[downtowndeco]

I'm using an infared light bridge & a printer port. I've tried messing w/the settings a bit but am still missing laps. Various cars, various lanes. I can find no specific reason. Thoughts? thanks.

 

[downtowndeco]

I might be on to something. I ran 8 five minute races (me vs rubber band racer). When I made a concious effort to not run any closer than a couple feet from the other car at the start/finish I did not lose any more than one lap, and in most cases the number was zero. I have a sneaking suspicion I may have miscounted and so there may have not been any laps lost.

But when I ran a race & tried to cross the start/finish at the same instant as the other car, the lap loss was anywhere from 4 to 7 laps. Usually it was the faster car (me) that lost a lap. I traded lanes back and forth w/robo racer and there did not seem to be a difference which car it was or which lane it was in.

The good news is there seems to be some correlation between crossing the start finish at the same time as other cars and losing laps. The bad news is I'm not exactly sure what to do next. Will dicker with the settings a bit more.

Basically it seems that if two cars cross at once someone may lose a lap. That is the key.

 

[downtowndeco]

Still having problems.

I changed from infrared to incandecent bulbs & am still having the same issue. Sometimes when two cars pass over the sensors about the same time one may miss a lap. Then two laps later the lane that missed the lap records a "double" time. In other words, the average lap around my layout is 4.5. What it will do is one lane will miss a lap & then 2 laps later it will record a 9 second lap time.

I've tried messing w/the debounce & the setting to account for faster/slower computers. Anyone else ever have this problem? Thoughts?

 

[downtowndeco]

Beside it. I don't think it's the sensors because this only seems to happen when two cars pass the s/f at the same time. Any other time it does not miss laps.

QUOTE (munter @ 22 Aug 2011, 08:45) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>this has been the only problem I have had with laptimer2k.

How deep do you have the track sensors? Are they in the bottom of the slot or mounted beside it?

 

[downtowndeco]

Common ground? I use two AFX wallwarts. Are you saying one should be plugged into one outlet and the other in a seperate one? Thanks Rich.

 

[downtowndeco]

Last night I tested the counter using a sheet of cardstock instead of cars. I tried testing it 2 lanes at a time & 4 lanes at a time by quickly sliding the card over the sensors. Even though in most cases the times were all identical (all four lanes reading 4.650 for example) I did not lose any laps. I did five 5 minute "races" and missed no laps. I then tried sliding the card at a slight angle so that I would get a slight variation between lanes, still, no lost laps.

Huh. What does that mean? I have been testing using Mega G's. Is there some weird electro/magnet thing that happens sometimes when two cars pass over the sensors at about the same time? Do the cars go over the sensors too fast? I'll try some slower cars today but it's a little harder for me to test because my SRT's are no mag which means I can't set one as a rubber band racer because it won't stay on the track. Understand, I don't have a racer that can just run over to help me test any old time.