The SYO event at the weekend had a SI unit at the start which switched off SIAC cards to save the battery. Much appreciated!
I think I'm correct in saying that SIAC are usually started by the 'check' unit and switched off by the finish unit so worth punching at the finish even if you retire.
Now all they need is some way of switching off the rain!
Switching Off SIAC
Moderators: [nope] cartel, team nopesport
16 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Switching Off SIAC
To oblivion and beyond....
-
buzz - addict
- Posts: 1197
- Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:45 pm
- Location: Sheffield
Re: Switching Off SIAC
buzz wrote:The SYO event at the weekend had a SI unit at the start which switched off SIAC cards to save the battery. Much appreciated!
Have I misunderstood this... why would you want to switch off the SIAC card at the start, wouldn't this facility at the finish be more useful?
Do SIAC cards have an automatic timeout after which they would switch off as a recent major error meant I had a leg of over 50 minutes in an overall run of 90 minutes? In fact I had started to retire when I found the control and felt I should then carry on!!
- canol
- orange
- Posts: 136
- Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:33 pm
- Location: In the middle
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Perhaps Buzz is suggesting Check switched SIAC on but the controls were not SIAC-enabled, so battery would have been wasted if Start had not switched them off ?
Or perhaps he is being sarcastic and this was a mistake which meant that although all the site controls were in SIAC mode no-ones cards were so everyone had to manually punch anyway ?
Or perhaps he is being sarcastic and this was a mistake which meant that although all the site controls were in SIAC mode no-ones cards were so everyone had to manually punch anyway ?
curro ergo sum
-
King Penguin - addict
- Posts: 1453
- Joined: Wed Sep 21, 2005 6:56 pm
- Location: notloB
Re: Switching Off SIAC
No, I think what he said was correct - it was the same at the British Sprint Champs. As well as clear and check, there was an SIAC battery test control in the arena. If you used this well before your start, you could then turn SIAC off again until your run, to save the battery. (The check box in the start lane would turn it back on.) They do definitely turn off after a time, but this is several hours.
- roadrunner
- addict
- Posts: 1059
- Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 8:30 pm
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Sorry for the confusion guys.
I wasn't being sarcastic, as I understood it SIAC wasn't enabled for the event so the idea was to switch off SIAC cards to save battery - which I thought was a nice idea. Perhaps someone in SYO could confirm.
My understanding is that the Check unit switches on SIAC and the Finish unit switches it off regardless of whether the controls were enabled or not. If you retire and go straight to download the SI card isn't switched off and from my experience it stays on quite a while (overnight from memory) and starts beeping after a while. It eventually stops of its own accord if you don't have access to a finish unit.
I don't know whether Check units can be set so they don't switch on SIAC cards - if not then providing a unit to switch them off after checking seems a good one.
I wasn't being sarcastic, as I understood it SIAC wasn't enabled for the event so the idea was to switch off SIAC cards to save battery - which I thought was a nice idea. Perhaps someone in SYO could confirm.
My understanding is that the Check unit switches on SIAC and the Finish unit switches it off regardless of whether the controls were enabled or not. If you retire and go straight to download the SI card isn't switched off and from my experience it stays on quite a while (overnight from memory) and starts beeping after a while. It eventually stops of its own accord if you don't have access to a finish unit.
I don't know whether Check units can be set so they don't switch on SIAC cards - if not then providing a unit to switch them off after checking seems a good one.
To oblivion and beyond....
-
buzz - addict
- Posts: 1197
- Joined: Mon May 09, 2005 10:45 pm
- Location: Sheffield
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Thanks for the clarification, I do understand now what you had meant. I am finding quite a few forest regional races are also now setting their controls as touch-free. I thought it would only be attractive to urban races but it is another technology trickling down to all types of orienteering.
- canol
- orange
- Posts: 136
- Joined: Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:33 pm
- Location: In the middle
Re: Switching Off SIAC
As reported in CompassSport letters a couple of issues ago by Alan Leakey, the latest firmwear update from SI for the download box now switches off SIAC cards - so you dont need to visit the finish, you just need to download - assuming the box has the latest software update.
-
Ravinous - light green
- Posts: 278
- Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 9:48 pm
- Location: Just by Monty's Bunkers
Re: Switching Off SIAC
roadrunner wrote:No, I think what he said was correct - it was the same at the British Sprint Champs. As well as clear and check, there was an SIAC battery test control in the arena. If you used this well before your start, you could then turn SIAC off again until your run, to save the battery.
I'm glad someone spotted this at the Sprints ... makes it worth the effort setting it up ... battery check, clear, check, control, siac off ...
- iainwp
- orange
- Posts: 100
- Joined: Tue Dec 24, 2013 8:55 pm
- Location: loughborough
Re: Switching Off SIAC
I switched my SIAC off, however, towards the end of my course (Blue) at Wombwell my SIAC actually reverted to the Air Mode for the last couple of controls. Could this be because one of the SI Boxes had in its' previous life been a Check Box and it subsequently turned the SIAC back on?
I say this, because the reverse occurred at a SIAC enabled Event that I was Controlling when one of the boxes actually switched off the SIAC Cards. The history of the Control Box showed that it had been a Check Box previously. To confound things this was a Sprint Chase in a confined area, so caused considerable confusion. Fortunately everyone did continue their courses using conventional dibbing and nobody mispunched.
Has anybody else experienced this?
I say this, because the reverse occurred at a SIAC enabled Event that I was Controlling when one of the boxes actually switched off the SIAC Cards. The history of the Control Box showed that it had been a Check Box previously. To confound things this was a Sprint Chase in a confined area, so caused considerable confusion. Fortunately everyone did continue their courses using conventional dibbing and nobody mispunched.
Has anybody else experienced this?
- skybluepete
- off string
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:03 pm
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Wouldn't have this problem with Emit... just saying...
- Big Jon
- guru
- Posts: 1895
- Joined: Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:59 am
- Location: Dess
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Big Jon wrote:Wouldn't have this problem with Emit... just saying...
I like your gallows sense of humour John.
"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut" Abraham Lincoln
-
LostAgain - diehard
- Posts: 774
- Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 2:32 pm
- Location: If only I knew
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Big Jon wrote:Wouldn't have this problem with Emit... just saying...
True, ... but unlike at the JK this year I believe results for the above event were finalised within a week.
When we use e-punching in TrailO we have a "carousel" with multiple boxes on and we have to select the correct one with our SI Card. This was first used at the European Champs where I was Assistant SEA and competitors were issued with non-SIAC dibbers. At a Polish event a couple of weeks back (I was the EA) they were allowing people to use their own dibbers and I was worried that the carousel boxes might be in beacon mode so I got them to have a SIAC-off box for the SIAC dibbers as part of the pre-start process.
JK
JK
- JK
- diehard
- Posts: 748
- Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:22 pm
- Location: Warrington :-(
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Ravinous wrote:As reported in CompassSport letters a couple of issues ago by Alan Leakey, the latest firmwear update from SI for the download box now switches off SIAC cards - so you dont need to visit the finish, you just need to download - assuming the box has the latest software update.
This was correct but for clarity I should have stated that this only applies if the event is using the latest version of the SI results software, not anyone else’s (unless they have now amended their software). It is the PC connected to the Download box which switches off the SIAC rather than the Download box itself
- Slowtochide
- orange
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:47 pm
Re: Switching Off SIAC
skybluepete wrote:I switched my SIAC off, however, towards the end of my course (Blue) at Wombwell my SIAC actually reverted to the Air Mode for the last couple of controls. Could this be because one of the SI Boxes had in its' previous life been a Check Box and it subsequently turned the SIAC back on?
I say this, because the reverse occurred at a SIAC enabled Event that I was Controlling when one of the boxes actually switched off the SIAC Cards. The history of the Control Box showed that it had been a Check Box previously. To confound things this was a Sprint Chase in a confined area, so caused considerable confusion. Fortunately everyone did continue their courses using conventional dibbing and nobody mispunched.
Has anybody else experienced this?
This would be disastrous for a TrailO event using e-punching.
Can someone confirm that this is possible?
JK
- JK
- diehard
- Posts: 748
- Joined: Fri Jun 10, 2005 5:22 pm
- Location: Warrington :-(
Re: Switching Off SIAC
Regarding the cases of switching SIAC on and off during the event. The big question I have to ask (whilst rather suspecting that I know the answer) is “Did you contact SportIdent about the issue?” After all, if there really is an issue then they can’t fix it unless they know about it.
Were you using SiTiming or other software? If it was SiTiming then send them the Config+ log file
Were you using SiTiming or other software? If it was SiTiming then send them the Config+ log file
- Slowtochide
- orange
- Posts: 117
- Joined: Sat Apr 25, 2009 11:47 pm
16 posts
• Page 1 of 2 • 1, 2
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 156 guests