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Re: Recording in a Kart (and to a Palm)

To: "The MacLeods" <lmacleod@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Recording in a Kart (and to a Palm)
From: "Byron Short" <bshort@AFSinc.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 14:36:57 -0700
Part Two...

Regarding recording in a kart, (or any other really stiff
vehicle)...

GEEZ will record very small movements, and can in fact, get
really screwed up from intense vibrations.  So if you are
driving something with no suspension, and/or with a motor
bolted directly to the frame, there's going to be a lot of
that "buzziness" that comes through into the recordings. 
I've done recordings on my shifter kart where the vibrations
swamped the true g's to a point that nothing was visible. 
However, there's an easy fix.

We have begun insulating the G-Cube by simply wrapping a
small hand towel or shop rag around the cube itself.  Be
sure to do your calibrations first, to ensure that you get
all the sides measured on good level ground.  Then wrap the
towel around the Cube so that the towel contacts the car
rather than the Cube.  Fold the towel over lengthwise until
you have a 2" wide piece that is several thicknesses of
towel.  That wrap that around the cube so that you have the
towel between the bottom of the cube and the floor (or
whatever else you are going to tape it to.)  Attach the
whole thing to a solid surface with silver tape.

Now a bit about where to actually mount the cube.  Because
shifter karts spend lots of time sideways, you want to
position the G-Cube as far forward as possible.  This
minimizes the pendulum effect on the cube, where readings
are effected by the rear end swinging around all the time. 
Instead place the cube either on the frame rails between
your feet, inside the fairing area, OR all the way up inside
the nose cone.  In either case, be sure that the cube itself
is facing perfectly forward. 

You can mount the power supply and Palm inside the fairing
as well, up at the top where it's easy to reach, or put the
whole thing inside the nose cone.  Be sure your AutoStart
settings match the kart's capabilities!  And be sure
everything is securely taped down!  Palms are cheap these
days, but you still don't want to bounce one off the
pavement at 60mph...

We've used this method on shifter karts, such as Alan
Scheidler's, and on kid karts like my son's super buzzy
Briggs kart.  It works very well.  On shifter karts, you can
still expect to use a lot of end speed adjustment, again due
to the extreme slip angles they enjoy.  But that's about all
there is to it.  Everything works neatly once you get it all
securely taped into place.

--Byron
  888-909-0818

The MacLeods wrote:
> 
> First Question:
> About recording to a palm, does it have to be a "Palm" brand, or any PDA 
>running
> Palm O/S?  There are some Handspring models out now that are cheaper than 
>their
> equivalent Palm and run the Palm O/S 4.0, but for $30 or so less.  I ran GEEZ
> all last year, but always to a laptop.  Also, has anyone run GEEZ on the new
> Palm O/S 4.0?  The older Palms were all running ver. 3.5, so does GEEZ still
> work on 4.0?
> 
> 2nd Question:
> Now the reason I need to record to a palm is because I'll be driving a kart 
>this
> year.  Any tips from anyone who has put theirs on a kart before?  I've asked
> Byron directly, but I think he's traveling this week and hasn't had a chance 
>to
> reply yet.   Anyone else ever GEEZed a kart before?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Larry MacLeod
> "Feel the Funk Y'all"

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