Race Timer - using the Serial Data Link

These instructions are provided for Windows 10 computers.  The Race Timer will output data to any computer capable of receiving serial data over USB at 57600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and nil parity.

Instructions:

Use a suitable serial terminal program such as PuTTY (available for free Win10 download at https://www.putty.org/)

Then find the COM port that the Race Timer is connected to from Device Manager (search for Device Manager from the Windows start bar).  Look under PORTS (COM & LPT) > USB-SERIAL for the relevant port number (in this example, COM6).

Start the terminal program (PuTTY).

Select Session > Connection Type > Serial Button
Select Session > Serial Line [COM6} > Speed [57600 baud]

If required, select recording of the data in a datafile under the Sessions >Logging option.

Check Connection > Serial has speed 57600, Data bits 8, Stop bits 1, parity none, Flow control Xon/Xoff set.

Select OPEN to open the serial window

Once the rear sensor has been swiped, the Race Timer, speedometer and Finish Line will output the ‘Race Timer Serial Link…’ header. If this is not readable, check the setup in PuTTY and the correct COM port and baud rate has been selected.

In Race Timer mode, the unit will provide data on the timings (milliseconds), Speeds in metres per second, Km/h and miles per hour.  Finally, the scale speed in Km/h and mph is provide.

Note:  The data output as 0.0000 is due to the car crashing and not recording a speed at the gate

This data will be sent to the computer until the Race Timer is powered off.

Note:  If a car does not complete the course, the Won by: data field will be 999.9 indicating the other lane ‘Did Not Finish’.  The speed of the DNF lane will be 0.  This output is provided to ensure data types are constant and can be loaded into a spreadsheet with minimal alteration.

Speedometer Mode

When is Speedometer mode, the data is output as soon as the car passes the rear sensor.  It is provide as ‘Lane’ ‘Speed’ in Km/h and the time, in microseconds (1/100000s) that the car took to travel between the front and rear sensors (80mm).

Copy and paste the output text, or import the data log produced by PuTTY, into your data analysis program (e.g. Excel).

Troubleshooting:

If you are occasionally experiencing difficulty in connecting or not connecting at all to the Race Timer, firstly try rebooting the computer and then connecting the Race Timer to the USB port.

Problems may also occur because the driver for the COM port are not compatible with the serial interface driver chips in the Race Timer.  Our testing has shown that downloading updated compatible drivers solves the issue.  These drivers are at:

http://www.wch.cn/download/CH341SER_EXE.html

Whilst we have made every effort to confirm the compatibility of these drivers with other Win10 devices, we cannot check every item.  Cook’s Projects takes no liability on the installation of these drivers for the stability or data integrity of your system.  You complete this installation at your own risk.  Should you experience other issues with your devices post installing these drivers, we suggest rolling back the installation.  You can do this by searching for ‘Device Manager’, selecting the COM port, finding the driver page and choosing ‘roll back’ or uninstall.  Win10 will automatically reinstall the old version when required.  Nevertheless, this troubleshooting advice is provided without guarantees and is followed at the user’s own risk.