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Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation (Read 459 times)

Art Webb Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 3007 columbus, Texas Gender:	Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation Reply #30 - 05/22/15 at 22:13:02 22 hours? Lol
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Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation
Reply #31 - 05/23/15 at 09:22:45

Next ISSUES

You must supply the phone with plug in power ongoing as you are running the screen full bright, have all the power savings features and all the time outs turned off and you are reading GPS satellites continuously -- all of this is much more than the battery can support. Without constant input power you aren't going to go very far.

ISSUE becomes the sorry little plug socket in the bottom of the phone not being able to stay connected properly due to all the vibration and wind whipping on the cable, etc.

What happens is you get it plugged up and everything seems good, but go down the road a bit and suddenly the screen goes dead because the plug vibrated a bit so one of the little pins isn't making contact like is should and the battery got sucked dry.

I need to think on this a bit because this one may be a "can't get over it" issue. If the USB jack itself isn't going to take the vibration, etc then this whole idea is a no-show.

Sad

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NEW knowledge -- electronics style glass barrel fuses (inside the cable that connects the USB mount to the battery) cannot stand vibration under load all that well, the warmed up solder strip style conductor fractures due to the vibration.

Go to the auto parts store and get a "GERMAN style" ceramic body with copper folded over the ends style fuse --- these puppies are vibration proof. Your bike is fused for 20 amps, so if you are soldering into your regular system at some point your USB should be fused at no more than 16 amps so that one is the one that blows first.

Me, I went directly to the battery as I got me a combo jack with a USB and a cigarette lighter socket (run an emergency air pump if needed) so I fused big enough to support the air pump running through the cigarette lighter jack. 25 amps -- a bit bigger than the electrical system on the Savage uses. But since I don't touch the rest of the system and place no loads on the rest of the system other than directly to the battery, so my 25 amps is appropriate for the cigarette lighter jack and some of the things you might plug into it.

A brand new USB cable has much better "click into place and stay there" retention action than the first USB cable I was using, so with this trick a spare fresh cable in the saddle bag may be what it takes to keep the trick working when you are out in the mountains.

This evening we ride to see what we shall see ..... will she or won't she?

« Last Edit: 05/23/15 at 15:41:05 by Oldfeller--FSO »

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Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation
Reply #32 - 05/23/15 at 15:18:31

Ok, right now the Galaxy S3 on the handlebars works about as good as an old style TomTom used to work -- except it is a lot quicker on the locational refresh and the route recalculations. Trying to get it lost doesn't work, it can figure out a new route before you get to the next intersection.

It works off the stored maps on the SD card and the satellites up in the sky -- it does not need or want anything else.

I plugged in some head buds and I could hear the turn by turn instructions around town, but the wind noise at speed drowns out the "mild woman voice" that was used. I suspect the ear buds will work better inside my full face helmet as the wind noise will be much less that way.

Charging was working well now, I arrived back home with more charge than I started with, so that is working good enough now.

You do have to remember to unhook it electrically at night or it will eventually suck the bike's battery down. (I am running a direct connection to the battery instead of a switched connection because of the high amp draw cigarette lighter socket that I have beside the USB connection)

Brightness/screen visibility was faint but useable ~90%~ of the time in full daylight, but if the sun was glaring off the screen you got to see nothing but the glare --- but that is true with any of these GPS units that I have seen the guys using. For those glare times you just have to rely on the verbal instructions or else shield the thing with your left hand for a second.

The way it routed me was strange, a big preference for larger more truck friendly roads was being shown by the device -- when I got home I fiddled until I found the route preference settings and they were set to ignore all minor roads and went instead with the largest roads available. Now they prefer a minor road over a main road and instead of most economical it is set for shortest path with a preference for smaller roads.

This will need fiddling, I am sure. But right now it will go places no sane person would go to get from A to B, which actually works out good up in the mountains as we love best them awkward unimproved logging tracks that just happened to get paved recently.

I think we will find more interesting stuff that way.

Wink

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Art Webb Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 3007 columbus, Texas Gender:	Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation Reply #33 - 05/24/15 at 08:41:57 I know my Garmin found very interesting routes that way turn left at dead cow #3
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Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation
Reply #34 - 06/16/15 at 00:37:13

POST MOUNTAIN TRIP REVIEW

Well, we learned some stuff.

First, the mountains are hell on GPS in general -- you must have 4 satellites up over you (line of sight visible to you all the time) to plot a location.

This is hard to get in the valleys since the mountains cut off some of your line of sight to the required 4 satellites. This means GPS based navigation is hit or miss up in the mountains. GPS speedos are hit and miss up in the mountains. GPS based everything is hit or miss up in the mountains.

What is desireable is a system that holds your last known position until it can get a GPS satellite position update without pounding you with notifications about "no satellite connection" all the time.

What is also desirable is a system that updates the road info due to construction bypasses, bridge work, etc.

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End result of all testing is that your best handlebar GPS is your current active cell phone and Google Maps.

Google Maps stays current for road work and detours. It keeps up with new bypasses and road closures. Google maps also now allows you to save a map section off line if you need to, but I did not actually have to use that feature on this trip at all.

It is sad, but Google Maps on my active cell phone even outperformed my in-car GPS system as far as keeping up with road closures and bridge work, etc. etc.

The out of service Galaxy S3 using the old style off-line GPS software simply isn't competitive any more in just about any category.

Crank your current cell phone up by talking to Google, plug in some ear buds (routed under your helmet) then put the phone in your handle bar holder (plugged up to USB power to keep the battery charged) so you can see it --- you may get dead zones and some recalc notifications as you go along but the current cell phones will also drop into 3G tower triangulation mode automatically to supply a rough location if they can't get the needed GPS satellite fixes.

Tech notes: cell phones will sometimes not get anything for a location signal (neither GPS satellite nor cell towers) and will go into pause mode and then ask you to touch the screen to "resume" the route. They will also sometimes take road bumps as "shake instructions" so you need to turn that shake stuff off when you are on your bike trips.

Current real time road info, recent re-routings due to bridge work and roadwork, much greater ease of use say your current phone is your best handlebar GPS unit. Plus, talking to Google is a dirt easy way to set up a pathway from A to B compared to the older GPS services.

Google Maps and your current cell phone is the winner overall.

« Last Edit: 06/16/15 at 16:24:12 by Oldfeller--FSO »

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Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation
Reply #35 - 06/27/15 at 04:26:40

Ok, proof of concept time.

Got my new moto G handle bar cell phone holder, figured out how to tie my cell phone case to the mirror with some 60# break strength heavy tire cording in event that the whole thing decides to break off and jump ship on me (yup, I got two 5,000 ft cones of super duper kite string that I inherited from my time at Kelly Springfield tire company) and I got my new volume controlled ear buds all situated so I can hear what Google's girl voice has to say as I roll along.

Time to see if the new rig does what I expect it to do.

"OK Google, navigate to Bass Pro Shops, Cary NC."

Shocked

...... more Reloader 19, I need more Reloader 19 .....

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Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation
Reply #36 - 06/27/15 at 06:20:26

First thing you learned is you have to turn off auto rotate. I used to refer to it as "shake" on the other phone, but on the Android phone it is called auto rotate. Turn it off or you will be driven crazy by road vibration vibration flipping your screen around.

Next thing you learn is that you lose your voice navigation every time you lose your cell signal, but you do not lose the navigation.

Navigation sticks around until you run completely out of the map segment that you downloaded (which takes a while).

When you notice that you got bars again you can restart the navigation and everything self heals. If not, then cancel the navigation and close the app and restart the app and everything will start fresh.

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Art Webb Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 3007 columbus, Texas Gender:	Re: Free Android Phone GPS based Navigation Reply #37 - 06/27/15 at 10:51:39 I learned the 'shake' lesson myself the other day I need a handlebar mount though, mine was in a clear plastic map pocket in my tank bag (gotta look down to see it)
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