This is information to all of the NW teams and the transponders system that we have been using for the second year now. At the Hood River race we were able to count over 45 cars all on the track at the same time, on a short track. It was amazing to watch the cars popping up on the screen when a group of 10 plus cars passed together. I have manually counted numerous races and can explicitly say that it would have been an impossibility to have counted the race manually.
That said we have had a few issues with the system. The primary problem is teams hooking them up incorrectly. It is simple. There are 5 wires total, some of them are programming wires and should not be touched. Adding voltage to the wrong wire may damage the transponder! You use two of the wires, the black and the white wire (white is positive and black is negative). Do not use the other wires. The unit hooks up to the 24 volt system. It can be hooked up to the batteries directly or it can be hooked up to the positive and negative at the controller. DO NOT hook it up to the motor positive coming out of the controller. Every race we have car after car that the transponder is not reading. Almost always it is found that the wiring is so poorly attached that they fell off or that they are connected to the wrong spot.
The other issue we are having is mounting location. The unit is to be mounted 12-18" off the ground, pointing down, with a clear path to the ground. We have always known that it cannot have an obstructed path (they will transmit through fiberglass) but have recently learned that mounting them over metal can burn out the internal components. We have told both students and teachers over and over not to mount them over a metal surface. Many cars are still done wrong.
You have been told before, you will be constantly told again. Everyone needs to properly mount and wire the transponders.
The other issue is the moving of the transponder from one car to another without telling us at the counting table. All we know is the number the transponder is sending out, unless we add in the car info. Those of you that are moving them from one car to another and choose not to inform up makes it very difficult to track both the race and season standings. That coupled with the cars that are not visibly numbered makes counting very difficult.
That is my rant for the day. Please follow the above simple directions! Aaron
-- Edited by electrathon on Monday 19th of April 2010 05:56:45 PM
It should be said.. After all the warnings to the students and especially the teachers, if you do not mount or wire them correctly and you dont get counted that is your fault. Its up to you guys to make sure your transponder is correctly hooked up and mounted befor the line up.. Not 1 min in the line up befor the race is about to begin :)
