Help pls - autostart stop problem

DanH
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Help pls - autostart stop problem

Postby DanH » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:21 pm

Tried autostart/stop for the first time yesterday. It didn't go well. I have 49 files of between 500kb and 900kb. No full laps of the circuit at all :(

Settings are as follows :

Auto start conditions: > 200
Auto stop conditions: > 200

Pre trigger: 1 min
Post trigger: 1 min


Now my understanding is that it should start to record at 20kph and then not stop until it has been below 20kph for more than 1 minute. This isn't what happened though, and there is nowhere on the circuit I'd be below 20kph for a minute whilst still lapping.

Have I misunderstood the settings?


(p.s. very recent DL1 with latest firmware as of last week when it was with RT - unit has yaw sensor and 20hz enabled).

tristancliffe
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Location: Norwich, UK
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Postby tristancliffe » Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:52 pm

Yes - it will start recording above 20, and stop recording above 20. You've confused it.

Autostop needs to be < 200
Monoposto 2000 - Reynard 883 Toyota

DanH
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Postby DanH » Tue Jul 15, 2008 7:22 pm

tristancliffe wrote:Yes - it will start recording above 20, and stop recording above 20. You've confused it.

Autostop needs to be < 200


GREAT! However somewhat peeved as this is from their online manual :

Code: Select all

Example (typical set up for race use)

Autostart Speed > 10kph

Autostop Speed > 10kph (must be identical to autostart)

Pretrigger time 1 minute

Postrigger time 5 minutes

The logger will enter the loop mode and will start logging normally when the vehicle speed is first greater than 10kph.

If the vehicle speed drops below 10kph and timer will start, and after 5 minutes logging will stop.

This will result in a file with 1 minute of data before the vehicle first goes over 10kph and 5 minutes after it went below 10kph.

http://www.race-technology.com/wiki/ind ... topControl

Are you 100% certain about this as got another session on Thursday and can't afford to have no data again :( (sorry not doubting your comments, but just wanted to be sure you weren't just guessing from reading that both settings were the same)

jlucas
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Location: East Liberty, OH
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Postby jlucas » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:12 pm

Try just using an autostart only.

BTW, you don't want the unit to start logging before it has a GPS lock as that screws up the timestamp on your file.

Post & Pre trigger tmes have always seemed a little buggy to me and I stopped using them a long time ago.
Jeremy Lucas
Fast Tech Limited - a Race Technology Dealer

Support

Postby Support » Wed Jul 16, 2008 7:01 am

I have recently had a report of a bug in the mode you suggest. You were using it correctly and it should do what you wanted. It certainly used to work, perhaps one of my 'improvements' to other parts of the code has caused some issue. I will be looking at this soon.

Regards,
Martin

faraday
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Postby faraday » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:58 pm

Martin, can you please confirm that the logical comparison signs should both be "greater than".

As Tristan states, this appears to be wrong. It is certainly counterintuitive to me. :?

tristancliffe
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Location: Norwich, UK
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Postby tristancliffe » Wed Jul 16, 2008 9:26 pm

Indeed.

1. If speed > 20km/h then write the last x minutes of data and begin logging.
2. If speed > 20km/h then wait 5 minutes to stop logging.

So, above 20km/h it starts logging, but is constantly wanting to stop logging too.
When the speed drops below 20km/h is is neither trying to start or stop logging, and therefore will continue doing what it's doing, whether than be logging or not...

That's just wrong, isn't it?
Monoposto 2000 - Reynard 883 Toyota

DanH
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Postby DanH » Thu Jul 17, 2008 7:13 pm

Bollocks another day with no &*£*&$*(£" data! I ran it with the >trigger and < stop and have got yet more 500kb files.

Getting pretty annoyed by this now as it seems I can't use the unit without a laptop at the circuit just to check its not doing something stupid.

faraday
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:18 am

Postby faraday » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:20 pm

That'll cetrtainly give you the s#@%s!

I typically set a start speed (>200), which is a logical use of the logical inequality.
The intention is that somebody presses the button to stop. A good proportion of logs this this does not happen, but we still get a complete file.
I have several customers and DL1s of various vintages suffering this but not complaining. Of late, perhaps because it's a current spec 'raw enabled' unit with more data to write, a file is created sans date and time details.
Sometimes this results in "Analysis" F.O. error. On one occasion, I did an uninstall and new version update and miraculously half a dozen buggered files were fixed. I'm pretty sure I didn't re-boot the laptop between times.
On occasions, I find mysterious BOOTLOG or some such files on the card.
When the "corrupt" file will not load, I've successfully repaired them with a CHKDSK.

Is there anything verboten on your card?
Is the logger achieving GPS lock?
Does it achieve lock before you drive off?
Can you create sensibly sized logs (driving or not) with button presses?

All these questions and more could be answered (in the affirmative) and like some of our friends you might still end up with s$#t. Some would say life's like that. I'd say you bought a lemon!
:roll:
But this is not fair.

Perform those checks.
Remove the Auto-stop condition.
Use the help file wording to the character.
Set the Stop condition to a lower speed than Start.

Curse with greater volume :!:
Maybe you're being punished from On High for not bringing your laptop :shock:

How far from Nottingham are you?

Can they hear :?:

Turby
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Postby Turby » Thu Jul 17, 2008 10:20 pm

After similar frustration using auto start/stop with speed, I've gone back to using the button on the front. WYSIWYG...

If you cannot reach the logger when strapped in, I can see two possibilities:

1) use a switch to 12v on one of the analogue channels and "simply" use that to auto start / stop the logger

2) use a remote start / stop switch as detailed somewhere on this forum and in the knowledge base.

faraday
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:18 am

Postby faraday » Thu Jul 17, 2008 11:55 pm

The KISS principle is certainly attractive, but here can be interpretted >= two ways.

1) Buttons per Turby (and before I let DL1s loose on others, myself too), but at the risk of forgetfullness => no data

2) The product delivered with a default configuration that starts automatically (the manufacturer can establish what is the most reliable condition) and with electronics and internal control logic that can write almost all, if not precisely all, the data up to the point of power loss.
I have used products, GPS and otherwise, that do this most satisfactorily.

Speaking of other products, the retail Racelogic xxxBox software have a file appending utility to join files together. Perhaps R-T can introduce such a concatenation feature.
If the illogical logic has "worked" for DanH, there should be redundant data in the files. Notwithstanding this, I understand that some savvy individuals can examine and manipulate card data directly from the RUN format.
Maybe R-T could retrieve some of the data so all is not lost???

:)

DanH
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2008 6:10 pm

Postby DanH » Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:34 am

I don't know if the file format is documented as I could write something to append. Currently though I have 99 traces of about 1/3rd lap length.

The killer for me however is that I had a Porsche supercup driver put some laps in in my car and I really wanted those traces. He only did 3 laps so very unlikely to pull anything from that. :(

As to the unit, it works fine manually triggered but its hard to reach so I thought I'd use the functionality having not seen anything about it not working before.

I guess I need to buy a laptop and pray it doesn't get nicked out the pits when I'm on circuit...


As an aside, am I right in thinking the file gets lost if power is cut whilst its writing?

Turtle
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Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2008 10:59 am

Postby Turtle » Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:06 am

I've not had any luck getting autostart/stop to work reliably either.

It'd be very handy if it did work reliably. Autostart is very useful when you can't reach the start/stop button. However if you can't reach the button you generally can't see the status LED's to see if logging has started via autostart either. That can be solved with a remote logging led (and a start/stop button), but it'd still be nice to have reliable auto start/stop - should be more reliable than having to remember to start/stop manually...

-Brian.

2fast4u
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Aug 18, 2006 6:56 am

Postby 2fast4u » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:24 pm

Im using the autostart/stop without any problems. I will check what my setup looks like, what firmware Im running and post it here later.

Its very nice to have the auto function. Earlier I tended to remember to start data logging halfway in to the session (if at all) or something like that. Rather annoying, but the autostart has put an end to that.

faraday
Posts: 267
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 1:18 am

Postby faraday » Fri Jul 18, 2008 5:40 pm

I have been relieved that many times the file is not lost when you simply turn off the power coming to a normal stop.

A decent crash, however, is not a normal stop. I think these are the only occasions that data has been lost. We've had two such instances. The driver wasn't hurt, but had more to worry about than the data. I was peeved I couldn't try my hand at crash recontruction with the data. In one case it wasn't all the data.

I must have had several dozen instances over the years of power off before button press with no loss.
It is not certain or recommended...

A more common problem I've struck is letting the card fill up. It takes so long you get complacent. This has caused more drama than simply not getting the last file :(


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