Powering GPS on AeroQuad Shield

[shoupydad]

Hi all, First I am new to this. Started building my aeroquad a couple of months ago. I am trying to interface and test my sparkfun Venus GPS board with my AeroQuad Shield V2.1.2 and my Arduino Mega. I have wired my gps to the gps header on the shield. When powered up, I noticed the led on the gps was not on. It seems the 3.3V pin on the gps header does not have 3.3V on it. I looked at the shield board pcb layout in Eagle and that header pin goes to a set of pads next to the 9DOF pads, which are labeled 3.3V. There are a set of 4 pins (2x2) that are tied together, but not to the Arduino 3.3V pin. Should they be? Should I just install a jumper wire from the Arduino 3.3V pin on the shield to the set of 4 pins? Is there something else that should be done? Thanks for any help anyone can give. Tony...

[wooden]

Looks like you're right, those pins aren't connected to 3.3V. There's may be a reason they're not connected but I don't think you'll hurt anything adding a jumper.

[shoupydad]

Looks like you're right, those pins aren't connected to 3.3V. There's may be a reason they're not connected but I don't think you'll hurt anything adding a jumper.

I added a temporary jumper and got the gps to power up. I also had to swap my Tx & Rx. I tied Tx to Tx and Rx to Rx. Dummy me, I should have tied Tx to Rx and Rx to Tx. Now I am seeing how the Version 3.01 gps code runs. I had the gps from another project (a rocket data logger) and thought I would put it on my aeroquad, while I wait to save up more money to buy my 9DOF sensor stick. Then I get to start buying motors and ESCs. Knew I should have gotten my MBA instead of doing physics and engineering... Oh well.... Tony...

[mmonti]

I had to go to a separate 3.3vdc supply. http://www.rangevideo.com/index.php?...roducts_id=161
I have GPS, Camera and video Xmitter all wanted 3.3v, when I tryed to use the on-board 3.3v supply it was loaded to much and sensor data got very noisy.
Going to this 3.3vdc supply fix it right up.

[wooden]

The onboard voltage regulator on the Mega is only rated for so much current, you were likely pulling more than it could handle (or very close to the limits) which caused it to get noisy.