GPS antenna mounting on fiberglass cars?

[jlucas]

Anybody worked out a good mounting method on fiberglass cars? In my case a Z06 Corvette, but I image this applies also to the Elise, etc...

[Michael]

On my Elise the GPS antenna is fitted in the middle of the dash where the windscreen meets the dash. Works fine for me as the Elise has a sweep-around windscreen. On Porsches the position under the rear screen gives better results.

[shanba]

On my FF, I use velcro to attach my antenna to my bodywork. I also throw a piece of tape over it for piece of mind. It did come loose on me once.

[ewaher]

blue painters tape works well to attach it to body work. Tape is cheap, use lots of it

[RTUSA]

Most secure in my experience is double sided foam tape. Main hazard is pulling off paint if paint isn't well adhered.

You will lose some accuracy when mounting inside the car, as the GPS antenna should ideally have as good a view of the 360 degree low sky as possible. In some instances you might not notice the difference, though.

[cr_craig]

I have a Lotus Exige (fiberglass body). Would mounting the GPS antenna underneath a fiberglass panel on the top of the front hood of the car impede its function?

Thanks,
Robert.

[Michael]

If you have an Exige with ABS then the antenna is ideally positioned on the ABS metal body. Works fine in all Elises with Toyota engine.

[RTUSA]

Again, my prejudice is in favor of mounting on top of the car. But if mounting under a fiberglass panel is giving you good results and you are happy, then great!

[jlucas]

If you have an Exige with ABS then the antenna is ideally positioned on the ABS metal body. Works fine in all Elises with Toyota engine.

Michael, can you look at the average Pos Accuracy from your data when the antenna is mounted this way?

(or send me a data file with data logged while the antenna was under the body work)

Thanks.

[Bruce]

If you have an Exige with ABS then the antenna is ideally positioned on the ABS metal body. Works fine in all Elises with Toyota engine.

Michael, can you clarify this mounting location. This is on top of the ABS unit and is actually under the black plastic vents piece on the Elise? On my Elise the top of the ABS unit is plastic not metal. I'd post a pic of the location but apparently you can't post pics as attachments on this forum.

[jlucas]

Sure you can, you just can't upload it to the forum.

You have to host it from Imageshack.us or some other free image hosting site.

edit: email it to me if you can't figure it out and I'll post it

[jlucas]

Micheal, Bruce sent me some pictures. Which location are you referring too?


OR



I'm sure all the Elise/Exige owners would appreciate your feedback. I'd still like to see what your GPS accuracy data variable looks like in these under hood locations.

[Michael]

Micheal, Bruce sent me some pictures. Which location are you referring too?

I'm sure all the Elise/Exige owners would appreciate your feedback. I'd still like to see what your GPS accuracy data variable looks like in these under hood locations.

Sorry, I posted some wrong information re. the position of the GPS-antenna. My customer told me he had fitted the antenna on top of the ABS box but after I have asked him to make a picture I found out that in reality it sits on a bracket on top of the brake vacuum reservoir, see here:

Re. the positional accuracy regarding the antenna position we found that this depends more of the circumstances on the day than the fixing. I could only find some files of the Nuerburgring, unfortunately not from the same day. My car has the antenna fitted in the foremost position under the windscreen (black line in graphs) while the other antenna sits on the brake vacuum reservoir (red line in graphs).

See the differences that are noticeable in the

first graph

first graph and almost none of the same in the

second graph.

If you should have any more detailed questions I will try to get some run-files from the same day on the Zandvoort track.

[jlucas]

Thanks for the info.

If you get a chance to update it later with data from the same part of the day (back to back, if possible) that will help us understand the placement effect even better. Note: this doesn't have to be done only a track event. If it's a street car, it can be done just driving around.

[Michael]

Thanks for the info.

If you get a chance to update it later with data from the same part of the day (back to back, if possible) that will help us understand the placement effect even better. Note: this doesn't have to be done only a track event. If it's a street car, it can be done just driving around.

But when you meet your customers mostly on tracks ...., even if the vehicles are street legal cars.