SkyTrak connection issue SOLVED!

[Mark72]

My SkyTrak was basically unusable - frequently dropping its connection to my PC, whether connected USB or wifi, especially while using TGC on the overhead projector. I sent back the unit, and they returned it saying it was fine. I spent several hours on the phone with tech support. We could always get it to work for a while, but it would begin failing soon afterwards.

I finally figured out that the static electricity in the room was the problem. As my buddies and I walked around the room, our shoes and the artificial turf were generating a lot of static. The problem was resolved instantly by putting down some rubber floor tiles on the area surrounding the 5x5 hitting mat. The SkyTrak and its cable still sit on the artificial turf – this was just the area where we walk between shots. Since then it’s been rock solid!

Hopefully this helps some frustrated SkyTrak owners and gives the tech support people another troubleshooting idea.

[Ironstrokes]

Thats crazy, would have never thought of that being an issue. Glad you got it worked out, definitely something for someone to try down the line if they have this issue

[717golfer]

This should be a lesson for all. Static electricity is very dangerous around sensitive electronic equipment. When you consider most computers work with under 12VDC, if you hit it with 50,000 volts one can see why things would fail. Ground yourself before touching your computer. You may need to test the humidity in your house.

[Mark72]

Sorry for the long post, but wanted to add some background to my static story in case it helps others troubleshoot connection issues.

My SkyTrak would work for a few hits, sometimes even 20 minutes, before dropping out (flashing ball LED, bottom 2 lights solid green, top one flashing red). Sometimes doing a hard reset helped for a little while. If I shut down for the night, it would work a little the next day, but then same story.

It would often work longer with just the SkyTrak range displayed on my PC and the overhead projector turned off. If I tried TGC on the projector, it would drop out, but then work if I rebooted and went back to just ST range – but drop immediately if I went back to TGC on the projector. TGC on just the PC would be fine for a while – just like the ST range. No matter what I used, it would inevitably fail between 3 swings and 20 minutes.

I’m no expert, but it was as if the long HDMI cable of my projector was picking up static and maybe transmitting to the computer and making the problem worse. A computer guy told me computer devices store the static (in their capacitors?), and that to discharge it, you must unplug the device and then hold down the on/off switch for 10 seconds to fully discharge it. I did this for both my PC, my projector, and my monitors. I didn’t do this for ST because you would have to take it apart and remove the battery.

During winter, I was getting a lot of sparks when touching metal in the room. This got worse the longer we were in the room. Discharging my own static by touching grounded metal not connected to the computer did not help. The issue seemed to be the rest of the static in the room – not just the static "on me" (again no expert, just what I observed).

I got a humidifier and a gauge to monitor the humidity. At around 45 percent humidity the sparks went away and reliability improved somewhat. But even with high humidity and no sparking it would still eventually fail. This makes me think others could have static issues even without seeing sparking. It could depend on your flooring. I had artificial turf throughout the entire room.

After the humidifier failed to solve the problem, I was literally pricing out GC2s the day I tried the rubber floor mats as a last resort. Somehow putting them around the area where we do most of the walking solved the problem. Since then, it has been rock solid, even at lower humidity levels.

Hope this helps!