PA1010D GPS Breakout is not detected but green led is blinking

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1

Warm welcome, amazing folks!

I bought a few sensors for my new project, but I have a bizarre problem PA1010D GPS Breakout.

I am working on a project that will allow me to collect data on my travels, and PA1010D breakout doesn’t seem to work.

It cannot be detected by any means BUT fun fuct … green led blinking once per second.

What I tried ?

  • Re-insert gps modules a few times (while Pi was off)
  • Try only gps module
  • Tried on other breakout garden (that I am using for other projecT)

I followed instructions from here:

and I tried run example from there

When I run the example, it throws Error 121 because … well … is not detected.
This is outcome of i2cdetect -y 1

ds@DomQuestTrases:~ $ i2cdetect -y 1
     0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  a  b  c  d  e  f
00:                         -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
10: 10 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 19 -- -- -- -- -- --
20: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
30: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
40: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
50: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
60: -- -- 62 63 -- -- -- -- 68 -- -- -- -- -- -- --
70: -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

any clue what I did wrong ?
or what else I can do before I spam Pimoroni support ?

Interesting … it started working but ONLY if UV sensor is removed.
Is that means I cannot use uv sensor veml6075 with GPS ?

2

What i2c address is the VEML6075 using? You can’t have two devices with the same address. The GPS is using 0x10. If the VEML6075 is also using 0x10, you’ll have to use the jumper on the back to switch it to its alternate address. Assuming it has that jumper option. My VEML6075 is soldered in place and I can’t see the back side. Plus its hooked up to my Pi PICO. I’d have to hunt up my i2c scan code and run it to see what address it uses. Normally that info is on the product page but they pulled the product page for the VEML6075. I wish they would have left it up and just marked it as dicontinued.

1 Like
3

I was looking for source code for breakout garden

0x10[0x0c=0x0026]: veml6075-python: veml6075: veml6075 uva and uvb sensor
0x10[0x0c!=0x0026]: pa1010d-python: pa1010d: pa1010d GPS

I don’t see a switch …so I guess I need to choose between GPS and UV sensor …
thank you!

4

The breakouts that have that option will have two solder pads on the back. And say ADDR+1 under the pads. On my BME280 you cut the track between the two pads to change the address from 0x76 to 0x77. Bridge the two pads with solder and it goes back to 0x76

5

Yeah… I checked that but sadly veml do not have this :(

6

Yeah, the GPS breakout doesn’t either. Bad luck. There are i2c multiplexers, you’d need one with Python support. Might end up just opening another can of worms coding wise. Or find a UV sensor (Adafruit maybe) that uses a different address.

7

Thanks for your help. It is not the end of the world for my project I can use another sensor.
Thanks for the help as always!

8

I’m using a bunch of breakout garden stuff on some Pi’s and PICO’s. So far I’ve only had to use the address jumper once. I have a BME280 and BME680 in use on a PICO.

One option is to use a GPS module / breakout that uses the Pi’s UART pins for communication. Do that and the UV sensor will work.
Adafruit Ultimate GPS Breakout - 66 channel w/10 Hz updates - Version - Pimoroni