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(weird) Find My iPhone question

N

njdevil

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 5, 2009
41
0
I need some quick iPhone advice. I'm part of a group of people planning to send an amateur weather balloon rigged with cameras into the upper atmosphere next year- aside from wanting to photograph the earth from high altitudes, It'll also be our way of scattering our dog's ashes and giving him the awesome send off he deserves.

Here's the plan: Balloon will reach a certain altitude before bursting and releasing the rig containing the cameras into a slowed decent back to earth. Since we are on a tight budget and this rig is undoubtedly going to land a significant distance from where we release it, we're planning to have a spare iPhone 3GS onboard and using Find My iPhone to locate the rig once it lands.

Having never used the app myself, What seems like a decent plan to me could be flawed in a way I haven't foreseen, so I'm asking you more highly informed folks: Is the app accurate enough to be worth using like this? Does anyone forsee any problems with this? (other than the chance it'll land outside of 3G coverage or break upon landing of course)

Any thoughts welcome!
 
Waterproofing?

You better make sure it is in a watertight case or bag, in case it lands in a lake. Of course, if your entire rig sinks in a deep enough lake, it might not do you much good to know where it is anyway.
 
Here is guide you might like to look at, if you haven't already Balloon.
I would Google some tracking device's, That seems to be a more reliable, cheaper and durable for such event. Let alone the chance of losing an iPhone.(insurance cover such things), and you might not just lose it in a field. Good luck with it though.
 
Not sure on how hot everything gets on the descent down to earth, but possible overheating? If it shuts itself off you'll be left with no location and an iPhone in a field with this image.

167615-iphonetemperature_180.jpg
 
The phone will be in a ziploc bag with som silica gel packets for condensation, in a newspaper-filled cooler wrapped in tinfoil along with some handwarmers. Cold shouldn't be a problem (heat certainly won't be) and I've got a USB battery charger that'll make sure everything's got enough power for at least a day, though a few hours is all it'll really need.

Any thoughts on the Find My iPhone app itself? How good is it?
 
njdevil said:
... Any thoughts on the Find My iPhone app itself? How good is it?
Click to expand...

Your 3GS doesn't have to be in the air for you to test the app for yourself, y'know!
I've found the App to work perfectly... Takes about 15 seconds to locate devices and from there it's the standard (accurate) location you'd expect to see on the device itself.

Also: don't over-insulate the 3GS in its container... What if it lands somewhere with extremely weak signal? Nightmare.
And: how are you controlling the descent back down?

PS: I'm sure we're all very interested to see how far the balloon actually travels and a few of the shots you manage to get whilst up there... If you could post a thread about it later, that'd be sweet!
 
it's a 3G, not a 3GS- is that a problem? I haven't tried it yet because it's a second hand phone that I need to unlock before I can get a sim card in it to test the 3G.

Oh and I'll be sure to post pictures when it's all done, even if we don't end up using an iPhone.
 
Well as far as I know, you can't use Find My iPhone on the iPhone 3G because they don't support iCloud. You'll have to find an alternative.
 
Yes, but only with a MobileMe subscription. MobileMe is now retired in favour of iCloud, so the only way to get Find My iPhone now is through iCloud-supported devices, which the iPhone 3G is sadly not.
 
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