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SuperTimer II Getting Started

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I've hooked it all up and it doesn't work!

Here's a step by step (crawl before you walk before you run) guide.

• Use only the cables we provided. Do not shorten or lengthen any cable without consultation.

• Plug the speaker into the SuperTimer II (white box, blue/gold label) Speaker jack on the corner of the board. The speaker is important and will not work if plugged into your computer. (Connect an amplifier, if you wish, to the LineOut jack.) Do not use powered speakers on the Speaker jack or unpowered speakers on the LineOut jack.

• At SuperTimer II disconnect the cable going to the computer and the cable coming from the start gate.

• Connect all other cables at the start gate and finish line, do not connect the USB adapter at the computer, see below.

• While holding down the Red Start Button, connect the silver cable coming from the Start Gate. The speakers will say, "Lane." Immediately release the Red Button. If SuperTimer II stops talking, it is now in a test mode. If it keeps talking, try again. 'Flick' any sensor and SuperTimer II will announce the lane and light the red LED for that lane as a test.

• Press the Red Button again to exit the test mode, SuperTimer II will begin announcing all possible messages. (Requires Option switch 3 ON.) The Green LED on SuperTimer II will be on. Pressing the Red Button will test fire the Gate Solenoid.

• At the end of the announcements, the speakers will repeat, "Please close the Start Gate." Close the Start Gate. The speakers should be silent, the Green LED should be off and the Red LED should be blinking, once per second.

• Rotate the Start Gate manually. It must move smoothly up and down with very little left to right movement.

• When the Start Gate is closed the speakers should be silent, when open the speakers should say, "Please close the Start Gate." The transition between the two modes should occur before the pegs go through the track on the way down and before the latch peg hits the solenoid on the way up. Leave the Start Gate up and latched. To adjust the Gate Open/Close sensing position see the last paragraphs here http://www.supertimer.com/track/startgate.html.

• Press and hold the Ready Switch (black switch, metal handle, under the Start Gate near the foam pad). The speakers will say, "Ready." Release the switch, the speakers will say, "One moment please." The Ready Switch must be pressed and held until the cars fully leave the Start Gate in order for SuperTimer II to register a race and announce winners.

• Run a race. You can operate the solenoid release manually or with the Red Button without affecting the timing, BUT, you must be "Ready" and get a start signal when the gate falls or no results will be heard or seen.

• Be sure the computer, the projector (if used) and SuperTimer II are all powered from the same AC outlet.

• Be sure to install the RaceManager and the USB driver. With no driver, SuperTimer II will never connect.

• Plug in the USB/Serial adapter and look for a message in the lower right corner that the USB adapter has been found.

• Plug the computer cable in to SuperTimer II.

• Be sure the Red light on SuperTimer II is blinking once per second. Steady on or steady off indicates that SuperTimer II is lost and needs to be re-powered. Very slow blinking will occur when talking, double speed blinking will occur during an actual race down the track.

• Start RaceManager which will look at ComPorts 1 through 20 to find SuperTimer II and report what it finds on the top line of the application window. "Not found" indicates that the computer does not have a ComPort on that number. "Trying" indicates that it found an installed ComPort and is looking to see if SuperTimer II is connected on that Port. If it fails to find SuperTimer II, you will see a message, click on Retry to try again. Once it connects it will remember and use the successful ComPort number for faster future starts. You must have a ComPort and a connection for RaceManager to fully function.

• Without a connection if you only want to enter data or play with RaceManager, click on OK and RaceManager will allow you to work with any function that does not require a SuperTimer II connection. (e.g. You can enter racers and print but you cannot schedule or run a race.)

• Once RaceManager has started, running a race ("Ready") requires that a heat be displayed on the Race tab which in turn requires that racers be entered and heats scheduled.