Hi Everyone! I'm excited to be here!
I've read a great many posts, but I must say, I'm still confused. I would appreciate it if someone could confirm or clear up my thoughts on how to *BEST* use Harry's lap timer in my particular instance.
I regularly autocross on the same parking lot, but the course changes from weekend to weekend. I've been having trouble getting the application to "learn" the start/stop. Some of the posts here mention "conflicts", but they generally speak of changes to existing "race track" configurations (for instance, the Nurburgring). Is this the same issue I'm facing in my situation? It seems so, but I don't actually see a course listed with a little red exclamation point icon, so I'm uncertain if it's the same issue.
Secondly, in my particular situation, where the course changes, but the geolocation does not, is it better to simply set the "start"/"stop" spots, or, is it better to use the "Autocross" button, and then walk the course? What is best practice for this use case?
When walking the course using the "Autocross" button, the app on an iPhone arbitrarily "exits" back to the main menu prior to me finishing walking of the course. In other words, I've picked "Autocross", picked "Set start gate", and then I begin walking the course. I'm nowhere near the side that generally contains the "stop" gate. Is there a time limit I'm hitting? Am I doing something wrong? Once this happens, I don't see any way to open the course back up and "continue" or to even set a "stop gate", so I basically delete what I just did, and try again. This will, eventually, succeed, but it may take 4 or 5 tries.
Lastly, I purchased the app and the upgrade for OBDII data on my iPhone 5. I've ordered my iPhone 6. How do I move the upgrade to the new phone?
Thanks in advance for all your help,
-john
Complete newbie questions
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gplracerx
- 20 or more Posts ★★★
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- Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: Kingsport, TN USA
Re: Complete newbie questions
If you're going to use the wizard, set the start and finish points before you walk the full course. I've never had a problem with a timeout doing it that way.
You get conflicts if the new start or finish location is too close to an old one. In that case, you have to purge the old POI's. Save the old data as an .hptrl file and either mail it to yourself or get a Dropbox account and put it there. You can save the course itself by using the Certify button and mailing it to yourself instead of Harry.
You can download the app for the new phone for free as long as you use the same Apple ID that you used to buy it in the first place and as long as you download the same version of the app. For example, if you bought the Petrolhead version and used the in app upgrade to Grand Prix, you have to do the same thing on the new phone. You won't be charged again for the in app upgrade, even though it looks like you will. You can transfer the data by saving the data from the old phone as an .hptrl file and opening that file with the app on your new phone.
Transferring videos is more complicated.
An external GPS is critical for autocross. The internal iPhone GPS is neither fast enough nor accurate enough. The Dual XGPS160 is, in my opinion, the most effective solution. I would buy that before I bought an OBDII adapter.
You get conflicts if the new start or finish location is too close to an old one. In that case, you have to purge the old POI's. Save the old data as an .hptrl file and either mail it to yourself or get a Dropbox account and put it there. You can save the course itself by using the Certify button and mailing it to yourself instead of Harry.
You can download the app for the new phone for free as long as you use the same Apple ID that you used to buy it in the first place and as long as you download the same version of the app. For example, if you bought the Petrolhead version and used the in app upgrade to Grand Prix, you have to do the same thing on the new phone. You won't be charged again for the in app upgrade, even though it looks like you will. You can transfer the data by saving the data from the old phone as an .hptrl file and opening that file with the app on your new phone.
Transferring videos is more complicated.
An external GPS is critical for autocross. The internal iPhone GPS is neither fast enough nor accurate enough. The Dual XGPS160 is, in my opinion, the most effective solution. I would buy that before I bought an OBDII adapter.
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gplracerx
- 20 or more Posts ★★★
- Posts: 836
- Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: Kingsport, TN USA
Re: Complete newbie questions
As an example, here's the course map plot using an iPhone 4s internal GPS compared to simultaneous data from a VBOX Sport (overkill, the DualXGPS160 wouldn't look much different).
And the speed vs time plot:
The reason I have this data is because that the battery in the XGPS160 ran down because I thought it was plugged in, but it wasn't.
Also, the data rate of the GPS determines the data rate for everything else, speed, acceleration, rpm, throttle position, etc. If you have a 50 second course, the maximum number of data points you can get is 50. At 10 Hz, you can get up to 500 points. Also, in my opinion, you want to set the accelerometer data rate to the maximum of ~100 Hz. The time constant of the low pass filter for accelerometer data is determined by the time difference between data points. Reducing the data rate to 30 Hz results in over filtered accelerometer data for autocrossing. It may be OK for lapping, though.
And the speed vs time plot:
The reason I have this data is because that the battery in the XGPS160 ran down because I thought it was plugged in, but it wasn't.
Also, the data rate of the GPS determines the data rate for everything else, speed, acceleration, rpm, throttle position, etc. If you have a 50 second course, the maximum number of data points you can get is 50. At 10 Hz, you can get up to 500 points. Also, in my opinion, you want to set the accelerometer data rate to the maximum of ~100 Hz. The time constant of the low pass filter for accelerometer data is determined by the time difference between data points. Reducing the data rate to 30 Hz results in over filtered accelerometer data for autocrossing. It may be OK for lapping, though.
Re: Complete newbie questions
@gplracerx, Thank you for the expert help.
gplracerx wrote:
Is this from the "Export Lap Data" ? Like this?
If so, when I click "MAIL", the app immediately exits and crashes.
I'm also unclear on what you mean by "Certify"; I see no way to do that anywhere.
Again, thanks for any and all help. I think most of my trouble is I don't know all the terminology the application is using.
-john
gplracerx wrote:
How do I do that? I'm horribly confused by Harry's User Interface."In that case, you have to purge the old POI's. Save the old data as an .hptrl file and either mail it to yourself or get a Dropbox account and put it there. You can save the course itself by using the Certify button and mailing it to yourself instead of Harry."
Is this from the "Export Lap Data" ? Like this?
If so, when I click "MAIL", the app immediately exits and crashes.
I'm also unclear on what you mean by "Certify"; I see no way to do that anywhere.
Again, thanks for any and all help. I think most of my trouble is I don't know all the terminology the application is using.
-john
Re: Complete newbie questions
Oh, how do you set the data rates for the various devices?
As you say:
-john
As you say:
Thanks!Also, in my opinion, you want to set the accelerometer data rate to the maximum of ~100 Hz. The time constant of the low pass filter for accelerometer data is determined by the time difference between data points. Reducing the data rate to 30 Hz results in over filtered accelerometer data for autocrossing. It may be OK for lapping, though.
-john
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gplracerx
- 20 or more Posts ★★★
- Posts: 836
- Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: Kingsport, TN USA
Re: Complete newbie questions
The learning curve can be a little steep.
'Export Lap Data' at the bottom of the lap list will export the entire database. To export an individual lap, a session or a day, touch the line for one lap in the range you want to export and scroll to the bottom. Touch the 'Export' button and you'll see the Lap and Type selection screen. There you can select All, Track, Day, Session or just that lap (#XX). The next line is to select what to export. Your choices are .csv for import into a spreadsheet or other external program, .hlptrl which is the format for importing back into HLT, .kml Google Earth, .vbo if you're using the free Circuit Tools program and two GPS formats. Then you can select how to send it, either Dropbox or Mail. You can't use Mail unless the Mail app on your device has been properly configured to send and receive emails.
'Certify' and 'Purge' are available if you touch the track line. For an autocross, it would be labelled User Track Set. That gives you a list of the defined POI's, and allows you to edit them. There are four buttons at the bottom of this page: Purge, Map, Test and Certify. Purge eliminates the POI's in the track set. By the way, if you have fat fingers, it's really easy to hit Purge when you meant to touch Test. At one point, there was no delete confirmation dialog. The Map button shows the POI's on a map view, if you're connected to the internet, otherwise it's just the POI's on a blank grid. Test shows the location of the POI's relative to a course trace. Obviously, you have to have a lap in memory to have a trace. Certify mails the Track Set. Again, the Mail app must be configured and this time mail is your only option. By default, the email address in Certify is Harry's address. Delete that, put in your own and send.
To restore a User track set, open the email in your Mail app and touch the track set file name. You'll be asked which app to use to open the file. Pick HLT. The same goes for restoring lap data from an .hlptrl file.
To record position data while walking the course, you may need to go to Settings/Expert Settings and set Allow Low Speeds in the Trigger Detection section to on by touching, not swiping, the button that looks like a switch. On is green. Expert settings is also where you can change the accelerometer update rate. Don't change anything else without understanding what the change will do. Try to remember to turn Allow Low Speeds off again before you run if you're not using a Standing Go. I don't much like Standing Go unless the timing actually starts when you go. SCCA Solo standard is to have the starting line at least 9 feet from the staging line. If you use Go at the actual timing line instead of Standing Go at the staging line and have Allow Low Speeds on, it's possible to trigger the start of the run while you're staging, given the accuracy of standard GPS.
'Export Lap Data' at the bottom of the lap list will export the entire database. To export an individual lap, a session or a day, touch the line for one lap in the range you want to export and scroll to the bottom. Touch the 'Export' button and you'll see the Lap and Type selection screen. There you can select All, Track, Day, Session or just that lap (#XX). The next line is to select what to export. Your choices are .csv for import into a spreadsheet or other external program, .hlptrl which is the format for importing back into HLT, .kml Google Earth, .vbo if you're using the free Circuit Tools program and two GPS formats. Then you can select how to send it, either Dropbox or Mail. You can't use Mail unless the Mail app on your device has been properly configured to send and receive emails.
'Certify' and 'Purge' are available if you touch the track line. For an autocross, it would be labelled User Track Set. That gives you a list of the defined POI's, and allows you to edit them. There are four buttons at the bottom of this page: Purge, Map, Test and Certify. Purge eliminates the POI's in the track set. By the way, if you have fat fingers, it's really easy to hit Purge when you meant to touch Test. At one point, there was no delete confirmation dialog. The Map button shows the POI's on a map view, if you're connected to the internet, otherwise it's just the POI's on a blank grid. Test shows the location of the POI's relative to a course trace. Obviously, you have to have a lap in memory to have a trace. Certify mails the Track Set. Again, the Mail app must be configured and this time mail is your only option. By default, the email address in Certify is Harry's address. Delete that, put in your own and send.
To restore a User track set, open the email in your Mail app and touch the track set file name. You'll be asked which app to use to open the file. Pick HLT. The same goes for restoring lap data from an .hlptrl file.
To record position data while walking the course, you may need to go to Settings/Expert Settings and set Allow Low Speeds in the Trigger Detection section to on by touching, not swiping, the button that looks like a switch. On is green. Expert settings is also where you can change the accelerometer update rate. Don't change anything else without understanding what the change will do. Try to remember to turn Allow Low Speeds off again before you run if you're not using a Standing Go. I don't much like Standing Go unless the timing actually starts when you go. SCCA Solo standard is to have the starting line at least 9 feet from the staging line. If you use Go at the actual timing line instead of Standing Go at the staging line and have Allow Low Speeds on, it's possible to trigger the start of the run while you're staging, given the accuracy of standard GPS.
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gplracerx
- 20 or more Posts ★★★
- Posts: 836
- Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 5:26 am
- Location: Kingsport, TN USA
Re: Complete newbie questions
More/Settings/Expert Settings (at the bottom of the Settings list)/Accelerator Tweaks. Touch the number on the left of the Update Rate(10-100Hz) and enter a number on the keyboard that appears from 10 to 100 and then touch Done. More is on the right side of the bar on the bottom of the page. That's usually set to autohide, so touch, not swipe, the bottom center of the screen to restore it.
You can't use Dropbox until you've opened an account, but it's free for a limited amount of data. DropBox has a Public folder allowing you to share stuff with others.
You can't use Dropbox until you've opened an account, but it's free for a limited amount of data. DropBox has a Public folder allowing you to share stuff with others.