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Post by dave632 on Feb 15, 2021 16:01:12 GMT -7
Seems like a small capacitor across the rails would kill the RF generated by the cars.
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Post by skillet on Feb 15, 2021 16:18:36 GMT -7
I at first thought it was the sparkle, so I held the car and it was setting all the sensors off at different times still. My laptop and arduino are right on my starting line.i really hope I don't have to move them. I could move the arduino under the track. I put it right on top so I could mess with it easy and not crouching down. Dave wich ones would you use? I've been trying to figure that out or at least figure out what im calling a filter. I only kinda sound like I know what im doing from all this reading I've been doing...  |
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Post by dynomike on Feb 15, 2021 16:40:26 GMT -7
Since you are using mostly the same components as Gale, I would reach out to him to see what he recommends, or if he experienced a similar problem. I did not have any rf when running the car stationary , only when running down the track.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 16:51:50 GMT -7
you can get RFI from the brushes "floating" and causing spark also. Capacitors help absorb the RFI. I was advised to use them when I had a Trik Trak Drag Trak system, they actually came with the system. I do not know the value of the capacitor. but, I later found similar and placed them at every power tap. yes, twisted and especially shielded wire (I was a telephone tech for Bell Telephone for 20 years) will help contain RFI. Sgrig wrapped his sensor wires with aluminum foil at the sensors to help eliminate RFI.
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Post by skillet on Feb 15, 2021 17:10:52 GMT -7
Thats funny that twisted wire (shape effects the way it works. Got me wanting to build a pyramid over my arduino. See if that helps.
I did the foil wrap. That actually fixed my road course in the past. Not doing much on this one.
This mega arduino is supposed to be wireless. I wonder if thats part of it. I don't remember seeing Gale having that problem with his.
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Post by GTS on Feb 15, 2021 17:36:16 GMT -7
Since you are using mostly the same components as Gale, I would reach out to him to see what he recommends, or if he experienced a similar problem. I did not have any rf when running the car stationary , only when running down the track. Never experienced any RF in any of the configurations I've had my system hooked up to. For the first year and a half I used a Mega board I purchased from over seas (Banggood link) and sensor wire was just plain insulated 22 ga. speaker wire, not twisted. The only glitch I ever had was about every tenth run, the 300' and 600' would have the same readout in one of the lanes, not always the same lane. It never effected the final ET so I went along with it. This past early fall, I replaced the Mega with a genuine Arduino and went with new sensor wire. The sensor wire is 24 ga 2 conductor wrapped in foil with a separate ground wire and insulated. It helped some but still get that glitch in the read out every 20th or 30th run now. It was kind of an expensive upgrade, considering the results. I could have easily lived with the old system because the only time I pay any attention to the 300' or 600' is when I'm tuning and it's easy enough to make another run just to see those numbers. Sometimes I'll be warming up another car while making a timed run and have never experienced any RF or any other abnormalities. Everything is hooked up to the same circuit breaker or in other words, all on the same circuit. I don't envy anyone having to chase down electronic gremlins, they definitely are not one of my favorite past times and sorry I don't have any experience that I can share concerning the RF. Where I live, the humidity level is pretty low compared to other parts of the country and I've been told that can make a difference in how electronics operate but I have no fact to back that up.
PS - I do not use any wireless configurations.
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Post by dynomike on Feb 15, 2021 18:02:52 GMT -7
Sam. I would post that problem on the drc thread of slotforum.com. Does this happen with all cars or just one or two? Noise from the power supply?
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Post by dynomike on Feb 15, 2021 18:58:11 GMT -7
I keep running things through my mind. Pull up the configure page,where you can see if each sensor is on or off. Then run the car in place, while watching the configure page. I am not sure where i am going with this, i am still thinking. Its my bed time snd i have to take the dog outside.
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Post by dave632 on Feb 15, 2021 19:35:13 GMT -7
Try a .001 uf to start with. That should have a pretty quick recovery time. If you have other sizes give them a try,
they wont hurt anything. I remember looking at a scope with an RC car which used a DC motor and I put a 10 mfd electrolitic capacitor across the poles of the motor and it cleaned up a lot of the noise the motor was putting out. Don't know if that would work in this case.
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Post by skillet on Feb 15, 2021 20:37:38 GMT -7
Here's where I'm at. I was also thinking like you Mike. I had that page up and held the car and watched the green dot for the sensor....no change...back to race and it sets the screen off different lanes different sensors different times... back to the page that shows sensor pins. Held car again and when I was watching for the green dot to change, I noticed the small light on arduino going crazy. Take the car off light blinks normal. Put car back light goes crazy ha ha.
So I took it all apart and got all the way down to just putting a couple inch piece of wire going to nothing from pin 39 wich I have set to lane 2 start.
Touch the car to the track ... the light still goes crazy on arduino board lmaooooo...
Pulled some hair out (from the sides cause the tops about gone).
I think earlier i said something about pickups, there actually called pull ups.
Looks to be about the same lines as what Dave is saying except hooked up in the arduino instead of on the track.
In trying to figure out what im talking about. The mega has those built in it already from what I read. To change them you have to add pull up after input in the writing. Ha ha ha I'm scared .
I never found a place in the writing to change it like it said.
Anyway sitting here with this now antenna in pin 39. I started doing what I normally do when all fails. Start mashing buttons. In general under options it says Debounce US then you can set a number. It was at 4. I jacked it up to 96 and the light is not going crazy when I touch the car to the track.
So now I'm going to put it back together. This time for now I'm only going to use start and finish sensors.
Its something through blue tooth gale. Says the mega will go wireless to pc through that.
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Post by skillet on Feb 15, 2021 21:41:12 GMT -7
Ok Debounce Us is definitely something. Just kinda stuck things back together to test. Still had minimum interference. Turned Debounce Us to 232 . Made a run in each lane. Looks to have no glitch now.  First runs with no glitch...   One of my lanes always has ran better than the other. It really shows in the times  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2021 22:09:44 GMT -7
looks like you are making good progress Sam
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Post by skillet on Feb 16, 2021 0:10:42 GMT -7
I'm back to having fun Al. I'm going to say I believe its working. I made a bunch of runs with the 4 gear cars I sent to the good time speedway. I made notes of the times and wich lanes they were in. Then I looked up what they ran at Good Time Speedway. Funny that the purple 57 didn't do good there and is killing the pickup truck here. Looking at the notes of the chrome truck, it looks like my track is a little slower times than GTS.  |
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Post by skillet on Feb 16, 2021 1:41:01 GMT -7
Maybe the lanes ain't so different ? Got the 60' going  |
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Post by GTS on Feb 16, 2021 5:18:29 GMT -7
Impressive Sam!  According to your understanding, does the higher "de-bounce" number seem to fix the interference you were having? I might have to play with that setting a little more than I have and see if it makes any difference with a direct hook up, i.e., no blue tooth.
Thanks, to you and Mike, for posting and sharing your journey |
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