There are several components to our timing equipment.

Equipment Description Purpose Batteries
Wand The device with a numeric pad The athletes ‘break’ the wand as they ski through, and this starts the timer counting for their run 🟢 3x AA (Alkaline)
Photocell The device at the bottom of the slope with an antenna To stop timing once the athlete passes the finish line 🟢 3x AA (Alkaline)
Infrared Receiver (IRE) The device at the bottom of the slope without an antenna To stop timing once the athlete passes the finish line 🟣 3x AAA (Alkaline)
Timer The screen that is split into four segments It is used to configure the wand and photocell equipment, it also displays the race time for athletes 🟦 1x 9v (Alkaline)

Batteries

  • Ensure that there is a spare set of batteries for every device
  • Use Energizer batteries for the 9V (🟦) timer battery. The manafacturer has stated that the Duracell 9V battery is too big.

Timer Battery Change

  1. Remove the four screws on the back
  2. Attach something to the tripod mounting point
  3. Use the tripod mounting point to pull the back panel away

Photocell Battery Change

  1. Attach an aerial, then use the leverage to unscrew the aerial mount point itself. This should remove the aerial connector (‘plug’) protruding from the top of the unit
  2. Remove the screw on the bottom of the unit
  3. Apply gentle pressure to push the electronics out of the housing

IRE Battery Change

  1. Remove the screw on the bottom of the unit
  2. Apply gentle pressure to push the electronics out of the housing

Equipment

Ensure you have:

  • The electronic components - the wand, photocell, IRE and timer
  • Three antennas
  • The fiberglass portion that attaches to the wand (this comes in two parts)
  • The USB to USB cable (USB-A to USB-A)

Setup

When setting up the equipment you can use the UP and DOWN buttons on the timer to cycle through options, like which ‘Power of Transmission’ mode to use or the ‘Channel’, or the ‘sync mode’.

Initial Configuration

  • Power on the timer, the wand, the photocell and the infrared receiver by holding the power button.
  • Screw the aerials into the timer, the wand and the photocell.
  • On the timer…
    • Select the desired channel (CH) - the default of 0 has always been fine - and press the MODE button to confirm
    • Set the desired Power of Transmission (Pr) to ‘SL’- press the MODE button to confirm
    • Set the Programme number (P#) to ‘P3 - AUTO’

Syncing The Equipment

All the electronics must be synchronized. The devices are configured in the following order:

  1. The wand, because this goes at the start of the course
  2. The infrared sensor, because this goes at the end of the course

Think of it as working through the setup from start to finish. These instructions assume that the USB cable is not yet plugged into anything (i.e. the timer, wand or photocell).

Before continuing ensure the ‘SYNC’ mode is active on the timer.

  1. Plug the USB into the timer
  2. Set the the sync mode to ‘Start’; if it isn’t use the UP/DOWN buttons to cycle through
  3. Plug the USB into the wand - the timer will then sync with the wand. Wait for a beep to confirm the syncing has finished
  4. Unplug the USB from the wand, but leave it attached to the timer
  5. Press the MODE button on the timer, then press the MODE button again
  6. Set the the sync mode to ‘Finish’; if it isn’t use the UP/DOWN buttons to cycle through
  7. Plug the USB into the photocell - the timer will then sync with the photocell. Wait for a beep to confirm the syncing has finished
  8. Unplug the cable from the photocell
  9. Unplug the cable from the timer

Recording Results

The volunteer at the top of the slope should input the athlete’s bib number into the wand and then press enter. The athlete going through the wand will start the timer, and them going through the end gate will then stop it.

The timer will count up in 1 second increments; this may continue briefly after the athlete has crossed the finish line, but the score will settle and then be visible on the timer display.

If an athlete has gone but you missed their time you can use the up/down arrows to go back to it - just keep in mind a new athlete starting will cause the view to ‘jump’ back to the most recent scores.

If an athlete misses the finish gate press the DNF button to cancel their attempt. Due to the mode, if an athlete is still on the course (i.e. hasn’t crossed the finish line) and another athlete starts it will consider the previous athlete’s attempt a DNF.

Internal Result Storage

The timer can only store a finite number of results; if there’s too many results stored it’ll stop recording new results.

Warning

It may not be immediately obvious that it has stopped recording new results as it will still look like new results are coming through but these may not be saved locally.

You can clear all existing results by holding the CLEAR button for six seconds.

It’s worthwhile doing this during the lunch swap over, after the initial set of competitions (i.e. slalom) are done and the scores have been inputted.

Manual

If you’re looking for a PDF version of the manual for our timing equipment you can find it here. The original instructions stated 2007, but the documents seem equivalent.