion and for showcasing how durable the units actually are :slight_smile:

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Is that something we can purchase on the store now? I just got my kit and they came with the thicker antennas. I’m just trying to eliminate small issues like this that always seem to happen with our construction field crews. Sometimes there’s not much you can do about their behaviour though… :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

Can you PM me a picture of your antenna? I am closing this thread for now as I think that the discussion is going in the other direction :slight_smile:

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