Hi Guys,
my trackmate problem is that, one lane on my four lane track is not being recognized by the RMS. I ran diagnostic and it shows zero hits in lane 4. I am using infra red sensors (irs). I replaced the irs in lane 4 and still no readings. I moved the irs from lane 3 under the led of lane 4 and lane 3 still worked...led in lane 4 must be good. I put the irs from lane 4 under the led of lane 3 and still no signal.
Any input would be appreciated.
I must say that the trackmate system is 5-6 years old and it has worked without a problem, Kudos to trackmate.
It looks to me like there is a bad connection between the lane 4 IR sensor and the Trackmate interface unit. Are you sure that you did not connect the new lane 4 sensor backwards?
Backwards? There are two legs coming out of the irs and I soldered them to the leads on the interface without giving it much more thought. Is there a right and wrong way?
I did a continuity check on the light bridge this morning and that checked out good.
Both the emitters and sensors are polarity sensitive, they only work in one direction. The sensor has an emitter and a collector, the collector is marked by a flat spot on the package and its lead is usually shorter than the emitter lead. The sensors and emitters both work over a narrow frequency range, so your emitters and sensors need to be matched or the pairs may not work unless they are very close together. 850nm and 950nm are the common values for the emitters and sensors. I don't know what value Trackmate uses. Spares are available on the Trackmate site.
Latest troubleshooting.
1. Put in two more IRS's...still not working
2. Did a resistance check on leads from IRS to pins, all good
3. Did a resistance check on leads and pins on cable going to computer, all good
It COULD be the board, but in 12 years of reselling his boards into my country, I have not yet had a single faulty board.
- Last week a client ordered a board, and I asked why, he said 2 had sh** themselves, one from me and one bought direct from Trackmate. I got him to send them back to me, and needless to say, both worked 100% when swapped into my own system. I refunded him the new board and sent back his two working ones........
It is far more likely that you have a bad wire on the cable, or either of an emitter or sensor failed, or you have one hooked up the wrong way around, or the resistor for the LED has gone O.C.
Have you actually looked at the IR LEDs through a camera to check they are working? They will glow pink.
The other thing to do is to replace the sensor with bare wires and intermittently short them out to see if this triggers laps.
After that if you still haven't identified the issue, try another cable - it it is the new CAT-5 / USB blue board, use a plain CAT-5 cable and short out each pair of wires in turn, to see if they trigger laps for all 4 lanes.
At the end of these tests you will know where your fault is.
I would just open up the 25 pin plug that goes to the Trakmate board and change the wires from pins 10 and 22 over with the wires from pins 13 and 25.
If the Sensors are good on lane four you should now get lane one counting when a car goes over the sensor on lane four.
If that is the case then either the board had a bad joint between the socket and board or the board is faulty.
Trackmate problem, your input needed
Linear Mode
