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Final(?) PCB, GPS tests/docs, and gallery updates

A project log for GPS Receiver for Nikon D3100 Cameras

An inexpensive and more accurate GPS receiver accessory for Nikon D3100 (and compatible) cameras.

kevinKevin 10/21/2015 at 00:510 Comments

I've been working on some other projects so I'm a bit behind on updating the project log.

I was looking at the PCB layout and felt I could reduce the width of the board another tenth of an inch. The board size won't make any difference in terms of the board cost but it will reduce the size of the enclosure which will reduce the amount of time and plastic required to 3D print it. The result was revision 14 of the PCB with a size of 1.4" x 1" (the same as the GPS receiver module). I thought it was as close to being done as I could get until I work on the enclosure for the boards but I was wrong.

I've been trying to decide what to do with the GPS antenna when I put everything inside an enclosure that will be attached to the camera. I came up with the idea of mounting the antenna to the underside of the GPS receiver board as it has a nice flat surface. In order to do that I had to turn the GPS receiver board upside down which changed the order of the signals on the header that will plug in to the interface board. So, you guessed it, revision 15 of the PCB. I completed this latest revision four days ago. In addition to rewiring the header I added a ground plane to the bottom of the board. The only remaining changes I expect will be slight adjustments to the position of components close to the edges of the PCB, and maybe some footprints once the final components arrive in the mail.

I have updated the gallery with the latest version of the PCB, updated the 3D model of the interface PCB, and added a 3D model showing a mock up of what will be inside the enclosure of the finished project.

Due to work on other projects I haven't completed the testing of the three GPS receiver modules I have on hand. I also haven't finished reading through the total of 388 pages which make up the three documents for the Ublox GPS receiver modules. I'll get to these last tasks as soon as I get a few others items off my ToDo list.

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