First post so sorry if this is in the wrong place/category. I was using the Reach RS+ survey kit (base and rover) yesterday through a big nasty rainstorm. I set up the base over a known point in a wide open area with good sky view and at a time with good satellite availability. However, when using the rover and receiving corrections over LoRa from the base, I could never achieve good enough AR validation to get a fix, only float. It was driving me nuts. Sorry I don’t have a log file. However when I went out today with a nice clear sky with no rain I was able to get a fix with maxed out AR validation at 999.9 within a minute. The only thing different was the weather.
Has anyone else encountered anything similar working in a rainstorm? I also think there could’ve been some water damage from my outing yesterday that was affecting it despite it IP67 rating. It was never submerged at any time but there was a lot of rain. The rover unit now has this problem where after it has been off for hours the LED lights kick on and all blink/flash simultaneously. It was worse yesterday than today. I just now popped off the top plastic dome cover exposing the water/dust seal/gasket and antenna and did see some drops of water. I took a can of compressed air to it and I’m letting it air dry now before putting top cover back on. I didn’t want to disassemble any further for fear of voiding any warranty.
Ever had problems with satellite TV and radio and cellular reception during rainstorms? I don’t know the science of it, but it seems signals don’t like going through water for sure. I too have experienced differences between nice clear dry days and very humid overcast days. Weather is definitely a factor.
Rainstorm is a quite challenging environmental condition for the GNSS receivers. Heavy rain, clouds, and humidity may affect signal reception, as Michael has already mentioned. I’m afraid that we won’t be able to check the actual quality of the signal as there are no logs with the observations that day.
Could you please specify whether the unit still can’t pass the loading mode?
Please note that we don’t recommend disassembling our units. In this case, we won’t be able to provide support for any hardware issues you may face.
Thank you. I didn’t necessarily disassemble it, unless you count taking off the very top cover to air it out as disassembly. It will load just fine, after airing out, except now I need to press the power button exceptionally hard to do so. That being said I used it today without any connectivity/reception issues (clear day).
The light issue I describe occurred completely unprompted as if the unit was possessed. It will have been powered off, sitting on a desk untouched for hours and then All three lights will come on and flash in tandem. Not sequentially like when loading. It was when it started doing this that I noticed that water may have gotten in through the top cover and gasket (which it did). I figured something was shorting which could make the battery overheat if I didn’t do something quick to air it out. Since airing it out, it hasn’t lit up unprompted in more than 24 hours. It is, however, temperamental with the power button.
But once again thank you and everyone else for your responses. Learned my lesson about using this in the rain. Anybody throw a shower cap on it?
