Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Arduino

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kumar1ayahoocom
 
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Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Arduino

Post by kumar1ayahoocom »

Hello, I am newbie here ...I am connecting FONA 808 GSM + GPS shield to Arduino Uno...followed all the directions listed on the website. Used headerpins to mount on top of Arduino UNO board. When I open serial monitor it says "Couldnt find FONA"...I can see lights lit up on FONA board, program uploaded. Can you please help. I am lost.

Just an FYI...I did not solder the board to UNO bcos, I wanted to make sure boards are communicating before I solder it.

Anil

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Post a photo showing your hardware and connections and we'll take a look. The unsoldered connections may not be making reliable contact.

800x600 images usually work best.

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kumar1ayahoocom
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by kumar1ayahoocom »

have attached the pic... very basic.. uno and inserted pins per directions and connected it. can see lights cming but the error seems to the same no matter what i do...
thx for all your help

battery is 1800 mamps with 3.7 V li polymer but the switch is on chg on FONA board
Anil
Last edited by kumar1ayahoocom on Thu Oct 15, 2015 6:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

You do need to solder the pins into the holes. The solder makes the electrical connection between the pin and the PCB.

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kumar1ayahoocom
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by kumar1ayahoocom »

I was able to solder and was able to get the menu...how ever it is incosistent ...sometimes it says "it couldnt find" and other times it works.
I am not able to enable GPS when I press "O" .... do I need gps antenna?

also I am trying to get some help where upon pressing a button it needs to send SMS ... how can I do it?

Anil

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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Let's start with the basic connections. Post a photo showing your soldering and we'll take a look. 800x600 images usually work best.

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kumar1ayahoocom
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by kumar1ayahoocom »

Please see attached ... I soldered the FONA to arduino board....ran the fonatest program and I recieved a menu... I enter O to enable GPS and it says it cannot enable ... I do not have passive gps antenna connected but I would have expected it enables gps but with weak location ... Also it does not read battery-:(
I want to connect a push button so it can send text message upon pushing the button. Sorry new here so please help

Let me know what I need to do
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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

It looks like a few of your solder joints have balls of solder on the pins. Those might not be making a good electrical connection with the PCB. Give those a dab of flux and reheat them to get smooth cones like the other joints.

The GPS module does need an external antenna. This one works well: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1991

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kumar1ayahoocom
 
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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by kumar1ayahoocom »

Do we also need to have a passive gps antenna to be able to enable gps?

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Re: Couldnt find FONA --- FONA 808 GSM + GPS Shield for Ardu

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

Yes, you do. The antenna linked above is a passive antenna.

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