UPDATING THE ALGE TDC 8000/8001 ASSIGNED START TIMES USING THE COM TO FILE PROGRAM

MANY TYPES OF TIME TRIAL RACES LIKE CYCLING, MARATHON, X COUNTRY USE “ASSIGNED” START TIMES. THE COM TO FILE SOFTWARE WILL ALLOW YOU TO UPDATE AN ALGE TDC 8000/8001 WITH THESE TIMES.

THE ALGE TDC 8000/8001 IS CAPABLE OF RUNNING 4 RACES SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE SAME BIB NUMBERS. MAKE SURE THAT YOU SCHEDULE YOUR RACES IN SUCH A WAY THAT THERE IS ENOUGH TIME TO SWITCH WITHOUT HAVING SERIOUS OVERLAPS. YOU CAN OF COURSE SWITCH RACES ON THE FLY WITH THE TDC AS LONG AS YOU DON’T THE CLEAR THE RACE.

THE COM TO FILE PROGRAM WILL ALLOW YOU TO SEND THE START TIME DATA TO THE TDC 8000/8001 USING A BIDIRECTIONAL CABLE.

DB9 FEMALE TO 5 PIN DIN


PIN 5 GROUND - PIN 2 -PIN 5 DIN
PIN 4 – 6 JUMPED TOGETHER ON DB 9
DB9 PIN 3 -PIN 3 ON 5 PIN DIN
DB9 PIN 2 -PIN 1 ON 5 PIN DIN
DB9 PIN 8 - PIN 5 ON 5 PIN DIN
DB9 PIN 7 - PIN 2 ON 5 PIN DIN


YOU WILL UPLOAD THE RACES ONE AT A TIME INTO THE CORRESPONDING RACE ON THE TDC.

1) START THE TDC 8000/01 AND CLEAR THE FIRST RACE
2) CONNECT THE PC TO THE TDC WITH THE CABLE
3) OPEN YOUR EXCEL FILE WITH THE DATA THAT YOU WISH TO UPLOAD. YOU MAY HAVE TO CUT AND PASTE ONE BIG START LIST INTO SEVERAL SEPARATE LISTS BASED ON YOUR BIB NUMBER RANGE.
4) THE ONLY COLUMNS YOU NEED ARE BIB NUMBER AND START TIME
5) SORT THE DATA BY START TIME
6) COPY THE DATA INTO THE CLIPBOARD
7) OPEN COM TO FILE
8) SELECT TABLE
9) PRESS LOAD TABLE
10) RIGHT CLICK ON TABLE
11) SCROLL TO THE TOP TO EXPOSE THE SAMPLE TIMES
12) DOUBLE RIGHT CLICK ON THE TOP BIB TO BRING UP THE WORKBOOK DESIGNER
13) PASTE YOUR NEW DATA INTO THE SHEET
14) CLOSE THE DESIGNER
15) PRESS SEND ALL TIMES
16) THE TABLE WILL UPDATE AS IT SENDS THE TIME TO THE TDC.
17) THE TDC WILL PRINT THE START TIMES (UNLESS YOU TURN THE PRINTER OFF)
18) REPEAT THE PROCESS FOR THE REMAINING RACES. THE TDC MUST HAVE A CLEAR RACE TO SEND THE DATA TO.
19) THE START TIME DATA MUST BE COPIED AND PASTED INTO THE TABLE AND THEN SENT FOR EVERY RACE.
20) YOU CAN USE THIS FEATURE TO UPDATE START TIMES IF YOUR RACE IS DELAYED. KEEP EACH OF YOUR RACES IN A DIFFERENT SHEET TO MAKE IT EASY TO COPY AND PASTE.

AS NOTED ELSEWHERE, YOU CAN USE COM TO FILE TO SERVE AS AN INTERMEDIARY BETWEEN A COMET OR TIMY AND THE TDC. START TIMES COLLECTED BY THE TIMY CAN BE DOWNLOADED, AND THEN REUPLOADED INTO THE TDC.

MAKE SURE YOU PRACTICE THESE CONCEPTS PRIOR TO RACING. THE DATA CAN BE OVERWRITTEN AS NEEDED.

Cable layout

s4-bidirect-data-cable.gif (32 KB, 43 downloads)

COM to File is also very useful for downloading the net times from the TDC into Excel after the race. You can query the TDC from the program. All of the "classment" options are available. Recording the data dumps it into the generic excel "tabelle" that can then be cut and pasted into your sheet.

Version 2.78 works.

Version 2.9.3.1 does not.

Don't know why yet. Arg#@&@#@

Holy post revival! I remember when you typed them all in. With only 16 teams it should be easy to do manually. This is actually good info, I may be doing a TT using the TDC on Saturday.

The latest posted version v2.9.5.0 works.

http://algetiming.com/alge/download/software/comf.exe

You might need to select ??? to get to the com to file folder and select English

I can speak from personal experience that if you have someone reading to you, you can enter 124 start times in a little more than 5 minutes. Don't ask me how I know...

Does anyone know if the current TDC firmware takes uploaded TOD start time with hundreths second precision?

Interesting idea if I am following the concept.

Record full precision start times with a TIMY or ASC2 into Com to File.

Bring file or email it to the finish.

Upload during or after the race and have the start times adjusted so that they reflect the true sensor>sensor time.

Then the net times should recalculate as well.

We have found that texting the hundreths or in the case of an early start the 59.012 is very effective. You then have the text log too to review if needed.

The TDC in start input mode is very tolerant of finishes as well. We have had no problems editing start times at the same instant that finishes occur.

Yes, that's the concept.

Also for downhill races where the start and finish are miles apart & completely obscured from each other, meaning TEDs are ineffective (even chained together), and there are no existing cables.

Have the Timy or ASC2 record the ST, send the ST via an SMS or connect to the Timy from the finish via serial over IP.

A PC at the finish pushes the ST into the TDC, and as you say there are logs of the STs. The Timy needs to be sync'd to the TDC, but that's easy enough.

There are several times this would be very handy for us, I wish they'd implemented it with hundreths to begin with!

The Timy's can be connceted over GSM, but then you lose the benefit of the TDC.

It's been mentioned to Alge before, was hopefull that perhaps it might have made it into the firmware.

We wrote to ALGE and they are aware of the situation.

You could of course use a software product like TT*ware to do the calculations.

http://phoenix-sports.com/soft_ttware.htm

TT*ware was designed to do exactly that. It has all of the hooks to run display boards, CIS screen etc. It even has a TDC output emulator built in that mimics the serial rs-232 output of a TDC 8001.