We are just a club, so we have to race in places like gyms and parking lots with permission. We also race everything in nearly every size. All told we race about 8-10 different classes each time we get together. There are 6-15 people that race, mostly it is men and some of their kids getting together to race fast cars.
We had people trying to count, but that was not very fun.
I had been reading about RFID, but it was hard to find a reader and antennas that I could afford. I found this Antenna/reader combo and it was in range, so I took the chance and bought it. Introducing it to the crew was interesting. I had some people running tags at the beginning just to see how to get it to work (where to put the reader, how high, what power setting, etc) I used different tags and found that Large Alien tags worked the best. We use the Alien G-Tags and the Alien 9662 tags with great success.
I had good reading success with 1/10 scale cars with the antenna mounted on a post at the start finish line scanning across the finish line (perpendicular to the ground). I had issues with smaller cars (1/16, 1/18) not wanting to read anywhere but very close (1 foot). I altered the height of the Reader, position of the tags with very little success. I even changed to the largest Alien "G tags" and did not help the smaller cars read very reliably with my particular RFID Antenna/reader setup. We survived with this for about 15-20 nights of racing over the past year.
I solved this by mounting the RFID reader about 3 feet above the track facing down in the middle of the lane Parallel to the floor. Right now, it hangs from some rigging in the Gym that we get to race in. When we go outside for the summer, this will be more of a challenge creating something that can go out and over the track (parking lot in an approved location).
I will get some pictures up soon.
All told, I spent about $350 bucks to set up a great timing loop!
what is it's accuracy? at 36" up, how large is the detection zone? can the detection zone be accurately and reliably reduced to single RCP track width lane? do you have issue with dropped laps similar to Core?
I am not sure of just how accurate to the inch, but at 36 inches it spreads a pretty wide net. I am estimating, based on my initial testing for overhead reading, that it can read a 12-15 foot wide track. I set the read timing to maximum on the RFID reader so if there are cars coming through very close together, it catches everyone.
Dropped racers. not sure how the other system works, never used it. we do get some missed reads. some of that is due to tag failure (people unsticking and trying to move the tags). the G-Tags are sticky on one side and that often causes some of the antenna to be damaged if someone moves it. Its not perfect yet, but we are getting higher read rates than ever before. I do get some people complaining they did not hear a beep once in a while, but I am still tuning that.
positioning has been best on the inside of the body, away from the electronics. some cars read better, potentially lighter lexan? not sure.
If I recall, core dropped laps due to speed and method of tag detections not keeping up with the speed and frequency of card going thru over the loop. It's been a long grime though so not 100% on the issue anymore
This was a starter race 2 weeks ago for 1/16th scale traxxas Minierevo, minislash, minirally, mininaascar. 25 laps. camera is right next to the reader on the same bar. you will see that the white rally car had 2 missed reads, it was too far to the camera's right. you can see how fast the cars are running on this oval track. the times kept ratcheting down over the race. even tight groupings over the line were successful. later, I moved the reader over to the center another few inches, that helped widen the track a bit.
you will see some cars miss (no beep). there were a few that forgot to tag their car, while some were just too far to the left of the track (center of track).
I am working on a Bluetooth adapter for this reader/antenna combo now.
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