Frequently Asked Questions
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What can I do with the demo versions? The demo versions can be used to verify that the software is compatible
with your hardware. If the demo version of the software works, the full version will also work. The odometer input is
simulated in the demo versions. For the PDA version the simulated speed is fixed at 400. This allows for a quick
demo of the operating controls. It is not necessary or possible to connect the demo software to a functional
odometer. For the other versions an input box is provided for you to enter the desired speed that you would like to
simulate.
How does the SpeedPilotMKVI measure distance? The actual rotation of the wheel is detected using a Hall Effect
sensor and a permanent magnet mounted on the wheel or driveshaft. Hall effect sensors are solid state devices
with no moving parts. Consequentially, they are immune to vibration and contact failure. Our products use
samarium-cobalt magnets to provide the highest flux density with the lowest weight and size. The magnets are
epoxied to a metal backing plate to which a piece of double sided foam tape is attached. Typical installation
involves cleaning the inside of the wheel rim at the desired location and sticking the magnet on the wheel. The
double sided tape can be removed in the future without damage to the wheel, and the small mass of the magnet
introduces a negligible imbalance to the wheel. A specialized programmable integrated controller (PIC) is dedicated
specifically to the task of counting wheel revolutions. The PIC continues to count wheel revolutions while the Palm
or Windows operating system is excepting inputs from the user. For example, when CASI's occur one after the
other the navigator starts entering the next CASI at the end of the first one. The odometer display is stopped, but
the PIC continues to count wheel revolutions. Once the instruction is entered the odometer display resumes and
the new CASI is applied to all of the wheel revolution counts accumulated since the instruction was entered. No
distance goes unaccounted for.
How is the SpeedPilotMKVI sensor system installed? First, you must attach the magnets provided with the
SpeedPilot MKVI to your wheel or driveshaft. Then you must attach the sensor to your vehicle. Next, you connect
the SpeedPilo tMKVI odometer box to the sensor and to vehicle power.
How do you relate the number of magnetic passes to distance? After the sensor installation is complete you must
perform a calibration. A calibration is simply driving the vehicle over a known distance and recording the number
of magnetic passes. We provide a special program called SpeedGear to help you do this. SpeedGear calculates the
relationship between distance and magnetic passes for you. It then lets you store the result on the PC PDA or
Mobile Phone.
I have more than one vehicle. Do I need an odometer box for each vehicle? No, you just need to install magnets
and a sensor in each vehicle. You can then move the odometer box from vehicle to vehicle. You will also have to
perform a calibration for each vehicle.
How accurate is the SpeedPilot MKVI? Accurate time measurement is very important for a Rally instrument. One
would think that accurate time keeping would be easy with a computer, but its not. For both PC's and PDA's/Mobile
Phones the software clock is updated by the operating system. These updates are not given the highest priority. As
a result they are sometimes late. This causes the software clock to loose time. The CPU on the other hand, has a
cycle counter called the time-stamp counter. This counter is extremely precise and is incremented at every CPU
cycle. These counts are added together and used to run the clock. The time will typically remain accurate to within
100 milliseconds for as long as the software is running. While this solves the problem of keeping accurate time, it
does not provide an accurate time setting. To set the clock to the correct time we rely on an Internet connection.
Throughout the world there are servers that provide the time via the Internet. These servers are connected to
super-precise atomic clocks that provide the official world time. For the laptop PC version of SpeedPilot MKVI
synchronization with these servers is automatic if the PC is running Windows XP. The Internet time synchronization
feature comes standard with this version of the Windows operating system. For other versions of Windows you will
have to purchase time synchronization software. One type that we can recommend is FG Time Sync. You can read
more about it HERE. For the PDA/Mobile there are two options. The first is to synchronize your PDA/Mobile with a PC
that has been synchronized. You can do this at HotSync time by using a number of free software programs. One of
the most popular is TimeCopy. The problem with this approach is that the result is only accurate to about + or - half
a second. To get real atomic time accuracy you will need to connect the PDA/Mobile directly to the Internet and use
a synchronization program designed to run on a PDA/Mobile. We can recommend Rocket.time for this purpose. You
can read about it HERE. You should start up the software immediately after setting the clock with Rocket.time in
order to maintain 100 millisecond accuracy.
In theory, the odometer distance is accurate to within + or - 1 wheel revolution. In practice, the accuracy is limited
by the following factors: 1) the slippage of the tire on the road. This error can be minimized by applying the distance
sensor to a non-powered wheel. 2) The error caused by the different distances travelled between the wheel on the
inside of a turn, and the wheel on the outside. The magnitude of this error depends on the number of turns, the
width of the cars wheelbase, and on how the course distance was measured. 3) The sensor air gap adjustment.
Care must be taken to keep the gap between the sensor and the magnet to 3 to 7 mm (1/4 to 3/8 inch). If the gap is
larger than this some magnetic passes may go undetected, resulting in a distance error.
What comes with the SpeedPilot MKVI? You get the software, one odometer box, two magnets, one sensor, one
odometer box to vehicle power adaptor, one sensor to odometer box cable, and one serial cable (PC version), or
one bluetooth transmitter (PDA version).How do I obtain new versions of the software? If you have provided us
with your email we will notify you when new versions of the software are available. You will be provided with a link
that will allow you to download the latest version. If you did not provide us with your email you can use the contact
page to request a link to the latest version. Be sure to include your odometer box serial number when requesting a
software upgrade.
with your hardware. If the demo version of the software works, the full version will also work. The odometer input is
simulated in the demo versions. For the PDA version the simulated speed is fixed at 400. This allows for a quick
demo of the operating controls. It is not necessary or possible to connect the demo software to a functional
odometer. For the other versions an input box is provided for you to enter the desired speed that you would like to
simulate.
How does the SpeedPilotMKVI measure distance? The actual rotation of the wheel is detected using a Hall Effect
sensor and a permanent magnet mounted on the wheel or driveshaft. Hall effect sensors are solid state devices
with no moving parts. Consequentially, they are immune to vibration and contact failure. Our products use
samarium-cobalt magnets to provide the highest flux density with the lowest weight and size. The magnets are
epoxied to a metal backing plate to which a piece of double sided foam tape is attached. Typical installation
involves cleaning the inside of the wheel rim at the desired location and sticking the magnet on the wheel. The
double sided tape can be removed in the future without damage to the wheel, and the small mass of the magnet
introduces a negligible imbalance to the wheel. A specialized programmable integrated controller (PIC) is dedicated
specifically to the task of counting wheel revolutions. The PIC continues to count wheel revolutions while the Palm
or Windows operating system is excepting inputs from the user. For example, when CASI's occur one after the
other the navigator starts entering the next CASI at the end of the first one. The odometer display is stopped, but
the PIC continues to count wheel revolutions. Once the instruction is entered the odometer display resumes and
the new CASI is applied to all of the wheel revolution counts accumulated since the instruction was entered. No
distance goes unaccounted for.
How is the SpeedPilotMKVI sensor system installed? First, you must attach the magnets provided with the
SpeedPilot MKVI to your wheel or driveshaft. Then you must attach the sensor to your vehicle. Next, you connect
the SpeedPilo tMKVI odometer box to the sensor and to vehicle power.
How do you relate the number of magnetic passes to distance? After the sensor installation is complete you must
perform a calibration. A calibration is simply driving the vehicle over a known distance and recording the number
of magnetic passes. We provide a special program called SpeedGear to help you do this. SpeedGear calculates the
relationship between distance and magnetic passes for you. It then lets you store the result on the PC PDA or
Mobile Phone.
I have more than one vehicle. Do I need an odometer box for each vehicle? No, you just need to install magnets
and a sensor in each vehicle. You can then move the odometer box from vehicle to vehicle. You will also have to
perform a calibration for each vehicle.
How accurate is the SpeedPilot MKVI? Accurate time measurement is very important for a Rally instrument. One
would think that accurate time keeping would be easy with a computer, but its not. For both PC's and PDA's/Mobile
Phones the software clock is updated by the operating system. These updates are not given the highest priority. As
a result they are sometimes late. This causes the software clock to loose time. The CPU on the other hand, has a
cycle counter called the time-stamp counter. This counter is extremely precise and is incremented at every CPU
cycle. These counts are added together and used to run the clock. The time will typically remain accurate to within
100 milliseconds for as long as the software is running. While this solves the problem of keeping accurate time, it
does not provide an accurate time setting. To set the clock to the correct time we rely on an Internet connection.
Throughout the world there are servers that provide the time via the Internet. These servers are connected to
super-precise atomic clocks that provide the official world time. For the laptop PC version of SpeedPilot MKVI
synchronization with these servers is automatic if the PC is running Windows XP. The Internet time synchronization
feature comes standard with this version of the Windows operating system. For other versions of Windows you will
have to purchase time synchronization software. One type that we can recommend is FG Time Sync. You can read
more about it HERE. For the PDA/Mobile there are two options. The first is to synchronize your PDA/Mobile with a PC
that has been synchronized. You can do this at HotSync time by using a number of free software programs. One of
the most popular is TimeCopy. The problem with this approach is that the result is only accurate to about + or - half
a second. To get real atomic time accuracy you will need to connect the PDA/Mobile directly to the Internet and use
a synchronization program designed to run on a PDA/Mobile. We can recommend Rocket.time for this purpose. You
can read about it HERE. You should start up the software immediately after setting the clock with Rocket.time in
order to maintain 100 millisecond accuracy.
In theory, the odometer distance is accurate to within + or - 1 wheel revolution. In practice, the accuracy is limited
by the following factors: 1) the slippage of the tire on the road. This error can be minimized by applying the distance
sensor to a non-powered wheel. 2) The error caused by the different distances travelled between the wheel on the
inside of a turn, and the wheel on the outside. The magnitude of this error depends on the number of turns, the
width of the cars wheelbase, and on how the course distance was measured. 3) The sensor air gap adjustment.
Care must be taken to keep the gap between the sensor and the magnet to 3 to 7 mm (1/4 to 3/8 inch). If the gap is
larger than this some magnetic passes may go undetected, resulting in a distance error.
What comes with the SpeedPilot MKVI? You get the software, one odometer box, two magnets, one sensor, one
odometer box to vehicle power adaptor, one sensor to odometer box cable, and one serial cable (PC version), or
one bluetooth transmitter (PDA version).How do I obtain new versions of the software? If you have provided us
with your email we will notify you when new versions of the software are available. You will be provided with a link
that will allow you to download the latest version. If you did not provide us with your email you can use the contact
page to request a link to the latest version. Be sure to include your odometer box serial number when requesting a
software upgrade.