Transponders in rc boats

Hi boaters. How many of you know about the mylaps timing system is being used in district 19 . And testing for the last two years ? .if you need more information I may have some answers. .

Lenny Blake said:

Hi boaters. How many of you know about the mylaps timing system is being used in district 19 . And testing for the last two years ? .if you need more information I may have some answers. .

Click to expand...

Lenney,
If I remember correctly this was tried at Hunstville several yeaers ago when John Equei was helping the club try out the respndners and the boats had a hard time tripping the senser to get times ,the rooster tail or responder was not high enough to trip the censer and when it was lowered the waves tripped it even when ther was no boat ,I think if the problems were corrected it would be a good thing. is everyone buying ther own transsponder or did the club furish them and what is the cost of the system?? I know the car guys do use this system and it works well.
Walt Barney

We’ve been using them in Europe for many many years, if you have issues drop an email to the MPBA and I’m sure they’d be happy to give pointers

https://www.mpba.org.uk/multi/

Hi guys .the system in use is the mylaps rc4 decoder and rc4 .3 wire transponders.
The program I use to operate is live rc scoring.

Live RC scoring is the best!!

I was at that internats.. it was a mess using it.

It was an AMB system and at that time the transponders were clip ons. SO.. almost everybody walked away with the transponder after a heat.. and it was a constant "Who has.............."

The way the system started the heats was an issue too.. it had something to do with min lap times and timing to the start.. this system did not work for boats back then.

The wire bridge was a pain.. yes.. boats hit it.. just iffy for what we were doing at the time.

Would be nice to give it a go again in this day and age.

Grim

I want to say I was at the Nats that year too 87-89?? We all had to have a certain bracket on each boat entered.... it was there or some other race in TX, LA, or FLA.. it didn't last long.

So Lenny is every racer responsible for buying a transponder per boat or if they are willing to swap them between heats? That could get pretty expensive at $105 per transponder. I bought a couple for RC car racing where they are mandatory and was a bit shocked they charge $100 for what must only cost $5 in hardware.

To answer your question. I purchase the transponders from life time rc in bulk of 20 at a time witch the price becomes $85.each .
And to be honest I have purchase 60 so far and they are sold to the racers in district 19.

RaceMechaniX said:

So Lenny is every racer responsible for buying a transponder per boat or if they are willing to swap them between heats? That could get pretty expensive at $105 per transponder. I bought a couple for RC car racing where they are mandatory and was a bit shocked they charge $100 for what must only cost $5 in hardware.

Click to expand...

In my humble opinion this is the single most needed feature, if we have any shot at getting "new blood" into the racing scene. I'd gladly spend $100 to know my lap times during open water and heat racing. That would be the single biggest tuning tool in my bag. Along with racer and spectator appeal, very easy to link to a TV on the drivers stand with live timing/postions during the race. May seem like a bit much, but if we have any hope to a future of racing these boats we have to try it.

Why do car guys go practice twice a week to race on Sundays? To work on setup and lower lap times, the only way to do that is with good data. A timing system is the only way I see possible of getting that data.

We race in circles and no one really talks lap times, just that elusive straight away speed. It would almost certainly improve make better drivers out of everyone. A lap time eccentric setup vs a MPH setup is almost always easier to drive.

You can take a look at this. Outlawracing.liverc.com
Under practice and see the guys that's using transponders in their boats ..

Lenny Blake said:

You can take a look at this. Outlawracing.liverc.com
Under practice and see the guys that's using transponders in their boats ..

Click to expand...

Simply fantastic. I could even follow along to see how my racing buddies are doing from home when I can't make it! This is great, how many clubs in the district are using this system? Any issues still trying to work out or are you all getting good consistency out of the system?

I have one more test section in Las vegas in September under the practice .
I'm in district 19. Namba .and I have been watching the program for drop transponders. So far it's one hundred percent..

Keep us posted Lenny! This is a huge step in the right direction to advance and grow our hobby!

One transponder per racer that can be switched between boats, I'm in.
One dedicated transponder per boat?
No way.

Lenny is working on this very hard
Is is getting it spot on lots of testing with the ankers
Thanks for spending all your time and effort on this.
C you in October

Cool!
I got to experience using transponders first hand at the World Championships in France back in 2019, it worked great! I was able to order 6 transponders from MRT all with the same I.D. so it makes it easier to enter events and keep up with.
Hope it takes off here in the USA!

http://www.team-mrt.com/?fbclid=IwAR2PJqs2g1eVipzp82KlhrwuD06xS8r18QEkQI3vUryGiLj8feGGJ9puxo0

Anyone tested one in an all carbon boat? I guess you would have to move the transponder to the lid or open area to transmit its signal.

No I don't have any one with carbon fiber boat or lid to test.
But the installation said it is not wise to do .
I will find someone who have so I can check when I test the next time.

I was the one that brought the system to the IMPBA in the mid 90's (flame suit on, lol), I saw it at an R/C car race and wondered if it would work for us.

After contacting the manufacturer (AMB) in the Netherlands they sent a system to test. I came up with the idea of using stainless control line wires for the loops (we needed two end to end) and flew down to Tampa where Joe Ingrao, Andy Brown and I put it through it's paces, especially testing the start function where the loops were activated by the clock. I recorded a bunch of starts and Andy hit one exactly right with his 20 hydro, when played at full speed everyone said he was over but the system called him good and in slo-mo in fact he was. So the system worked well. I presented at the '95 Board meeting in Bartow, it passed by a couple votes. IIRC at the time it was around $25K.

We ran it at the '96 Nats in Ft. Wayne and '97 in Huntsville and the limitations started to show. The transponders wouldn't last all day even on the charger, so a second set was bought. The plastic pin that held them in the boat broke often losing a $75 (at the time) transponder. The wires could only really be used in a shallow pond as you needed a solid mount for the far side. Guys didn't trust the system and therefore called the start themselves which led to arguments, etc., etc.

In the end it was used by the Indy club to time qualifying laps for for their "Hydro Masters" race, when that went away it was sold off for pennies on the dollar.

Did it work? Yes. Was it practical in the field, not so much...