How to troubleshoot “No Passings” for the Race Timing System

Introduction

This tutorial explains how to troubleshoot the timing application when you have an active race and the passings are not showing in the software. The steps below point out what to do and where to look to resolve this situation.

What to check, How to know  and solve it

1 . Are the passings registering in the decoder?

First of all you need to check if the decoder is registering the passings. Most decoders will give some kind of verification when a transponder crosses the loop, either on the screen, by a small light or by a noise. As example i’ll use the Tranx Decoder who shows it on it’s screen. If the icon will become black, then the decoder is detecting the passing.

On the TranX decoder the loop is signaled by the square on arrow e, in it’s normal state this square is empty. (as shown on the left picture)

To see if the decoder is receiving the passings look at this screen when a kart is passing the loop, the square on field e should become fully black (as shown on the right picture) If this doesn’t happen then you know that the problem is probably between the loop and the decoder.

To solve this shut down the decoder and loop (if powered), disconnect them and reconnect them to make sure that the connection is good and power them up again. After this is done check the screen again on a passing to see if a passing is detected. If there still is no passing detected see if perhaps the problem lies with the transponder, try a different kart or try to pass a transponder separately over the loop to assure that it isn’t a problem of a single transponder. If this still didn’t provide a solution then the loop will probably not be connected correctly or is damaged.

If the passings are not registered you need to check :

1. Connection between loop and Black Box: if the light on the black box is blinking, it means there is an issue with the connection. Please double check the cables.
2. Noise: when the noise is too high, you need to check transponder signal strengh

 

2. Are the Fast Reader and Fast Bridge running?

Check if the fast reader and fast bridge are running. There are two icons ‘glass’ and ‘bridge’ at the bottom of the timing application. These icons should be stable green. If one or both is in red, this means that they are not running. Click on the red icons(reader and bridge) to restart them. Once restarted, they will turn green and then passings should register in the timing again. Usually FAST Reader and Fast Bridge run on the server when the decoder is connected on the network; they are usually on the Fast Timing Pc when the decoder is directly connected on the Timing PC directly.

 

3. Is the Fast Reader returning heartbeats?

To see if the connection between the Fast Reader and the decoder is okay type << verbose >> in the fast reader console app. Now you will get a confirmation that the verbose mode of the application is turned on by the message << VERBOSE -> ON >>. Most of the main brand decoders give back a heartbeat to the Fast Reader to assure that there is a connection with the decoder. If you have one of these decoders and you don’t see a heartbeat appear every now and then (as shown in the picture above) there will be a problem with the connection between the decoder and the pc.

To try to solve this it’s best to shut down the decoder and detach the cables and reattach them. If it is connected to the network make sure to also check if the other side of the cable is still properly connected to the network, if it’s a serial cable also detach it from the pc and reattach it. Then you best restart the Fast Reader by typing << quit >> in the application and then starting it up again

 

4. Check if the timing application is running as ‘Primary’ Pit(Master pit).

As You cannot have multiple ‘Primary’ Pit(Master pit) applications running at the same time, you should check that you are running inly one application as Primary. This is indicated at the bottom right corner of the timing application. If this is the case, close one ‘Primary’ Pit(Master pit) application or contact our Support to deactivate it.

 

5. If the decoder is a network decoder, please make sure the IP address in the decoder screen is the same as in the timing.

You can check the IP address on the decoder itself.

6. Check if the decoder is in the correct resource

Go to activities >>resources>>tracks>> karting structure, make sure that the decoder selected is the correct one.

7. Restart the decoder

Restart helps in 97% of cases!

 

 

If this didn’t help you, kindly contact our support@sms-timing.com for further assistance.