[injectorman]

SO HOW DOES THE ULTIMA SYSTEM (By Scorpius) WORK?

What is ULTIMA? Ultima is when both PEARL and Anti Collision functions on the Scorpius system are used simultaneously.
I have set it up this way because some will use both, some will use just Anti Collision (AC), some will use just PEARL. (Programmable Electronically Activated Race Line).
Everyone has different needs or likes here and we have that added flexibilty.

WHAT IS PEARL EXACTLY?

PEARL is as mentioned programmable and able to be customised to anyones liking.
Some notes on PEARL:

1) The "Race Line" is stored on the car decoder and is 100% a function of the car. The Lane Brain (Lane changer electronics) have no role. They just do what theyre told

2) You can choose to use or not use PEARL.

3) You can have certain drivers use PEARL and other drivers NOT use PEARL.

4) Everyone can have their own unique PEARL. ie race line.

5) Every driver who elects to use PEARL can escape the race line at any lane changer by pushing the LC button.

6) When using in conjunction with anti collision gives exactly the same result as BLST by my good friend David Caille. It is however achieved using a totally different method.
ULTIMA is like BLST, but on steroids.

7) ULTIMA has total flexibility in every conceivable way.

8) Can work on single LCs and XLCs (2 LBS required at XLCs)

9) XLCs are not required and not really recommended, but can be used.

10) Livened flippers are standard equipment. Exit flippers can be active (move) or passive (not move) but can be livened none the less.

11) Can be utilised on hybrid analogue/digital tracks

12) Can be used bi-directionally.

13) Can be used on 2, 3, 4 or more lane tracks.

14) Does your washing up, vaccuums and more

How is Anti Collision configured?

AC is totally a function of the Lane Brain relying off data from the cars. LEDs are placed in the track before the lane changer. The Lane Change LED is placed around 120-200mm (distance is relative to speed) before the flipper. The AC LED is in the adjacent lane (The lane the cars change into) a further 120-200 before the LC LED.
Using the Lane Brain set up page you can configure AC and lots of other adjustable parametrs.

ie, Put the LED a fraction too far from the flipper? Easy, use delay.
Wired solenoid back to front? Easy, tick "Swap Flippers"
Using a pit lane entry, the liven flipper polarity will be set up to change lanes the other way. Need to change liven flipper polarity? Easy, just change polarity.
Want anti collision? Easy just tick the box,. Dont want it just untick.
Exit flipper opens and closes before the car passes through? Just increase the delay time.

How does Anti Collision work?

Its ultra simple. If the AC LED is noticed by a car it deactivates the lane changer for 50 milliseconds. Works every time.

How to set up PEARL?

Go into controller menu and activate "PEARL learn"
Drive around the track on YOUR prefered race line.
Put controller in PEARL "on" mode.
Thats it.
Place car on track, it will now drive your race line without using the LC button.
Want to "eascape" the race line, Just press the LC button. It will change a "LC command" to non cjhange. Likewise if its default is straight you can change lanes by activationg LC button.

Neat trick for pits

Sick of missing your pit bay? Press too early or too late. Hop the car over the pit lane entry by lifting and replacing. Drive car down pit lane and teach you car to pull into your pit bay. Now back to PEARL "On". Now never miss a pit bay entry again

Of course a video is on the cards.

 

[Merc_A]

Purrrrfect! Digital slotracing has come home

 

[Racingline]

With ULTIMA digital slot Racing is stunning and plenty of options.
I think that one of the issues about pitlane entry in each box is the must difficult.
If I desactivate PEARL is posible to program it only for pitlane box entry?

Congratulations for this upgrade.

When is headlights Board launched?

 

[injectorman]

Yes you can use PEARL for pit box only😊

Wireless light board late 2015.

Rick

 

[Ade]

Hi
Wireless light board late 2016 ❓adjustable time out ❓

 

[injectorman]

2016 sorry.
Frying some big fish at the moment. Desert will come later. 😊

 

[Ade]

Hi
👌😎👏

 

[stuz]

Hi Rick,

regarding post no.1 you mention 2 boxes where delay of flipper movement can be choosen (entry and Exit).
In the LB menu I can see only 1 box?

Regards
Stuz

 

[injectorman]

Hi Stuz,
Use the delay already there. It works the same.
I have new software for the set up box ready to post soon.

Rick

PS I have another version which has the solenoid wires off the correct end. Keep it in mind in case it doesn't work with your existing wiring.

 

[stuz]

Hi Rick,

does this mean the delay time entered in the box "Exit flipper delay time" is valid for both entry and Exit flipper?

What means " Solenoid wires off the correct end"? ...please explain
Do you mean Entry and Exit swaped?

 

[injectorman]

Exit only. We will have to add entry delay back in later. John forgot this aspect.
Anyway LBV8.1 folder includes the new set up.

Solenoid wires.... See post 2 in the LBV8.0 thread, see how entry solenoid and exit are wired the long way.
V8.1 released today addresses this.

Rick

 

[stuz]

Hi Rick,
actually I am using this install, no sprung flippers:


When using ULTIMA following questions:
-is it possible to have lane 1AC LED as it is?.....or should it be removed completely
-is it possible for test purpose to have only 1 LB updated with ULTIMA software while the others run with e.g. LB7.1?
-I guess springs are mandatory with LB8.1 software; could we get here a softwarechange, the second solenoid moves back flippers after pull time is over .......means no install of springs?

Regards

Stuz

 

[injectorman]

Hi Stuz,
You only need one LC LED to operate both entry and exit. Of course for ULTIMA you must add the Anti Collision LED about 1.5 cars length before the LC LED in lane 2.

No you cannot run car V8.1 with LBV7.1 firmware sorry. What I would recommend is for now is to just convert one car to Car Decoder firmware V8.1 and say one LB to LB firmware LBV8.1 (coincidence only that both are 8.1) and try it. Just tape over the lane 1 AC LED and Lane 2 LC LED.
If happy Id convert the lot. It really is a simpler, better system.

Springs are cool and save wiring. And mandatory with ULTIMA. Because you need one LED code for LC and the other for AC. We didnt call it ULTIMA for nothing. Its also the ultimate in simplicity of install. Just 2 LEDs, power in, 2 solenoid driver pairs and 2 liven flipper wires does everything for not one but two flippers.

Ive tested LBV8.0 but still to bench test V8.1. Perhaps wait a few days until I get time. I need to test that the solenoid wiring locations are correct.

Rick

 

[stuz]

Hi Rick,

-is it possible to have lane 1AC LED as it is?.....or should it be removed completely

I was asking this because it could help. recalibrating of smart ghost as far as I understood out of the following



Regards
Stuz

 

[injectorman]

No. ULTIMA is purely one AC beacon to be used for AC only and one LC beacon to be used to change lanes.
BTW way LBV8.1 has a glitch. Stay with 8.0 or wait for for the glitch to be addressed.

Rick

 

[minus]

Hi Rick
Can you do a install manual with wiring and all for dummies (diagrams) and show a picture of the sprung flipper?
Pretty please

minus

 

[injectorman]

Hi Minus!

ULTIMA wiring Post #2

Im waiting on an upgrade to change to swap green and orange solenoid wires over....as 8.1 had a glitch LBV8.0 is the latest.

 

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

I have two questions:

1. How to wire live flippers in analog mode. Do we still need the extra back box (can't recall the name.
2. Could the exit flipper be replaced by an isolated piece of metal that is connected to the live flipper cable.

Thanks,

Henk

 

[injectorman]

Hi Henk,
Ill get on to a drawing shortly.

And yes, you can just have a fixed pad. In MDF you could route it so the exit flipper is still from the main sheet of MDF, ie. flipper and surrounds are on the asame piece of MDF, and copper tape it. Or route a pocket where a flipper just sits in a pocket to gfet the aluminium look, then wire it to the relay.

Rick

 

[injectorman]

In post #3 of the more Scorpius goodies thread I have been a little skeptical about the presented changes. Although they are not high on my list I can in some way appreciate the functions and gimmicks, and I will probably test them when they are available. Time will tell if I am going to use it in the future.
In that same, mentioned, post I tried to explain which functions are important for me and why they should need more development to work well. In my opinion they are not finished yet and therefore should be finished first before any other functionality should be developed and implemented. I finally found some time and willingness to explain my wishes and how everything should be working; To Ultima or not to Ultima should that be the question?

Track configuration:
My track contains 32 LBs, the maximum number allowed (26 on the racing line, 4 pit bays, 1 start/finish line and 1 pit lane entry) and is designed to be raced with PEARL and anti-collision technology. All entry flippers are connected to solenoids and are held in the racing line position by small springs. This means when you go straight at a LC the solenoid pulls the entry flipper in the straight position. After the lane change the spring returns the flipper in the racing line position. All my exit flippers dont use solenoids and are held in the racing line positon by the same small springs as the entry flippers. With this configuration I am able to race 1 analogue car which follows the racing line. Another benefit of this configuration is that a car keeps following the racing line when it misses a LC led.
The picture below shows a curve with two SLSs (#24 en #25) with a typical racing line from left to right. Both entry flippers are livened by the LB and polarity changes when a car activates a lane change. The exit flippers are livened by the entry flipper of the previous LB. The exit flipper of SLS 24 is positively powered in this case. The LC and AC leds are for SLS 25 and as you can see there are 3 LC and 3 AC leds. The two LC leds in lane 1 at the exit flipper of SLS 24 are close to each other and are situated at a 12mm offset position for lane 1 and the racing line. Moving the LC led further to the right so lane 1 and the racing line could use 1 LC led for SLC25 resulted in a to close distance to the tip of the entry flipper. And moving them further to the left made the distance to large and would not solve the necessity of 2 leds.

I choose to place LC leds on every lane simply because it was possible and I wanted it to be possible to change lanes in whatever lane I approach a lane changer. Approaching SLC25 in Lane 1 and be able to change lanes and stay in Lane 1 needs the exit flipper of SLC24 to be in the correct polarity. The solution to activate live exit flippers provided before Ultima needs external relays and giving up AC cause the AC leds are used to activate the relays. That was not a solution for me and therefore I connected the exit flipper with the entry flipper of the previous LB in the same lane. Like mentioned before the exit flipper is livened with a constant power which makes it only possible to use SLS25 when you approach it on the racing line. When you approach it in lane 1 the car will be shortened at the exit flipper and a lane change will not be possible. When the exit flipper is not livened a lane change will also not be possible cause the car decoder needs power to operate. An example to illustrate this; at a bridge transition at my track, for example, there is a part where the power supply is not at its best. When there is no power at this part, a few centimeters before a LC Led, a car does not follow the race line (PEARL) due to this lack of power. My conclusion is that it takes the car decoder a few milliseconds to power up and search its LC register before it performs like it should be. With 26 LBs on the track, and some at very close distance from one another, any power interruption can and will result in glitches.

Ultima:
With Ultima LB version 8.0 was introduced or vice versa. With LB version 8.0 AC and PEARL should be working for the first time together and it is also a total solution to have fully functioning exit flippers for single lane changers. It really sounds like Ultima or heaven for me to finally configurate and operate my track like it was meant to be. I got really excited, but before I rewired all of the 26 racing line LBs I choose to run a test on two LBs.
The first LB I rewired (LB#1) gave me a few things to think about. The wiring diagram shows only one pair of wires to the solenoid cause with Ultima the flippers are sprung and considered to flip back in the straight position. In my case the flippers are kept in the change position for two reasons. 1 is for analogue racing on the racing line and 2 is for that occasion that a car misses an LC led, the car still keeps the racing line. I decided to install both solenoid wire pairs so I could simply tik the swap solenoids box in case I wired it the wrong way around. After rewiring I installed it under the track again and after rebooting two cars with the accompanied car decoder 8.1 version I made some test runs.
Lane changing worked like it should be. Liven entry flipper worked like it was supposed to. Liven exit flipper worked not exactly how it should be. The default setting for the flipper is in the straight position which is negative in this case. When a car changes lanes the polarity is changed according to positive and after a short time it will be changed in the default setting. The time it will be livened in the change polarity can be altered in the set up program. I noticed that the polarity is changed correctly when a car makes a lane change at the LC but it does not change back to its default polarity. When AC is active it works correctly and when AC takes in the LC changes in a straight position. A car entering the lane with the AC beacon without activating AC because there is no other car involved finds an entry exit flipper with the wrong polarity because it did not change back to its default configuration.

Conclusion:
Ultima does not work because of this polarity issue and, most important, only one LC beacon can be installed per LB instead of the initial configuration of more LC beacons per LB. With this initial configuration in mind I designed en built my track. Ultima changes this configuration drastically and therefore is not a solution to let PEARL and AC work together but just a workaround because some could not get the job done under the initial rules.
For the time being Not to Ultima is the answer to the question
Regards Marc

Hi Marc,

Firstly thankyou for taking the time to write a detailed description.
I can see you have decided to customise Ultima. I wasnt aware of this. I do not recommend your modification because you simply I think you do not need it.

On a seperate issue you say you have customised it case an LED is missed. If the LED is placed beside the guide a miss is not possible. Not sure if you were aware if this. Multiple track LEDs instead is the preferred option but seldom if ever required since that method was introduced.

I must say however I do think your conclusion is incorrect. For a few reasons. This is the first design of Ultima.
It IS designed that use one LC LED because the LB only had two LED output codes. One code is LC. There are two of these one for each lane on an XLC using standard KB firmware. The other code is the AC code. There are two of these LEDs on fly leads also. There is one LC and one AC at each end of the LB. Thats because originally it was based on XLC rather than SLC with exit flipper. Again I agree your best lane scenario where zones overlap is different.

Your comment about just a workaround is a bit harsh. Its sinpjy the ultimate easy to install solution. We dont do work arounds. Hence the name. Why would I install 4 or 5 LEDs to get the job done when I can use 2? The only other solution was to redesign the LB which would make all existing LBs redundant. The previous idea here 6 LED codes. Way too complex and confusing to install. Costly fur me and a more expensive LB. So I had a think.

Ultima allows every driver to customise their own race line. Or ignore it. It does everything. And yes it didnt hit me till 2016 how to achieve this with the LB using the existing hardware.

Ultima firmware upgrade achieves every function without making all your LBs redundant. Its simply the clever solution. it works take just a few minutes to move the LEDs assuming you havent shortened the wires.

And yes I use relays to polarise my flippers, hence the slow uptake on the glitch fix. I dont need it. My apologies however on the glitch fix time. Theres a new engineer and he has to learn how everything works. It takes time. It will be addressed and I will look at fast tracking it

I understand your point if a flipper has the wrong polarity an LED for another lane changer is not possible. This is not a common scenario in the type of tracks ive designed but I can see it is for you.

Also note the second AC beacon is for more than 2 lane AC. I see you have 5 LEDs installed. I use just 2. All those extra LEDs are going to confuse the system.

I vaguely remember a PM from you but if I did not answer a follow up PM would have worked. I do have a lot on. From memory you did not mention your custom install regarding the default position of flippers open.

Your idea might work if you follow my install guide lines.

Your LED placement is unconventional in several ways. I cannot see how it can work. You say you came close, maybe it can. Also if you require polarity on the exit flipper it must be centralised, not closed or open.

Also I hate gimmicks. And none have been proposed or will be included in any Scorpius release. Please use the system as intended.

The picture below is how Ultima is designed and tested. If you install it any other way it will not work. One LB can operate one entry and one exit flipper. You will only use one LC LED and one AC. The LEDs relate to the entry and exit flippers as I have marked. Do not confuse.

View media item 131970
From Shift in the LBV8.0 thread
QUOTE LB8.1 exit flipper (passive on my track) dose not change back to the default polarity after a car changes lanes. it dose however change back if the next car dose not change lanes. everything still seems to work. UNQUOTE

Marc on the next upgrade I will ensure you get to see and test it before release.

Rick