Post by knotthead on Nov 18, 2008 6:24:35 GMT -6
Earlier this year, when I built my test track, I chose to use a timer module from Swanberg Technologies. Inexpensive and easy to mount. No problems, or so I thought 'til last night.
Upon receiving my cars from their last race, I found that USPS had done their darndest to destroy them. I was able to make repairs/changes so I put them on the track and sure enough, they were much slower. At least the times indicated that. I shrugged it off and made a new car for the Dec. race. Last night,
when I went to my son's house to test/race, I started with a repaired car to get an idea of track condition etc. Still the same times. To give an idea of conditions, we've moved from hot/humid temps to cold/dry temps. and the track is in Jay's basement, which is now cooler, thanks to 30 degree night time temps.
Ok. New car is on the track, and first run shows promise ,but times are still not comparable to what the damaged cars were turning in Aug/Sept. As testing/tweaking progressed, the furnace kicked on, and don't you know, as the temp in the basement increased, the times suddenly got quicker!! The new car picked up
5 thou. between two runs. Jay looked at me and asked "What did you do to it?", and I just looked at him and said "Nothing!" So,
down it went again. Another thou. increase. We were dumbstruck! This time, I put a repaired car on the track, and don't you know, it too, was faster!!
All of this leads to two conclusions. 1) the timer modules are sensitive to climate conditions and 2) if a change is made to a car
during a test, such as wheels/lubricating/tweaking, is the improvement or detriment the cause of the change or a swing in timer tempriment? Jay's suggestion was to put a hair drier on the modules to make really fast times and create an illusion of beating Master ProQuest ;D ,but even that fantasy was short lived. Guess we'll have to try it the old fashioned way. Sigh
Ain't life grand??...
Later...
Lee
Upon receiving my cars from their last race, I found that USPS had done their darndest to destroy them. I was able to make repairs/changes so I put them on the track and sure enough, they were much slower. At least the times indicated that. I shrugged it off and made a new car for the Dec. race. Last night,
when I went to my son's house to test/race, I started with a repaired car to get an idea of track condition etc. Still the same times. To give an idea of conditions, we've moved from hot/humid temps to cold/dry temps. and the track is in Jay's basement, which is now cooler, thanks to 30 degree night time temps.
Ok. New car is on the track, and first run shows promise ,but times are still not comparable to what the damaged cars were turning in Aug/Sept. As testing/tweaking progressed, the furnace kicked on, and don't you know, as the temp in the basement increased, the times suddenly got quicker!! The new car picked up
5 thou. between two runs. Jay looked at me and asked "What did you do to it?", and I just looked at him and said "Nothing!" So,
down it went again. Another thou. increase. We were dumbstruck! This time, I put a repaired car on the track, and don't you know, it too, was faster!!
All of this leads to two conclusions. 1) the timer modules are sensitive to climate conditions and 2) if a change is made to a car
during a test, such as wheels/lubricating/tweaking, is the improvement or detriment the cause of the change or a swing in timer tempriment? Jay's suggestion was to put a hair drier on the modules to make really fast times and create an illusion of beating Master ProQuest ;D ,but even that fantasy was short lived. Guess we'll have to try it the old fashioned way. Sigh
Ain't life grand??...
Later...
Lee