How far apart are the ball speed censors apart? I have heard big hooks register slower than straight balls, opinion?
Ball speed sensors & scoring cameras
I was working on the scoring cameras and ball speed sensors last night. I thought they were pretty inaccurate but to my surprise they are a lot closer than I thought. We were working on the scoring cameras to make sure they were adjusted correctly and in focus. It's pretty cool really. We can pull them up on the monitor at the front desk and calibrate them on the lane.
If they are out of focus then they either won't work at all or give improper readings. We were having some random issues during cosmic when the black lights were on. We had one where the board went bad, the camera worked but the speed sensor didn't on the pair. On our cameras you focus them like the old days of a Canon AE-1 type camera. You spin the dial to focus it. You have to have one person turn the dial and one watching the monitor at the desk. When we found the best focus he put a dap of clear caulk on the dial to hold it in place so vibration won't throw it out of whack again. The previous mechanic didn't use the caulk so maybe that's why some were pretty far off.
With the speed sensor there is no real way to calibrate them, they are what they are. On each lane there are two sensors pointing at reflectors, the speed is measured by the time it takes the ball to go between the two reflectors breaking the beams. The sensors are at a fixed location on the board and cannot be adjusted, the reflectors have to line up or they don't work. There is a light that lights up on the sensor if it's not line up correctly. I had the mechanic standing down by the sensors with my cell phone and the ball speed app. When the ball got between the sensors he took the reading. We compared my phone with what the monitor said and they were very similar, just a .1-.3 variance between the two. I'd call that pretty darn accurate.
Some balls I rolled slowly down the lanes like a little kid, then normal and finally I launched them. I think the launching them is why I'm sore today. Normally I'd only do that on a 4-6 or 7-10 or big 4 split to get the pins to bounce. Fortunately I don't have to do it very often. Doing it 12 times was way more than I'm used to, good thing we don't have more lanes. The upside is I hit a high of 27.9 MPH at the sensors on the third lane. LOL Not bad for a skinny little runt at 46 throwing 16 lbs. That of course is the speed close to the pins, it does vary off the hand by a much greater margin as we discussed on here before. We only did it once at normal speed but it was 2.8 MPH difference from the sensors to off the hand with ball speed app.
How far apart are the ball speed censors apart? I have heard big hooks register slower than straight balls, opinion?
That would make sense since the hooked ball is traveling farther than a straight ball, albeit not my much. I would guess the difference is minimal. I would guess less than .1 MPH but thats's just a guess. Think of it this way. If you measured across the lane diagonally from one sensor to the next it will be quite a bit further than measuring a straight line between the 2 censors. Obviously the ball isn't making a diagonal line but you get the point. It is still a further distance.Originally Posted by fordman1
I didn't measure but it's only a matter of inches maybe 5 or 6 at most. I guess it's all a matter of the angle the ball is going when it's passing between the two beams with your big hooks. The longer the ball takes to pass through the slower speed it will register. In theory a slower ball going through straight may get a higher reading than one passing a little faster on an angle. Like I said it's just inches, unless the ball is taking an abrupt turn in that small space I can't imaging it being that far off. Keep in mind we are using AMF so I can't speak for Brunswick, it may be different. It also may be different with different ages or models of scorers.
I think I told you that you were tossing your ball at around 21 mph, didn't I?
LOL Between 19 & 20 but yeah you certainly did sir, that's my "normal" speed off the hand not at the sensors. The sensors say 16-18. When I was launching it last night at almost 28 (for testing purposes) that's all I could muster. I'm sure if I wanted to fire over the arrows down the lane I could get a little more but thanks but no thanks. LOL I like my arm and shoulder in tact and to stay attached to my body. I asked the mechanic if that was completely necessary to throw it like that and he said yes.
Something tells me it was more of a "Look what I'm making the new guy do" I wouldn't be shocked, some of those guys are pranksters. The other bartender secretly gave my wife my share of the tips last night before she left. When it was time to give them to me he gave me a dollar and said that was it. I was like "What the? SERIOUSLY! that's all we made?" I didn't know until I got home what the real deal was. That's okay, I'll get these guys back when they least expect it and I'll come up with something much better! They don't know who they are dealing with. Hehee
LOL. Funny about the tips.
Our sensors read me at about 16.7 MPH in most cases. I have seen it as low as about 15.9 and as high as about 18.2. These are also AMF. I timed my ball on video and got anywhere from 2.2 to 2.3 seconds. Very unscientific but based on that I saw charts that say it is between 18.1 and 19.0 so the sensors are probably pretty close since they read the speed at the pins, which is the slowest part of the roll.
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