29 replies to this topic

[schuey19]

Some of you may have seen a thread on SCI about issues that I am having with my UR3.0 setup. Lap timing itself works fine, but I cannot get a second parallel port to work so as to enable refuelling. It wont even work when its is wired to the motherboard COM1 port. Extremely frustrating not only to myself, but to another forum member who has kindly donated a lot of his time to help yet to no avail.... (thanks yngwie, much appreciated)

Am wondering if there are any other members out there who have successfully connected a second parallel port or even the COM port to enable more than 5 input sensors. Shane Lott you managed 8, how??

For sanity's sake, (mine and John's)

Michael

Edited by schuey19, 06 February 2010 - 10:56 PM.

[Count]

Hi Michael,
it's sort of a relief to hear you are also having problems! I have finally this evening successfully managed a second LPT port. The problem I was having was that I had presumed the second port would appear as LPT2, when in fact I eventually discovered (with some help from the computer genius son-in-law) that it was LPT3 !!

The problem I am now having with refueling is that refueling is always ON - the car never runs out of gas! It is only when I park over the sensor that the refueling stops. This does not change when I check the 'invert' box in the hardware setup.

I don't know if this is any help, but it's good to share...

Count

[schuey19]

Count mine's not recognising any port except for LPT1, that's my issue. Whether the second parallel is configured as LPT2 or 3, it doesn't work, nor does it work when I wire it for COM1. This is on two PC's!! I am supposed to have you guys coming for a friday event in early April, so I have a bit of time, but this has been going on for too long. I had refuel sensors in the original track configuration also and they wouldn't work back then either, and that was on the original PC that I had for timing, so that's actually three PC's that I can't get to work!!!

[gzminiz]

Maybe try a webcam? Or a phidget? I know more cost and u shouldn't have too. Eventually I am switching to a phidget.

[schuey19]

gzminiz, on Feb 7 2010, 04:46 PM, said:

Maybe try a webcam? Or a phidget? I know more cost and u shouldn't have too.

My point exactly! I shouldn't have too. Others seem to have been able to make it work, why is mine so different, or what am I doing differently.

[Bulsara]

You and John have, of course, swapped the cables over etc. Sometimes the most obvious things are overlooked. I know John is in IT and I don't want to tread on his toes. I was also in IT for 25 years before the guys in the white coats dragged me away.

The fact that it has happened with 3 different PC's sounds like a hardware problem (downstream from the PC of course) or a software issue. Have you tried reloading the software with everything connected? Can you utilise a USB port using an adaptor?

Can you hit it with a large hammer to see if it wakes up? (Always been my preferred method with delicate equipment).

Best of luck.

Edited by Bulsara, 07 February 2010 - 09:04 PM.

[Yngwie]

The strange thing is that LPT2 (2nd parallel port) is actually detected in WIndows. UR3 also sees it but its state is always on. ie. the lights on the port are lit up. What we were going to try was to hook up a parallel based printer and try and print from both parallel ports. Had a go at that yet Michael? If you are going to Joes on Saturday night I can bing along a spare pinter for you to try?

Regards

John

[Bulsara]

Have you tried disabling all virus and/or malware programs if they are installed.

Have you tried booting into safe mode and only loading the drivers you need.

What about I/O or IRQ conflicts.

Still thinking.

Edited by Bulsara, 08 February 2010 - 12:30 PM.

[schuey19]

Bulsara, on Feb 7 2010, 10:03 PM, said:

You and John have, of course, swapped the cables over etc. Sometimes the most obvious things are overlooked. I know John is in IT and I don't want to tread on his toes. I was also in IT for 25 years before the guys in the white coats dragged me away.

The fact that it has happened with 3 different PC's sounds like a hardware problem (downstream from the PC of course) or a software issue. Have you tried reloading the software with everything connected? Can you utilise a USB port using an adaptor?

Can you hit it with a large hammer to see if it wakes up? (Always been my preferred method with delicate equipment).

Best of luck.

When either cable (both are identically wired) is in LPT1 and configured for lap counting or fuel, they work fine. Its not a harness issue. Is that what you meant by a downstream hardware issue?

Yngwie, on Feb 7 2010, 10:12 PM, said:

The strange thing is that LPT2 (2nd parallel port) is actually detected in WIndows. UR3 also sees it but its state is always on. ie. the lights on the port are lit up. What we were going to try was to hook up a parallel based printer and try and print from both parallel ports. Had a go at that yet Michael? If you are going to Joes on Saturday night I can bing along a spare pinter for you to try?

Regards

John

No and no unfortunately, I remembered as you drove out the street the other day, I have the second day of a three Saturday DOCS course that I will be at. Still haven't found a parallel printer, so if you do have one, I will try and get it off you for testing purposes.

Michael

[Yngwie]

What if I bring it on Saturday and give to one of the guys that lives closest to you (maybe Vince) and then you could pick it up off of them?

Regards

John

[schuey19]

Yngwie, on Feb 8 2010, 08:11 PM, said:

What if I bring it on Saturday and give to one of the guys that lives closest to you (maybe Vince) and then you could pick it up off of them?

Regards

John

That would help a million times over, thanks!

[Bulsara]

schuey19, on Feb 8 2010, 07:41 PM, said:

Bulsara, on Feb 7 2010, 10:03 PM, said:

You and John have, of course, swapped the cables over etc. Sometimes the most obvious things are overlooked. I know John is in IT and I don't want to tread on his toes. I was also in IT for 25 years before the guys in the white coats dragged me away.

The fact that it has happened with 3 different PC's sounds like a hardware problem (downstream from the PC of course) or a software issue. Have you tried reloading the software with everything connected? Can you utilise a USB port using an adaptor?

Can you hit it with a large hammer to see if it wakes up? (Always been my preferred method with delicate equipment).

Best of luck.

When either cable (both are identically wired) is in LPT1 and configured for lap counting or fuel, they work fine. Its not a harness issue. Is that what you meant by a downstream hardware issue?

Yngwie, on Feb 7 2010, 10:12 PM, said:

The strange thing is that LPT2 (2nd parallel port) is actually detected in WIndows. UR3 also sees it but its state is always on. ie. the lights on the port are lit up. What we were going to try was to hook up a parallel based printer and try and print from both parallel ports. Had a go at that yet Michael? If you are going to Joes on Saturday night I can bing along a spare pinter for you to try?

Regards

John

No and no unfortunately, I remembered as you drove out the street the other day, I have the second day of a three Saturday DOCS course that I will be at. Still haven't found a parallel printer, so if you do have one, I will try and get it off you for testing purposes.

Michael

After looking at the help files for UR3, it appears to me that the various ports (LPT1, LPT2, LPT3) are wired differently according to their function. Have a look at the hardware setup in UR3 and you will see what I mean. I must admit that the documentation is very vague and sparse in areas.

LPT1 & LPT2 are wired the same but the port addresses are different.
LPT3 is wired differently and the port address is different.

If I am wasting your time with my suggestions please let me know. I have been out of IT for nearly 6 years, thank god. I am also self taught.

Edited by Bulsara, 08 February 2010 - 08:46 PM.

[dangermouse]

Is the LPT2 provided via a separate card? I note you have tried it on 2 computers did they both have the same card in them? If so what sort of bus is
card connected via PCI or ISA?
I read on SCI recently the MRBugs (Carlson laptiming guy) was after info to get a PCI bus working could this be the problem?

I probably am not offering much help but I had a laptop with a parallel port which printed fine, but when I connected the harness which worked on another computer it didn't work properly - seems like there are different specifications with the parallel port.

cheers
DM

[chenglaw]

This may be a dumb question - but have you synchronised the port address in UR3.0 with the LPT2: port address of your PC? The default address in UR3.0 could be wrong most times and need to be changed to match that of your PC. Incidentally, which version of UR3.0 are you using? UR3.0ver29a5 still has a lot of bugs whilst 29a6 is the latest and is a little better but is still very much in beta stage as Pierrick was coerced into releasing it before testing was fully completed. The most stable version is the old release 28a5. We have been using it to time our 6 lanes for racing without any problems - using LPT1: and 2

For refuelling, I would suggest the best route to go would be with a webcam - easy to set up using Zone Trigger as it is recognised in UR 3.0. Unfortunately, the software is not free (US$45) but support is good. And you only need a cheap China/Taiwan-made webcam to get it to work. Read this thread on SCI for setup.

Edited by chenglaw, 09 February 2010 - 01:25 AM.

[Bulsara]

What has happened with this issue? Has it been resolved, if so, how did you fix it.

[gzminiz]

out of curiosity, does the pits bypass the start finish?

if so you can tie them together and use them both for fuel and start finish.

[schuey19]

Bulsara, on Feb 17 2010, 11:09 AM, said:

What has happened with this issue? Has it been resolved, if so, how did you fix it.

No, the problem is still there. I haven't done much lately, apart from repair the damage the pet dog did to the track. We let her in the garage during a storm the other week and she managed to get up and rip up scenery, chew up barriers and even damaged part of the track surface by scratching at it.

I've sent some details to Pierrick the UR author for him to look at. He's pretty busy, so I'm not pushing the point.

gzminiz, on Feb 17 2010, 12:13 PM, said:

out of curiosity, does the pits bypass the start finish?

if so you can tie them together and use them both for fuel and start finish.

You cannot use the same sensors for two tasks. That is where throblem begins, as the software only takes 5 inputs, so a second harness is required. My pits start and finish before the start line, have a look at the last link in my sig block below.

I'm starting to think it may be the PCI card that I've got. Yngwie has a printer for me to use to test, just need to get it from him.

Michael

Edited by schuey19, 17 February 2010 - 06:17 PM.

[dangermouse]

I'm starting to think it may be the PCI card that I've got. Yngwie has a printer for me to use to test, just need to get it from him.


It may work fine with a printer as the problem may be associated with correctly receiving input. It may be worth a PM or email to
MrBugs on SCI or Brent http://slotcars.carlsoncomputers.com/ I know he was working things out with PCI parallel port cards

This site has some info on Parallel ports
http://www.beyondlog...pp/parallel.htm

I think my laptop which didn't work had a ECP port

cheers
DM

[schuey19]

We tried both LPT1 and 2 in EPP and ECP mode.

Might try those two guys you mentioned, thanks for the tip.

Edited by schuey19, 17 February 2010 - 09:06 PM.

[dangermouse]

ok, does the card allow any other modes - it could be EPP and ECP are the problem?? Though I suspect it is something to do with the interface being PCI - and sorry MRBugs and Brent are the same person - badly worded original post. the or should have been /

cheers
David