# AMB Transponder Missing Laps



## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

We had a few cars at the track with problems of the counting system missing laps. Two personals and one public.
We found the wire under the track had moved closer together and we fixed that and everybody's signal strength improved.
Alll three vehicle's were running 4 cell and we even moved the tranponders on their chassis to get a better signal area.

After working on this most of the day , the system still missed laps for them in the feature ??????????


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Are you using the pickup loop with a resistor in it? We had problems with the resistor in our loop one time and guys on here suggested eliminating that and didn't have any problems after that. Ok scratch that. I lent a Novak Racer EX ESC to a guy once and he was using a personal transponder. Never had a problem in the past with it but his truck missed laps all day for some reason. Possibly not enough power to the receiver to power the PT? This wouldn't explain the missed laps with a "house" transponder though.


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

OvalmanPA said:


> Are you using the pickup loop with a resistor in it? We had problems with the resistor in our loop one time and guys on here suggested eliminating that and didn't have any problems after that. Ok scratch that. I lent a Novak Racer EX ESC to a guy once and he was using a personal transponder. Never had a problem in the past with it but his truck missed laps all day for some reason. Possibly not enough power to the receiver to power the PT? This wouldn't explain the missed laps with a "house" transponder though.


We didn't check the resistor yesterday and I don't know what it's supposed to be. Now that you say that , at our reg. track we never ran a resistor and didn't have a problem.

You'd think the racers with a one cell lipo might have this problem because of low voltage but these were all 4 cell vehicles.


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## 69mkitmine (May 31, 2007)

I've seen it happen before, but a quick adjustment on the signal strength through the Scoring system, everything was fine. I've also seen a loose connection at the loop do the same thing.


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## Promatchracer (Sep 28, 2001)

How do you adjust the signal strength through the scoring system


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

NCFRC said:


> We didn't check the resistor yesterday and I don't know what it's supposed to be. Now that you say that , at our reg. track we never ran a resistor and didn't have a problem.
> 
> You'd think the racers with a one cell lipo might have this problem because of low voltage but these were all 4 cell vehicles.


Since there is a problem with house transponders too I'd check and maybe eliminate that resistor and try that. :thumbsup:


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Promatchracer said:


> How do you adjust the signal strength through the scoring system


I don't know as the newer AMB systems have it but the older systems had a little dial to adjust the sensitivity. Come to think of it I think they might have eliminated that when they came out with the AMBrc system but can't remember now.  Sold ours so I can't go look.


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

OvalmanPA said:


> I don't know as the newer AMB systems have it but the older systems had a little dial to adjust the sensitivity. Come to think of it I think they might have eliminated that when they came out with the AMBrc system but can't remember now.  Sold ours so I can't go look.


This is a newer system so I don't believe there's a sensitivity adjustment.
The other thing we may try is to eliminate the connector to the loop and solder
it dirrectly . 
I had another person suggest to eliminate that tamiya connector and from the 
little black box at the end of the cable which has a wire coming out from both the left and rt to make sure that the loop separation distance stays the same for the entire width. 
Sorry such a long sentence but thats why the box splits that way and who ever
put a connector like that on there wasn't thinking about the wires being that close.
We'll try it.:thumbsup:


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## 69mkitmine (May 31, 2007)

Promatchracer said:


> How do you adjust the signal strength through the scoring system


It was with an AMBrc converter, and Jlap offered a signal strength adjustment. I think it is set @ 45 now. The adjustment was part of the scoring software.


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

Is the transponder itself a possibility but then we had personals and public ones bother and they were the same racers ????


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Same problem with personal AND house transponders with the SAME person? That would just be pee poor luck I think. :lol:


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## TOM MAR (Jul 24, 2008)

I made a test loop.
About $10, Usually the wire will corrode inside preventing a good signal In the last 10 years it's happened to us twice. 
The first time It was under the asphault and we tested everything.
A different decoder, computer, but the test loopfixed the problem.

We had an overhead loop for years, & hated it. So we carefully cut a groove where we wanted the loop ( Skill Saw with a Cutting Wheel ) & Siliconed it in. 
Works Great , Took a day the first time about 3 or 4 hours the 2nd time. In the hot & rainy weather it has held up well.

Hope this helps.


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## Diff Dude (Oct 2, 2004)

Make sure the loop seperation is at least 18 inches. Closer will cause missed laps.

Dave Irrgang


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

Diff Dude said:


> Make sure the loop seperation is at least 18 inches. Closer will cause missed laps.
> 
> Dave Irrgang


It's a small bull ring carpet track and the loop is only 6" wide.


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## TOM MAR (Jul 24, 2008)

NCFRC said:


> It's a small bull ring carpet track and the loop is only 6" wide.



Could be the problem.:thumbsup:


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## swtour (Oct 8, 2001)

MAKE SURE YOUR MINIMUM LAP TIME IS SET CORRECT TOO! 

I've seen guys chase a LOOP problem only to find the cars in question were going faster than what the MIN Lap Time was set at.

Also... I use the AMBrc system, and before that I used AMB20, and AMB8800 w/ the AMB20 converter...and I use solid core SPEAKER WIRE - 24 gauge (2 wire type) as my loop wire with NO resistor. In general, my loop is set between 10 and 15 inches wide (Never wider, and never narrower)

I USE this method for ALL of our Portable Track Locations - taped into place using the BLACK "Gorilla" Tape on ASPHALT, CONCRETE and CARPET.

The Carpet is 165 ft Ozite Carpet with lap times in the 3-4 second range - speeds in the 25-35 MPH Range

The Asphalt is 260 ft with speeds in the 35-45 MPH Range

The Concrete is a VELODROME Banked Track (820 ft) with speeds from 50 - 80 MPH (for insane SPEED Cars)

and NEVER has this system missed laps, unless the LOOP Wire had a bad connection @ the COAX, or been actually CUT someplace where it crossed the track.

(FOR Dirt Off-ROAD I use to use much heavier SPEAKER WIRE buried under the dirt about 8 inches. That required the Transponders to be mounted LOW and FLAT on the chassis)


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Yea 6" is to narrow. It seems to me the directions say between 16 and 24 inches apart. We normally ran ours about 16-1/2 - 18 inches on a 98' oval.


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

swtour said:


> MAKE SURE YOUR MINIMUM LAP TIME IS SET CORRECT TOO!
> 
> I've seen guys chase a LOOP problem only to find the cars in question were going faster than what the MIN Lap Time was set at.
> 
> ...


I REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR REPLY AS THE THREE VEHICLES THAT WERE HAVING PROBLEMS WERE THE THREE FASTEST.

Thats got to be the problem as they were turning laps under 3 sec's.

THANK YOU !! :thumbsup:


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## Diff Dude (Oct 2, 2004)

Size of the track does not make a differance when laying out the loop. I do agree that the delay needs to be set correctly.

Dave


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## NCFRC (Aug 4, 2005)

Quote -
MAKE SURE YOUR MINIMUM LAP TIME IS SET CORRECT TOO!

I've seen guys chase a LOOP problem only to find the cars in question were going faster than what the MIN Lap Time was set at.


That was the problem , set at three sec's .
Bumped it down to two and problem went away. :thumbsup:

Thanks guys


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## Promatchracer (Sep 28, 2001)

OK I know this isn't what this thread started about but I have a ? 
Can the AMB 20 transponders work with an AMBRC decoder. Will the work and just show # 1 2 3 ECT instead of the normal house transponders that show all 8-9 #'s not sure how many per transponder 

Also the widening of the Loop is the first thing to check when not getting signal hits all the time. I learned this the hard way and only after reading the info everybody posted here. I did not know this before this thread started. 
The way I learned it the hard way was the transponders we had worked ok for the most part on the slower cars we ran. We thought the batteries where no good because when the faster cars ran it would miss them most of the times. I loaned out my system to another club for most of the winter and they tried putting in new batteries because we thought the old ones didn't work that well. 
Now I need 12 transponders fixed because the batteries they put in wont work because it was don wrong on the last 12 they did. The first batch seem to work ok for now. 

So if anybody has any extra House ones please LMK that they want to sell I will buy them I don't need #'s 1 or 0 as I have 2 working of both of those


Ok now back to my ?

Also Joe I tried calling you not sure if you are getting the messages though 
Thanks


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

No they will not. I believe the reason is when they changed from the original AMB to AMBrc system it went from analog to digital signal. BTW on AMBrc "house" transponders there are 7 digits just like PTs.


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## Promatchracer (Sep 28, 2001)

OK Thanks 
Now I just need to find some house transponders I am will ing to buyu the complete set if need be


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## swtour (Oct 8, 2001)

Casey,

I saw a missed call from you the other day, not sure where I was...

I sent you a message a while back...for LOANER Transponders, you really should look at getting the MRT type. They are the cheapest thing going, just order how ever many you need...they come with 21 numbers in them, you just push the button on the top of them to change the number. 

There was a group buy on these here a week or two ago, that would be the way to do it if you can. (They are quite a bit cheaper than even a USED Personal AMB transponder, plus they are smaller and seem to put out a stronger signal)

(Call me after 7:00 pm generally I'm around)


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

BTW just to add to that. If it is an AMB system (not AMBrc) you are needing transponders for I believe MRT sells a compatible type for them too.


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## Promatchracer (Sep 28, 2001)

Have a Couple more ?'s 
First off I have another track using Autoscore and when they go to print to file so they can post it on Hobbytalk I have been ob the phone with him and go through the whole process on mine as he is doing it on his an it wont work on his. He is running Vista 7 I think and I am running XP When he goes to the Autoscore folder the TXT files don't show up. 
I am not sure why it isn't showing up on his folder but nothing shows up at all for any TXT file 


Also what is a good # for strength and signal on personals and on House transponders


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## skf99 (Nov 6, 2005)

*AMB Transponder*

Is there a good place to send in some transponders for repair/battery replacement?

Thank You
John Cero

These are track transponders not PT


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Run a search here in this forum. There was a guy some ways back that did battery replacements in them.


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## 4ThePinkRacing (Apr 30, 2010)

Promatchracer said:


> Have a Couple more ?'s
> First off I have another track using Autoscore and when they go to print to file so they can post it on Hobbytalk I have been ob the phone with him and go through the whole process on mine as he is doing it on his an it wont work on his. He is running Vista 7 I think and I am running XP When he goes to the Autoscore folder the TXT files don't show up.
> I am not sure why it isn't showing up on his folder but nothing shows up at all for any TXT file
> 
> ...


i know older post but .. goto file manger top click tools then click folder options.. then click View tab and about 9th one down is .. Hide extensions of known file types .. UNCHECK this .. click aply and click ok and all files should show then ..


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