# stackmat analysis mode



## Stefan (Jul 15, 2010)

Something that just came up on the German forum (here)...

I have the stackmat with the memory and data port, not sure it's exactly the same for all.

1. Turn your stackmat on.
2. Press and hold the power button (so the timer turns off)
3. Press the reset button four times.

Now I see all display elements displayed. At this point you can stop holding the power button.

Pressing reset now cycles through four stages:

1. No light on, display shows about 0308.
2. Red light on, display shows about 01F2.
3. Green light on, display shows about 01F2.
4. No light on, display shows about A4A4.

The numbers change slightly and depend on where I put the timer. Putting my hands on the sensors reduces the numbers. Hovering over the sensors also reduces them a bit. The largest distance where I could see a reaction was about 8-9cm (about 3-3.5 inches).

Pressing the power button at any time turns the timer off.


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## keemy (Jul 15, 2010)

Interesting this could be useful in measuring timer sensitivity to QC comp timers.
Also I don't get 1 or 4 only 2 and 3.


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## Kirjava (Jul 15, 2010)

Haha, a secret mode. Reminds me of this kinda stuff.


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## vcuber13 (Jul 15, 2010)

keemy said:


> Interesting this could be useful in measuring timer sensitivity to QC comp timers.
> Also I don't get 1 or 4 only 2 and 3.



same for me


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## clement (Jul 15, 2010)

I have 4 stackmats here with memory and port.
Two of October 2005 don't have this.
One of September 2007 and one of January 2008 have it, but I can only cycle though green and red.


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## Stefan (Jul 15, 2010)

Ah, right. The date is printed on the inner back side. Mine's from January 2007.


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## Daniel Wu (Jul 15, 2010)

Cool. I can only do green and red as well. For green I get 0228 and for red I get 021D.


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## jms_gears1 (Jul 15, 2010)

mine esploded D:


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## Kenneth (Jul 15, 2010)

Do I have the oldest running timer in the community? June 2005 it says 

Did not work 



StefanPochmann said:


> The numbers change slightly and depend on where I put the timer. Putting my hands on the sensors reduces the numbers. Hovering over the sensors also reduces them a bit. The largest distance where I could see a reaction was about 8-9cm (about 3-3.5 inches).



It's probably an Ohm metre that mesaures the resistance over the pads, if it is low enough it will OK it.


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## ~Phoenix Death~ (Jul 15, 2010)

jms_gears1 said:


> mine esploded D:



LOLWAT


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## FatBoyXPC (Jul 15, 2010)

Stefan, I remember you taking your timer apart a few months ago, are you able to tell me if the touch pads just work via capacitors? If so this could represent the change in capacitance, but Kenneth's idea is pretty solid as well.


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## Ron (Jul 15, 2010)

Nice discovery. We should check the numbers for some faulty timers.
It might even be possible to adjust the sensitivity of the pads.


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## Dene (Jul 15, 2010)

My stackmat is November 2007. I can only swap between green and red. On red the number starts as 0235, on green 0232. By putting my hands near or on the sensors the numbers go crazy. On red the lowest I can get is 01d1, on green 01E4. This is achieved by pushing down as hard as possible.


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## nlCuber22 (Jul 15, 2010)

My stackmat is October 09.

On red, it starts on 0252 and for green it starts on 021E.

Tilting the stackmat in different directions displays different things as does pushing on the touch-sensitive pads. I can only cycle between red and green.


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## Stefan (Jul 15, 2010)

fatboyxpc said:


> Stefan, I remember you taking your timer apart a few months ago, are you able to tell me if the touch pads just work via capacitors?



Sorry, I don't know what capacitors are (electronics newb here), maybe you can tell by looking at my pics again ([thread=19395]here[/thread] they are)?


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## ben1996123 (Jul 15, 2010)

Mine is March 2008:

Red light: displays 018b
With hands on timer, displays 0154

Green light: displays 0205
With hands on timer, displays 01A9


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## keemy (Jul 16, 2010)

I just noticed that when the redlight is on putting only by left hand down does nothing (but putting both or just right changes the display), similarly for green my right hand alone does nothing.

Anyone else have this happen?


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## bluecloe45 (Jul 16, 2010)

mine is new(feb 2010) on red it shows 0240 green it shows 0237 hands on:0166


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## cmhardw (Jul 16, 2010)

Has anyone tried this on a Gen 1 timer? Does it work there too? I will try when I get home, but I figured I would ask first.

Chris


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## Toad (Jul 16, 2010)

cmhardw said:


> Has anyone tried this on a Gen 1 timer? Does it work there too? I will try when I get home, but I figured I would ask first.
> 
> Chris



I tried it and it did nothing.

Admittedly didn't try anything else, just did the power + reset 4 times then gave up.


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## Stefan (Jul 16, 2010)

cmhardw said:


> Has anyone tried this on a Gen 1 timer? Does it work there too?



Mine doesn't. And while I was at it, I finally checked whether it works with CCT (it does).


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## TimMc (Jul 16, 2010)

*Analysis results*

Could this help with determining an acceptable level of sensitivity for timers that are to be used in a competition?

Perhaps the data from it might also indicate whether the timer is likely to malfunction (~0.2 etc).


```
Mon Year No No-light Red      Green    No-light
--- ---- -- -------- -------- -------- --------
Mar 2008 #1 N/A      0187     016E     N/A
Apr 2008 #1 N/A      0185     022E     N/A
Mar 2009 #1 N/A      0220     0220     N/A
Apr 2009 #1 N/A      0245     0238     N/A
```

Tim.


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## Lucas Garron (Jul 16, 2010)

I only have two modes:

1) Red light on. Default around 0226. Left hand on pad makes it go down by about 3, right hand to about 01d0. Both hands about 01bE, palms about 0177.
2) Green light on. Default around 021d. Right hand on pad makes it go down by about 3, left hand to about 01C8. Both hands get about 01A0, palms get about 0173

Stackmat DATE: March 2009


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## aronpm (Jul 16, 2010)

This is interesting.

Red gives 0225
Green gives 021A

Holding down red normally gives 017A
Holding down green normally gives 016D

Holding down red hard gives 01CE
Holding down green hard gives 01CB

My stackmat is from April 2009.


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## CuberN00b (Jul 16, 2010)

Mine's January 2010, and only cycles between green and red.
it's GREAT, i could press hard and the red one shows... 198.


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## Jai (Jul 16, 2010)

Date: March 2009
Defaults: 01F5 021C
Both Hands: 01A5 01B2


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## FatBoyXPC (Jul 16, 2010)

Stefan, when you use your hand to start the timer, are you just touching the two metal prongs on the inside? I am referring to when you have the PCB out of the stackmat plastic casing (normally referred to as chassis).

aronpm: What do you mean by holding down red/green hard/normal? Do you mean holding down on the touch pad hard and with the the red/green lights selected it shows you those values? Or holding down something else hard?

So I was typing in my stats but I noticed that the numbers change from fingertips to palm, to pressing lightly, harder, and real hard, etc. I could have recorded all the values but if I move my hand a quarter of an inch, it will change the value, so I gave up.


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## aronpm (Jul 16, 2010)

fatboyxpc said:


> aronpm: What do you mean by holding down red/green hard/normal? Do you mean holding down on the touch pad hard and with the the red/green lights selected it shows you those values? Or holding down something else hard?


I meant holding down normally, as if I were doing a solve. Hard was pushing the pads as hard as I could.


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## Stefan (Jul 16, 2010)

New record! I can now cause a reaction from about *60 cm* (2 feet) away! Take a deep breath, breathe inside your closed mouth a couple of times to make the air warmer and more humid, then strongly breathe out onto the timer. Only a small effect, like from 01F3 to 01F2, but I can do it consistently.

Now I just need to build a device to allow a stronger effect from an even larger distance so I can remote control the timers and disqualify everyone faster than me by stopping their timers at like 0.20 seconds...



fatboyxpc said:


> Stefan, when you use your hand to start the timer, are you just touching the two metal prongs on the inside?



In the video? Well, I'm also _holding_ the thing at other places, but yes, I think touching those metal things on the sides is what it reacts to.


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## FatBoyXPC (Jul 16, 2010)

Man I was looking at your pictures of the board but I wasn't able to see what they connect to (via the traces). I follow what seems like the path going to and from the black pieces and it connects to nothing. I might need to open mine up for a closer look or something.

I wonder if there's a way we could analyze exactly how much we need the number to change to start/stop the timer. We could probably set up two stackmats to each each other, using the same touchpad for both things.


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## Winball (Aug 11, 2010)

date: July 2010
Red light: 0272
Green light: 0267

I can only cycle trough green and red.
The numbers seems to change. Can anyone explain what these values are?


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