LinkSprite GPS shield

Help & Support Robot Parts
1

Hi,

I ordered Link Sprite GPS shield for Arduino last Feb 3 (Order #700018579). I just found out now that it is not working. I set the jumpers to TX-D2 and RC-D3. I first use this simple code to test but there are no output. I also tested the scripts from learn.linksprite.com/arduino/shields/use-tinygps-library-with-linksprite-gps-v2a-shield/ same issue no output. I hope you can help me on this

Thanks

Francis

[code]
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial GPS(2,3); // configure software serial port -

void setup()
{
GPS.begin(9600);
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{
byte a;
if (GPS.available() > 0 )
{
a = GPS.read(); // get the byte of data from the GPS
Serial.write(a);
}
}[/code][font=Monaco, MonacoRegular, Courier New, monospace][/font]

2

Hi Francis,

Did you make sure to pull pin D6 to low, like mentioned in the link you provided?

Also, did you ensure nothing else is connected to pins D2 and D3?

When you ran the example you linked to from LinkSprite, did you get any output to the serial monitor at all? Did you at least get the initial messages like “Testing TinyGPS library v…]” ?

Sincerely,

3

Thank you for your reply scharette it is working now. I did not set D6 to low.

4

Hi,

We are glad to hear you got your product to work. Would it be possible for you to post again with the details of what was the issue you identified and how you resolved it? This could help other people in the RobotShop community that may face the same issues you did.

Sincerely,

5

thanks the LinkSprite GPS is working now.

The issue was there was no data coming in when I monitored through serial. The resolution is setting up Pin 6 to OUTPUT and set it to LOW.

I added these lines to setup()
pinMode(6,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(6,LOW);

6

I encountered roadblock again. So I added an IO Expansion shield V5 whenever the shield is connected the I could not receive data from the GPS but when I remove it the GPS works fine.

I’ve been playing with the jumpers on the IO shield but no success there is not much information regarding the jumper settings.

Is it an issue with pin 2 and 3? because it looks like the IO shield is using it for RX/TX and the GPS also uses it for Software Serial.

Anybody had success installing both GPS and IO Shield?

TIA

7

Hi,

According to the IO Expansion Shield v5 data from the manufacturer, the hardware serial interface is used on the Arduino (pin 0 / 1) and pins 2 is also used to control transmission.
The TinyGPS Library with LinkSprite GPS V2A Shield can be configured to use either pin 0 / 1 and pin 2 / 3 for TX and RX.
Since the IO shield needs 3 of those for communication, it does not seem like they would be compatible together.

A possible option would be to not place the IO shield on top of the GPS shield and instead use jumper cables to connect the relevant pins (0, 1, 2) of the shield to other pins of the Arduino / GPS shield to allows the SoftwareSerial library to use different pins than the one used for the GPS shield.

Sincerely,

8

thanks for your reply scharette. I’ll try to use the jumper cables I’ll let you know if I succeed.