BlackHawk not locating?

There are several potential reasons a BlackHawk may not locate. Please follow the steps below, if your BlackHawk does not locate after following these steps, please contact Datablaze Support via email.

BlackHawk is powered on (lights are flashing):

1. Press and hold power button until you feel the BlackHawk vibrate.

2. With BlackHawk powered off, take the BlackHawk outdoors.

3. Power on by pressing the power button. You should see lights turn on.

4. Remain outdoors until you see the blue GPS light change from blinking to solid.

5. Login to your LiveTrack app and verify the BlackHawk has located.

BlackHawk is powered off (no lights on BlackHawk):

1. With BlackHawk powered off, take the BlackHawk outdoors.

2. Power on by pressing the power button. You should see lights turn on.

3. Remain outdoors until you see the blue GPS light change from blinking to solid.

4. Login to your LiveTrack app and verify the BlackHawk has located.

Potential reasons your BlackHawk will not locate:

1. Poor/No cellular coverage - Many rural areas have poor cellular coverage. While carriers to continue to expand their networks, coverage is becoming more and more available in rural areas. However, if you reside in a rural area with poor cellular coverage, your BlackHawk may have a hard time connecting to the cellular network. One indicator that cellular coverage is poor is if the green LED (cellular LED) is flashing rapidly (about every 1 second). However, if the green LED is flashing about every 3 seconds the BlackHawk is connected to the cellular network (see the "What do the lights mean?" article).

2. Poor/No GPS coverage - Unlike cellular coverage, GPS coverage is not typically affected by geographic areas. However, GPS coverage is affected by physical obstacles. For example, if you place the BlackHawk in, under, or surrounded by metal it will not be able to get a GPS signal. Therefore, when using and/or placing the BlackHawk, be sure that there is no metal directly over the front of the device (the side with the lights). For information on placement see the BlackHawk Placement article.

3. Device not charged/battery has died - The BlackHawk has an internal Lithium-Polymer battery, similar to the battery in your smartphone. The BlackHawk must be charged in order to operate. If you do not have the device with you, a way to determine if if the battery has died is to login to your Datablaze LiveTrack app, or the Datablaze Portal and view the last report containing the battery percentage. Chances are the last report sent will show less than 5% battery life. Therefore, you must recover the device and fully charge it. 

4. Device is stored indoors - As stated above, the BlackHawk requires GPS satellite coverage in order to obtain a location. Therefore, the device should not be placed indoors for successful tracking. Depending on the building, you may be able to obtain a location indoors. However, locations reported while indoors may be inaccurate and will suffer from GPS drift. GPS drift happens when the BlackHawk cannot see enough satellites to obtain an accurate location fix. The result of GPS drift is a cluster of locations in and around the area of the building, even though the device has not moved at all.