Temperature On The 60cs

[+The Cielens Clan]

I have emailed this enquiry to Garmin as well. As many 60CS users would know by now, when you enter the system screen on startup, a number of readings are given. One of these is the ambient temperature. My limited tests so far indicate that the temperature is relatively accurate.

Does anyone know if Garmin are planning a firmware update that will enable owners to access this information whilst the 60CS is in general use? As it is not practical to be continually turning the unit on and off just to get the temperature.

Perhaps everyone who owns a 60CS should start pestering Garmin to see if they would consider implementing this feature.

They may come back a say it is impossible for whatever reason. But why wouldn't they want to make one of the best units on the market more saleable. It would also be another marketing point over the Magellan unit that measures both temperature and pressure.

[+TheOfficeMaven]

As many 60CS users would know by now, when you enter the system screen on startup, a number of readings are given. One of these is the ambient temperature.

 

Would you mind sharing how exactly you do this?

 

BTW, I agree that it would be nice to be able to see the temperature displayed on the 60CS as well.

[+The Cielens Clan]

Sorry,

 

I was going to put it on my post.

 

With the unit off, turn it on whilst holding down the enter button. To get out of this screen you then have to turn the unit off then on again. Hence my dismay.

[vr12]

I belive this temperature is for internal clock only.

[+NimravusHSSR]

It's probably not ambient temperature outside. It's most likely a safety heat switch to shut the unit down to avoid damage. That would be my guess...

[+Renegade Knight]

It's probably not ambient temperature outside. It's most likely a safety heat switch to shut the unit down to avoid damage. That would be my guess...

Which would explain why it's accurate when it first fires up. It would be worth a test after some use to see if it heats up to confirm this.

[+Fenix6372]

I was under the impression that the 60CS took an initial ambient temperature reading to correctly interpret and calculate the data it was getting from the barometric sensor.

[+GOT GPS?]

All GPS units need a temperature sensor, because the Cystal Oscillator that generates a frequency, will change to a higher or lower frequency when the temperature outside changes. If any GPS did not have a termometer, then the clock would be unreliable at different temperatures. I forget how far a signal will travel in a nanosecond, but if the oscillator in a GPS was not temperature compensated via a termometer and the firmware, the GPS will be very unreliable with it's accuraccy. The better the crystal oscillator is controlled the better your accuraccy will be in Arizona or Alaska.

 

Highly Technical stuff on GPS accuracy and the need of a termometer in the GPS

 

I have 2 indentical GPS V units, and their clocks have drifted apart quite a bit in a short time of un-use, this can effect your GPS accuraccy if the clock is off even by a few nanoseconds per second.

 

What is the distance, the signal travels in one Nano-Second?

 

Edited in:

One nanosecond -- a billionth of a second -- is the speed at which transistors in today's computers turn on and off to represent the ones and zeros of binary logic and arithmetic. It is a time-duration so short that light, which can speed seven times around Earth in the second between our heartbeats, travels only one foot.

Edited August 12, 2004 by GOT GPS?

[+The Cielens Clan]

Surely if the units have built in temperature sensors, the firmware could be setup to access the information and present it on the screen? If it is continually accessing the sensor to ensure unit accuracy it must be keeping the data somewhere?

 

Does anyone have a contact @ Garmin tech. support who may be able to answer these questions? I tried contact tech. support through the web site but have not heard back yet.

[+Prime Suspect]

What is the distance, the signal travels in one Nano-Second?

 

Anyone who's had a formal education in programming knows the famous story of Admiral Grace Hopper, co-inventer of the COBAL programming language, among many other things.

 

Another one of her favorite teaching tools was her wire "nanosecond." One day, Grace herself was having a hard time comprehending what a nanosecond was, so she called down to the engineering building and asked them to "Please cut off a nanosecond and send it up to me." She received a piece of wire 11.78 inches long, which represented the maximum distance electricity could travel in a wire during one nanosecond. Grace liked her nanosecond so much, that she asked for something to compare it to. They then sent her a "microsecond" -- a coil of wire 984 feet long. She said, "Some times I think that we should hang one on all programmers' desks or around their necks so they know exactly what they're wasting when they throw away a microsecond."

[+Prime Suspect]

I have 2 indentical GPS V units, and their clocks have drifted apart quite a bit in a short time of un-use, this can effect your GPS accuraccy if the clock is off even by a few nanoseconds per second.

You're assuming that the displayed time is the same as the internal clock. Fetching the time from the internal clock and displaying it to the user is really not a critical task, and probably has a low processor priority. It could easily be behind by a couple of seconds. That does't mean the internal clock is behind as well.

[+GOT GPS?]

I have 2 indentical GPS V units, and their clocks have drifted apart quite a bit in a short time of un-use, this can effect your GPS accuraccy if the clock is off even by a few nanoseconds per second.

You're assuming that the displayed time is the same as the internal clock. Fetching the time from the internal clock and displaying it to the user is really not a critical task, and probably has a low processor priority. It could easily be behind by a couple of seconds. That does't mean the internal clock is behind as well.

Actually several minutes apart they are.