Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2010.12.07, 08:33 PM   #1
unearthed name
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 294
Best Lap Timer

hi guys, we just bought a kyosho ic tag lap counter for our local hobby shop. when we first use it, it run great. it would record lap after lap, after lap. however, when we decide to use the FS software, the ic tag work inconsistently, and now our ic tag can't be read by the original kyosho software.

that being said, what's the most consistent lap timer in the market right now, and also works great with the FS lap timing software since we're planning to register our club in the HFAY series
unearthed name is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.07, 10:29 PM   #2
Mike Keely
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,356
You do not need to us FS to submit your laps for HFAY. You can really use any lap counting system. There is a special format HFAY wants the results submitted in. We used the core system for about a year but we did notice it would miss some of our laps here and there. The Giro-Z system I think works much better but the software is a pain to set up each race day.
Mike Keely is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.09, 04:33 AM   #3
Felix2010
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Southern NH
Posts: 987
PNWC swears by Giro-Z. Some other official PNWC events/regionals had I-LAP as the official lap timing system (I-LAP being the track's home lap counter/timing system). I own an I-LAP setup. All I can say is... Perfect 100% recommend
__________________
*** TOP SECRET MOTORS ***
[FONT="Book Antiqua"]
Felix2010 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.13, 10:58 PM   #4
H.N.
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1
+1 on the I-lap system.
H.N. is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.13, 11:11 PM   #5
ChiMiniRc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 728
+1 on I-Lap. I've used another system and wasn't as happy with it. I had issues where cars were counted when they were in an adjacent lanes and love how the decoder on the I-Lap is a single USB connection to the laptop and doesn't require a power adapter.

Also the transponder is very small and I prefer it over the units that use a standard servo harness. I thought about the Giro-Z but heard reports of the transponder being fragile and they had fixed channels. The I-Lap transponders have been in cars that have taken severe beatings at events where all drivers where young first timers. Having each one be unique allows me to put one in each car of the fleet.

Some of the transponders were used in Losi Micro SCT and Rally cars and we powered off the 3v regulated power for the servo and they worked well.
ChiMiniRc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.14, 03:58 AM   #6
doug01n
Registered User
 
doug01n's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: São paulo, Brazil
Posts: 282
Send a message via MSN to doug01n
We use the trackmate racing in Brazil, and I think it's a great lap counting system. 14 cars max, and we have to use only one of the two bridge sensors we bought. And we use it in the side of our track, not over! The sensor is so sensitive that cover precisely the 80cm wide part where it's installed.

The standard servo plug works fine, but can be changed to any plug you want... I'm thinking in changing my transponder plug to ICS plug, and remove the wires over the cars.
The transponder weights 3.4g.

Best "bang for the buck", IMHO.
doug01n is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.14, 07:42 AM   #7
Racer-HH
Registered User
 
Racer-HH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 197
For Mini-Z we mostly run Robitronic systems in Germany. For dnano IC-Tag with FS is golden standard.
__________________
[ my RCs: dNaNo & Mini-Z: MB-010 VE * MC-01 * MF-015 VE Pro * MR-03 VE Pro ]
[ my TX: EX-6 ]
Racer-HH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.14, 12:48 PM   #8
ChiMiniRc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 728
Quote:
Originally Posted by doug01n View Post
We use the trackmate racing in Brazil, and I think it's a great lap counting system. 14 cars max, and we have to use only one of the two bridge sensors we bought. And we use it in the side of our track, not over! The sensor is so sensitive that cover precisely the 80cm wide part where it's installed.

The standard servo plug works fine, but can be changed to any plug you want... I'm thinking in changing my transponder plug to ICS plug, and remove the wires over the cars.
The transponder weights 3.4g.

Best "bang for the buck", IMHO.

I didn’t want to call out the name but the Trackmate system is the one we displaced with I-Lap. I didn’t like the power adapter for the decoder board. With the I-Lap, I can setup counting anywhere and do not require access to A/C power. This is very handy when I do outdoor events in the middle of say, a parking lot.

Also the USB conectory allowed me to ditch the flakey USB to Serial convertor I had to use (purchased on my own as I didn't want to shell out $30 for trackmate's convertor).

With the trackmate I had to create “blinders” for the bridge as the “focus” of the IR beam was too wide and laps were counted in adjacent lanes. Yes the wiring harness can be replaced but I’d have to reshrink the transponder, get the connector, and do the board level work. Having the readily available transponder connector we Mini-z racers use it very helpful and easy.
ChiMiniRc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.14, 07:03 PM   #9
doug01n
Registered User
 
doug01n's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: São paulo, Brazil
Posts: 282
Send a message via MSN to doug01n
Nice imput...

The problems above doesn't really bother us, 'cause it's a fixed track, so... no issues with the AC power. About the focus thing, we fixed the IR beam unit inside a tube with an open section... kind of a "blinder".

We tried this 'cause the complete system, with 6 transponders, 2 beam units, decoder and cables costed us 350 bucks shipped to Brazil trought UPS. The other systems, with similar number of transponders would cost almost twice this.

As our "mini-z" market is very restricted, we can't do trying, buyng and selling used systems to find the perfect one, 'cause anybody woud buy it arround here.

We are thinking about trying the IC Tag reader, specially because now we have 5 or 6 dnanos coming into the track. By the way, is there another better or shipper dnano lap counting system than the kyosho?

Thanks!
doug01n is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.14, 08:28 PM   #10
unearthed name
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 294
does anyone have a tip on how to use the ic tag and FS software to work consistently. our club us the ic tag, sometimes it record, sometimes it doesn't. it'll be a huge pain if we're trying to make a race with that kind of inconsistency
unearthed name is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.15, 01:24 AM   #11
Racer-HH
Registered User
 
Racer-HH's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 197
I would highly assume, that the inconsitency is not coming from FS. You should check the tipps-section in the IC-Tag manual and look for the perfect spot to place the timing. Try a low speed section, make sure there are no interferences with other power units and that the track is not too thick. Apart from that, if only one or two racers suffer from missed laps it might be, that the tag is somehow broken. This is very seldom, but at least I know one (!) proven report of this situation from a guy in Switzerland.
__________________
[ my RCs: dNaNo & Mini-Z: MB-010 VE * MC-01 * MF-015 VE Pro * MR-03 VE Pro ]
[ my TX: EX-6 ]
Racer-HH is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.15, 10:30 AM   #12
ChiMiniRc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 728
Quote:
Originally Posted by unearthed name View Post
does anyone have a tip on how to use the ic tag and FS software to work consistently. our club us the ic tag, sometimes it record, sometimes it doesn't. it'll be a huge pain if we're trying to make a race with that kind of inconsistency
Is it certain cars on certain laps or does counting outright stop for all cars when you restart a race?
ChiMiniRc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.15, 08:39 PM   #13
unearthed name
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 294
@chic

it's like for every racers in certain laps. my ic tag will sometimes be recorded and sometimes not.
unearthed name is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2010.12.15, 08:50 PM   #14
ChiMiniRc
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 728
Quote:
Originally Posted by unearthed name View Post
@chic

it's like for every racers in certain laps. my ic tag will sometimes be recorded and sometimes not.
racer-hh might be right then. THe issue I had was with a beta version and you'd run a race, all laps counted. Then you start another race an no laps would count for ANY cars.
ChiMiniRc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2013.10.11, 03:24 AM   #15
ukyo
Registered User
 
ukyo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 136
+1 for ilap here... our club and the local hobby shop are on ilap and FS for HFAY
ukyo is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Tutorial: How to Make a Cheap Personal Lap Timer Spoon Mini-Z Science 14 2011.05.09 12:12 PM
trackmate lap timer saddad Lap Timing Systems and Software 5 2011.04.02 07:42 PM
Lap Timing Using the Microsizer Timer bemoore How Fast Are You? Online Points Series 2 2007.09.14 12:57 PM
Personal lap timer counter CHEAP! 46u Lap Timing Systems and Software 10 2006.02.14 03:50 PM
Automatic Lap Timer? ApacheXMD Tracks and GTGs 4 2001.11.16 10:38 AM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:43 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts