SkyTrak laser curtains burning out when left on

[ChadGolf]

I wanted to see if anyone can confirm my experience with the laser curtains/Skytrak not working right after being left on.

So what happened in my case is that I'd be playing TGC and would get a phone call/take a break, and then I'd forget about the SkyTrak and leave it on overnight. About 6 months ago, this happened and it seemed like my SkyTrak wasn't working great for a few days, but eventually it mostly recovered. I think I actually just adjusted my usage.

This weekend, I did it again, and now it's almost not responsive at all. Waving a club in front of the laser curtain doesn't trigger unless it's nearly 4 to 6 inches from the SkyTrak. Balls barely detect because they need to be in a Goldilocks ranges close enough to trigger the laser curtain, but far enough so the cameras can see them.

I tested out the rumored "lefty mode in your stance" and the shots all registered perfectly and it was easy to use.

Taking a look at the actual infrared curtains, the right one is noticeably less bright compared to the left, so I'm sure it's repair time for me. Just trying to figure out if we need to warn people to turn off the SkyTraks.

Infrared-Hybrid Image of SkyTrak in Right Handed Mode, Notice the very Faint line next to the "ball placement dot".


Infrared Hybrid Image of the Skytrak in Left Handed Mode. Notice how much brighter the laser curtain line is and how much further it shines compared to the right handed mode above.

[calebm1001]

I’ve left mine on too, but when I came back maybe an hour or more later, I noticed it was turned off. Can’t remember if I shut down the software, so the disconnect between that and Skytrak automatically shut it down. However, in the instances that I have done this, there were no issues moving forward.

[Whiskeyjack]

Yeah if I just have the skytrak on with no game running it'll turn off in a few minutes...no more than 10.

[ChadGolf]

I left mine with the games running, but I confirmed Skytrak range and TGC both leave the lasers on.

[BradleyJ]

I have these exact same symptoms and thanks to the old Call of Duty game that came with IR goggles, I have verified that the RH IR curtain is less than half the brightness of the LH side 5 months after purchase! I did leave mine on a few months but it acted fine for 2-months and only recently began having noticeable issues reading shots. It is disappointing that the diode life seems to be worse than a gas station laser pointer, I will be contacting customer support as it should still be under warranty for another month. THIS IS NOT UNCOMMON FOR RECENT MODELS!

[Morini]

Thanks for posting this ChadGolf. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I fully expect mine to die in the next year. Kind of sad.

In your photos, check the sizes of the respective "blooms" on the ST. The right bloom less than one quarter the size of the right.

[ChadGolf]

Apologies to Skytrak, but I couldn't reproduce this and weaken my left hand laser curtain. I set the Left curtain to remain on for 3 or 4 days straight and didn't see any issues.

So I'm not sure what caused the laser curtain to weaken like that. I'll have to send it it at some point.

If you have any IR cameras or the Call of Duty googles, this is a good way to verify if you can't read shots.

Another great test that I came up with was to swing a club with no ball. Put the toe of the club right at the red laser dot. Then just wave it fairly fast past the skytrak parallel to the target line from the red laser dot out. If it detects, your curtain is probably good. If you have to do this only 2 to 4 inches from the skytrak, your curtain has probably failed. You should be able to switch handedness and try the other laser curtain as well. If you see one activates at a good distance but your normal one does not, that's another good indicator it's time to call in for a repair.

[dg_1983]

That is VERY interesting