Timer intermittent

[Tinbendr]

At our race, one of our newly modified Judges was intermittent during prerace testing. (I had it working perfectly at the house.) I thought I had found the problem at the DB9 connection with the included RJ handset/DB9 connector. I wiggled the connection a little and it all started working. We stopped to eat supper, then the race started, but the Judge wouldn't send any info back to the laptop. I wiggled the cable again, but no luck. GPRM would reset the Judge, but no info came back after the race. GPRM also reported the gate was open.

Anyone have this problem.

[gpraceman]

GPRM also reported the gate was open.

Sounds like a start switch issue. GPRM will only report that the gate is open if the timer reports back with "Starting Gate Open" after being reset. This would lead the timer to not send any times, even though the timer display LED's will show a finish order.

Check the wire connections to the switch and make sure that when the start gate is up that both parts of the magnetic switch are in close proximity to each other.

[Tinbendr]

I did check the switch. It hasn't moved since installation. There's about a dimes width between them. I even pulled the leads from the board and reinserted them. No change.

How can I test the switch?

[gpraceman]

How can I test the switch?

You can use a multimeter to test the continuity of the switch. When closed, you should get no resitance, and when open it should be off the scale.

You can also run some tests in the hardware setup screen. Click on the Start Test button and then you can see how the timer responds when you click on the Reset button. Normally, you will see data coming back from the timer like below. If you get a "Starting Gate Open" response, then the timer is detecting the switch as open, instead of closed. If the switch is working properly, then you should see the "Ready to Start Race" statement and then "GO" once you open the gate.

Race Number 14
Checking valid lanes.......
Number of Lanes: 6
Ready to Start Race
GO!
Lane 3 3.2437 Seconds Win
Lane 5 3.6782 Seconds Place
Lane 1 3.6917 Seconds Show
Lane 2 3.8361 Seconds
Lane 6 3.9216 Seconds
Lane 4 3.9525 Seconds

Race Over

Also, which version of GPRM are you running? You should make sure that you have the latest update (go to the Help menu and select "Check for Software Updates").

Lastly, make sure and review this thread http://derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=1384

[Tinbendr]

You can use a multimeter to test the continuity of the switch.

Ok Great, I'll check it out.

Also, which version of GPRM are you running?

I found out on race day that 5.0 was out. So I purchased upgrade and ran the race with it.

Lastly, make sure and review this thread

I had read similar threads earlier and knew of the problems of high voltage interference.

Our setup puts the PC behind the starting gate, so there are no power requirements of any kind at the finish. Since our race typically lasts two hours, we haven't had a problem with the batteries on the Judge. (We always put in a fresh set every year just to be safe.)

[John Shreffler]

A possible cause of the symptoms described is that the modular cable connector might have a bad contact. Normally, these crimp-on connectors are quite reliable, but they sometimes fail. Use an ohmmeter to check the cable end-to-end. If you discover one of the lines is open, let me know, and I will replace.

[Tinbendr]

A possible cause of the symptoms described is that the modular cable connector might have a bad contact.

We have two identical tracks and timers setups. I swapped everything I could; timers, cables, Com port adapters, except the magnetic switch as it was hard mounted.

I was able to get back to the track this past Wednesday, with the laptop connected, and it all worked perfectly. I could not duplicate the problem again.

My only assumption is that the magnetic switch had stuck open on race day. We plan to replace the switch as a precautionary.