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SI card disintegration

Show Profile  jeffg Posted: 18 October 2007, 2:33 PM  
The plastic end piece has come off my SI card, exposing the chip. Has this happened to anyone else, and if so, do you have any recommendations for patching up the hole? Blu tack?

Show Profile  Martin Posted: 18 October 2007, 3:01 PM  
i've seen it happen a few times. would recommend probably a blob of superglue and then perhaps some silicon sealer or gap filler that works with plastic to fill the hole. Something permanent would be better than blu tack.

First check that the chip hasnt fallen out! otherwise it wont work.

Show Profile  Greg Posted: 18 October 2007, 3:16 PM  
Get an old pen and snap the end off it (clicker) into the SI hole, then superglue, works perfect

Show Profile  stu barr Posted: 19 October 2007, 3:54 AM  
don't use superglue - it's evil

find out what material it is and plastic weld it together. probably a small drop of a chemical like chloroform on either side and once they have softened connect them together. they'll bond like new.

"do it once, do it right" Jim Barr

Show Profile  mark Posted: 19 October 2007, 4:29 AM  
leave the end off.
the reduced weight will save you a few milliseconds.

Show Profile  Chris Posted: 19 October 2007, 6:58 AM  
Yeah but the missing piece will interfere with Jeff's aerodynamic coefficient...

Show Profile  onemanfanclub Posted: 26 October 2007, 4:48 PM  
Use the damage as justification to splash out on a fancy new e-card. (like the real elites have)

Also adjust to a slightly less aggressive punching technique. Trevor Mallard may be able to advise on this point.

Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 27 October 2007, 1:44 AM  
Mallard is a lame duck, its hunting season and the dogs are out.

Show Profile  Michael Posted: 21 April 2008, 6:03 PM  
Using this to ask a dumb question which may show my inexperience in the backroom side of SI. Why is the check unit always put adjacent to the clear unit? I would think that after getting the beep from the clear that it would be well nigh impossible for the SI-card NOT to be cleared.

What IS quite possible is that an orienteer could fail to clear, by inexperience or oversight, especially the layout does not guarantee that people pass the clear. Would it be better to have the check unit at the last possible point in the start procedure, and then it would actually check something. The place you cannot avoid is the start line.

Show Profile  John Marshall Posted: 22 April 2008, 2:08 AM  
I think there is psychological value in having the two units beside each other: the check step is an immediate INDEPENDENT confirmation that all is well.

It also depends on the exact definition of "after getting the beep". I observed someone at Nationals pull his card out of the clear unit a little too soon (don't recall if it beeped), and then repeatedly try to get the check unit to beep, which it wouldn't as the card wasn't cleared. The answer of course was to clear again, and this would have been rather more tedious if the two units were separated.

At the Scottish 6 Days last year, in addition to the two units together in the "milling-around area", the pre-start person had a check unit in their hand and wouldn't let you past until you verified that your card had been cleared. I seem to recall that I've seen this in NZ occasionally too, and it seems like a very good idea to me. Done right, e.g., at the least with an SI box with the display on top, it could improve the reading-out-your-SI-number step too.

(Thus at a big event with personnel at the start, yes, it's definitely better to have ANOTHER check unit at the last possible point.)

In the case of an unattended start at a club event, IMHO ideally there would be clear and check units both at the registration area and at the start, and appropriate signage at both. And there is another difference here, in that it is a punching start. I have a vague feeling that you can't get a start box to register with a non-cleared card. If that is true, then that's effectively a check itself, right there on the start line -- provided the signage is such that people know that they MUST get a beep and light flash from the start box.

Show Profile  Martin Posted: 22 April 2008, 2:32 AM  
I implemented the pre-start compulsory check box at the NZ Champs last year, it worked really well as it makes it really easy to tell who hasn't started and means everyone has cleared aswell.

Just need to have enough spare boxes to do it because as Simon points out, people expect the clear-check combination.

Shouldn't this be in a different thread?

Show Profile  pete s Posted: 22 April 2008, 2:46 PM  
You could try doing away with the SI card altogether Jeff and get the microchip embedded into a finger or some other appendage - means you wouldn't have to worry about leaving your SI card behind when going to events either so heaps of benefits :-)

Show Profile  Paul I Posted: 22 April 2008, 4:23 PM  
Pete, that conjures up a very scary picture in my mind.

Show Profile  Michael Posted: 22 April 2008, 4:48 PM  
Why stop at an SI card? www.mapsport.co.nz/hvoc/hand531.jpg

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