Can i connect a USB powerbank to my FC so my GPS can track the sat's?

When the min. 8 sat's are found then i connect the flight battery en after that i disconnect the USB powerbank.

Is that an option?

Yes, you can do that assuming that your GPS module gets powered up when power is applied to the FC's USB port.

I do exactly this except that I use my [Android] phone to power the FC instead of a power bank while I'm taking the rest of my gear out of my backpack and setting it all up. One advantage of using a phone (or tablet) is that you can run up the Betaflight or SpeedyBee apps and monitor the GPS tab to see all of the satellites start to come online. Once I have enough satellites I disconnect my phone, connect a LiPo, then go fly

Ok Thanks, so my phone will also work. Great!

you could consider a vifly GPSmate...?

(08-Sep-2023, 03:33 PM)Roy Maas Wrote: Ok Thanks, so my phone will also work. Great!

One thing I discovered today is that using a USB-C to USB-C cable with built in OTG from my phone to one of my newer flight controllers that is equipped with a USB-C socket, it failed to power the FC. Even plugging the cable into a power bank instead of my phone still wouldn't power the FC. I tried a couple of other non-OTG USB-C to USB-C cables from a power bank to the FC and none of those would power the FC either.

So it seems that none of my USB-C to USB-C cables have the charging pins connected which is odd because USB cables usually only come in one of two flavours:

1. Only the power pins connected but not the data pins (i.e. a charge-only cable)
   
2. Both power and data pins connected (i.e. a fully functional data and charge cable)
   

I've not previously come across a USB cable that only has the data pins connected but not the power pins (i.e. a data-only cable), but it appears that all of my USB-C to USB-C cables are these.

If I chain a USC-C to USB-A cable to an OTG adapter which in turn is plugged into my phone, the USB-C equipped FC powers up just fine from that. So I guess I'll be using that configuration out in the field on my quads which have a USB-C equipped FC. The USB-C to Micro USB cable I have with built in OTG works perfectly fine on my quads which have a Micro USB equipped FC.

I thought I would point this out just in case anyone else comes across the same issue with their USB cable not powering the FC.

exactly the steps as mentioned above, exept power by battery while plugged in with the usb.
it wont fly after usb power without power it again. it wont have the sats directly, just a warmstart- it should get the satelites found bevor in short time, it should take less than a minute for a 3dfix.

depending on the location, it can be difficult to get 8 satelites on the ground, i suggest to set the min sats lower toer, to the minimum of 5 sats.

I have a custom built Walksnail Rekon35 that I use a USB powerbank to warm up the GPS and get a GPS fix before flight. Usually takes about 1 minute to have about 15 Satellites locked with my setup.  

There are a few considerations with this:

• Setup the Quad "not" to power the VTX when USB Powerbank is plugged in, this is important as the VTX can overheat while waiting for a GPS fix
  
• Setup to send GPS telemetry back to your radio and setup a GPS screen on your Radio, as your VTX will not be powered so looking at your radio to know when you would have a GPS and to know when to plug your main battery in for this I use a LUA script "OpenTX/EdgeTX GPS Widget screen" https://github.com/moschotto/OpenTX_GPS_Telemetry
  
• Make sure that you are powering your GPS module that using BEC power output on your flight controller that is powered when you have a USB Powerbank plugged in.
  

This is what a GPS fix looks like looking at my radio


I have made a video called "Rekon35 Walksnail Review, Setup, and GPS setup" which could be of interest