C7042 Running Practice Laps...no lap times?

I'm using the newest version of Pc Lap Counter with my Scalextric 6 car powerbase C7042

My question is, when I run practice laps, is the program supposed to record lap times?

I don't see any lap times on my screen.

Yes in practice mode PCLC should display lap and lap time, i think your powerbase is in the "Set Car ID" mode and in that mode the powerbase not count any laps, to leave the mode "Set Car ID" just press the START button on the powerbase.

For your information here is the good procedure to Set Car ID, step 4 is specific to Pc Lap Counter :
1- Place car on the track
2- Press/hold the ENTER button of the powerbase until green LED Flashes
3- Push the BRAKE button of the hand controller (red & green LED flash)
4- Press the START button of the powerbase to leave the Car ID setting procedure , depending of the race status the power OFF/ON LED lights up (this step is for Pc Lap Counter only).

More explanation on C7042 and Pc Lap Counter here:
http://www.pclapcounter.be/scalextric_digital_c7042.html

I followed your instruction but it's still not counting laps. When I press the START button on my powerbase, it starts the race and then it counts laps as normal but before the race It does not count laps.

yes that's normal, you have to start the race by using the START button of the powerbase or by using the PCLC START button otherwise PCLC will not count any laps.

guy wrote:

yes that's normal, you have to start the race by using the START button of the powerbase or by using the PCLC START button otherwise PCLC will not count any laps.

Yes, I know.

It still does not count laps in practice mode.

does it count laps in other mode ?

I test it and it's work fine, maybe there is a misunderstanding somewhere: for me "practice mode" is a race where the option "Practice session" is ticked and when you start the race PCLC will order the drivers against their best lap time.

Perhaps I'm not understanding what exactly "Practice Session" means.

I thought that it means when you have that box ticked like you've shown in the picture that you are able to run practice laps before you start the race.

guy wrote:

I test it and it's work fine, maybe there is a misunderstanding somewhere: for me "practice mode" is a race where the option "Practice session" is ticked and when you start the race PCLC will order the drivers against their best lap time.

What you are describing here sounds like a "Qualifying Session"

A practice session is like a qualifying session but if a driver improve the best lap time of the track or a driver improve his own best lap time then then it will be not saved into the "database" of Pc Lap Counter.

Now I'm really confused.

If I want to run a practice session and just run laps to see if I can better my times, do I have to set up a race or can I do it without setting up a race.

I've tried everything I can think of to make this work and now the program won't count laps at all. Not even during the race.

HELP!

Porsche Racer wrote:

Now I'm really confused.

If I want to run a practice session and just run laps to see if I can better my times, do I have to set up a race or can I do it without setting up a race.

Yes , even for a practice session you have to set up a race.

Porsche Racer wrote:

I've tried everything I can think of to make this work and now the program won't count laps at all. Not even during the race.

HELP!

That strange, are you sure that the SSD interface of Pc Lap Counter is running and led is green ?
If the SSD interface of Pc Lap Counter is running you should see in the task bar of windows "SSD Advanced 6 cars..." like here:

It looks like that now with the Green LED and it is counting laps for me again. Not sure why but the LED went to yellow and I didn't realize it. I had to re-boot the computer to get PC Lap Counter running again.

I'm going to check now to see if the Practice Session is working.

No. It still does not record laps while I'm practicing before a race

think there is misunderstanding in my definition of race and your, i will try to explain with a simple example, in the example we will organize a race event with a practice session , a qualifying session and the race itself:

1. Practice session:
   - In the toolbar of Pc Lap Counter click on the "New race" button, in the race setting window tick the option "Practice session" and specify the duration of practice session, drivers and lane rotation according to your preference.
   - After accepting the race setting screen click on the START button of the powerbase or use the START button of PCLC.
   - Practice session is now started, classification is base on the best lap time and best lap time will not be saved into the Pc Lap Counter "database".
   
   After the Practice session is ended we can now prepare the qualyfing session:
   
   
2. Qualyfing session:
   - In the toolbar of Pc Lap Counter click on the "New race" button, in the race setting window untick the option "Practice session" and tick the option "qualifying session" and set the duration of the qualifying session , drivers and lane rotation according to your preference.
   - After accepting the race setting screen click on the START button of the powerbase or use the start button of PCLC.
   - Qualyfing session is now started and the classification is base on the best lap time, best lap time will be saved into the Pc Lap Counter "database".
   
   After the qualifying session is ended we can now prepare the race itself:
   
   
3. Race:
   - In the toolbar of Pc Lap Counter click on the "New race" button, in the race setting window untick the option "qualifying session" and set the duration of the race , drivers and lane rotation according to your preference.
   - After accepting the race setting screen click on the START button of the powerbase or use the start button of PCLC.
   - race is now started and the classification is base on the number of laps.
   

Now it all makes sense.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Everything is working fine now.

Sorry to be such a pain with all the messages. I appreciate your patience Guy.