[Lars]

Had a racing event yesterday with some friends using the APB C7042 with the PB Pro 1,04 software upgraded. We were driving 7 heats with 4 cars on track, with some people complaining about the ending places in the race - I actually only noticed this in the final race where my neighbour seemed to have beaten me according to the C7042, but no way this could be true. I drove a perfect race without any deslots. And he drove like s...

Then today made a test pushing the 4 cars over the line several times - not one error in the lap timing. Tried pushing slow, pushing hard - lifting the front of the car just a little bit - no problems at all. The braids are brand new. Has anyone some experience in this, and what it could be else that is causing mistakes?

Next time I will have to have an accoundant noticing the laps on a piece of paper, to compare with powerbase results.

Technical question - does the C7042 for timing have both sensor and a braid "tap" registration? Cant seem to find anything but the sensor. And if so - should both be registrated to notice the lap for the car?

 

[richardtheforth]

'Excitement & frustration'... that should be written clearly on the box!

Nothing like undermining the excitement of the hobby to outsiders with a piece of 'Advanced' digital hardware that tells them they lost when they won!
Cheers,
Richard

 

[JamieG]

I don't want to imagine my neighbor beating me after he known how much time I spend in the home track...
Even if the victory is false it would give a lot of frustration. So I understand your disappointment.
Sorry I don't have the new APB so I cannot give you feedback.
Cheers,
JamieG

 

[MrFlippant]

Pushing cars across is not the same as lap counting in the heat of a race. Do you have a photo or diagram of your track plan, or one that you copied/mimicked? It's possible that the placement of the base is prone to lap count errors in a racing situation.

To prove that a lap is counted while racing, you can do two things. First, go to the Platform options and turn ON the "Beep" function, which is a beep for when the cars cross the line, which is DISabled by default. Then, you should hear the beep as a car crosses, and know if it didn't count properly because of the lack of a beep. Also, if you watch the APB display tower, you'll see each car's time/laps flash as they cross the line. If you watch that and don't see the right rows flashing as the cars cross the track, then something isn't being counted correctly.

If you set all the cars up as pacers, fast enough to get around but not deslot, it will make testing, and watching the display, much easier. I wouldn't try this with guys trying to have a race, though.

 

[jmswms]

The 7042 is notorious for missing laps. There are lots of "fixes" that improve it, but it's still a problem. It was a bit demoralizing to me, but it is possible to get some solutions. the best solution is to put the PB in a location where the cars are going slow when they cross the lap counter. Do a search and you'll find some threads on the problem.

 

[brembo]

I located my lap timing in the braking zone at the end of the straight which cured all of the problems associated with the guide not being totally in the slot. I think this is what others in this thread are driving at when requesting a picture/diagram of your layout.
Regards
Steve

 

[Lars]

My layout looks like this - as you see the powerbase is quite at the end of the straight.

Maybe the XLC is to close to the powerbase? Hmmm probably not............

 

[awallace]

Lars - the way the C7042 measures lap times is by:
- getting the ID from the ID sensor
- getting the time from the blade sensor
It then pairs these and saves the lap time.
With the position on the track and the direction of travel, I can't understand why you have any problems. I have tested it with 1000s of laps, and not missed one.
I'm going to suggest that it is most likely a problem with one of your cars. Do any of your cars have lights? Anything about the cars which missed laps that is different from the others?

 

[Lars]

All of my cars have lights. All the cars are digital from the sets Pro GT, and Digital Super GT. Yesterday I drove with two Porsche's and two Aston Martin's.

When I tested the system in the afternoon, one of the Porsche's actually gave some odd timings - not like it missed a lap, but more like driving extreme low lap times. I put new braids on it, and it worked fine. I actually also tried to drive many laps with all of the cars (one at a time), and everything seemed fine. So one of my thoughts was also if it could be because of drivin with four cars at a time, that something odd would happen?

I guess I will try to drive with the pacer cars as Mr. Flippant suggested - then maybe it will show if it is only one car that courses the problems.

Is travelling clockwise better than the other way around?

 

[awallace]

Have the cars travelling over the powerbase from the ID sensor to the blade sensor. This appears to be the most reliable direction. So if you have the hanset inputs at the front, this is travelling from the right to left as you look at the powerbase.

 

[Lars]

Check - thats the way I do it now.

Why did you ask if the cars have lights regarding to lap counting issues

 

[JamboRossi79]

QUOTE (Lars @ 8 May 2011, 18:35) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>All of my cars have lights. All the cars are digital from the sets Pro GT, and Digital Super GT. Yesterday I drove with two Porsche's and two Aston Martin's.

When I tested the system in the afternoon, one of the Porsche's actually gave some odd timings - not like it missed a lap, but more like driving extreme low lap times. I put new braids on it, and it worked fine. I actually also tried to drive many laps with all of the cars (one at a time), and everything seemed fine. So one of my thoughts was also if it could be because of drivin with four cars at a time, that something odd would happen?

I guess I will try to drive with the pacer cars as Mr. Flippant suggested - then maybe it will show if it is only one car that courses the problems.

Is travelling clockwise better than the other way around?
I've had that just a couple of times and I have ran 100s of laps so very rare, it seems to me the sensor on the XLC after the powerbase is somehow recording the end of the lap hence the low lap times and also why the slower driver would win as they would have potentially completed less proper laps.

Does anyone know if that sounds feasible ?

 

[MrFlippant]

The fresh braids fixing it points to the problem of shorts causing errors in the APB. If you have any "old" XLCs, do the "DPR Fix" and paint the ends of the rails at the crossing/merge points to prevent worn/spread braids from shorting across the adjacent rails. Fresh braids would fix the issue 'cus they're not as frayed and less likely to cause the short.

 

[UshCha]

I had the same problem. I do have the digital lap counter. Is it worth having both for a race night as a check? Is the lap counter better (when it behaves) than the APB. Might need the odd tea break if there are too many de-slots while the lap counter re-sets but better that than the wrong winner. That was one of the problems at the first Chellaston GP. I hoped its was fixed by v1.04 but I need to find out or I may have Lars problem.

 

[RikoRocket]

See here for XLC mod

 

[Lars]

Thanks for the link.

I can see that this matters the DPR cars - mine are digital from the sets. But could they course the same problems?

 

[slotmartin]

Hi,
Just a thought, have you set the min lap time, this can cause odd things if not set up correctly.
Cheers Martin

 

[MrFlippant]

I believe the theory is that while shorts on the braids of an old DPR car will cause the CAR to go crazy, shorts from the braids of ANY car can cause errors in the APB timing system. As such, doing the "DPR Fix" on all your straight lane changers may alleviate the problem, even if you have no DPR cars.

 

[Lars]

Thanks for all the good advice. And no - I have not set minimum lap times, but will do that when I make some testing in the weekend.