I time Alpine ski racing. On certain dry days one can get / give static electricity shocks. I recently discharged a static shock on the laptop. Fortunately the race was not in progress. With every move of the mouse, little windows and boxes poped-up. Basicly the pc freaked out. It was fine after a re-boot. Is there a product or process that we should be following to prevent these problems?

Thanks.

John:

Do you use optocouplers anywhere in your setup? You need to either isolate the timer & scoreboard from the PC or else isolate the timer from the hill wiring with optocouplers.

TAG Heuer makes a nice opto, the HL553. If you're using ALGE timers, you can add the ALGE Opto Channel OC18 to your S4 or TDC.

The Fred can fix you up with either.

Hill wiring is a huge, miles-long antenna which picks up and amplifies static electricity, RF, and ground mismatch. It can get REALLY ugly if you don't take precautions.

If you've got thick carpeting in your timing bldg, then you can also try an anti-static mat and a wrist drain, available at any decent electronics store or mail-order electronics distro, such as Jameco.

John,
What ski area where you at when this happened. I will be back in your area the first week of Feb. and can show you some of the opto boxes for impulses/computers if you are around Welch or Buck.

JK

It was at LaCrosse, but it hapened last season too, and I don't remember where we were.

I will be at the MSHS Sec. 5 race next Wed. I'd love to see the Alge Octo-coupler, I have seen the Tag H version. I did not think that the Alge Octo-coupler was available to the public.