SCATT sensor sensitivity

[inzl]

My SCATT sensor (WS1) is missing shots. Currently it is not registering about 20-30% of the shots, and it seems it is getting worse. I am shooting air rifle with pellets. The trace is visible, working ok. I'm keeping pezo sensitivity setting at 0.5%, and as far as I understand, it is not possible to make it more sensitive. My questions are, (1) does sensitivity depend on battery charge level? (2) Does the sensor needs to be cleaned somehow from time to time?

[ZD]

I am not familiar with the wireless SCATT unit as you have described, however I have spent many hours with the USB model and the new MX 2 model. To answer your question, I do not know if charging the battery will help, or if cleaning it would do anything; our range can get pretty dusty and this didn't seem to affect the USB models. However, whenever I had trouble with the USB model not sensing a shot going off, there were a couple things going on. First, I found that if the sensor was not tight enough against the barrel of the rifle, it would not register a shot when dry firing. On our older USB models, we replaced the mounts with a neck piece of aluminum and attached it to the rifle via zip ties. I found that if I only used one zip tie, the sensor would often not sense. I am assuming you are using the original mount, which I would think should sense easier; but make sure it it fairly tight on your rifle. Second, if this didn't work, I would have to go through a whole process of resetting the system. I can tell you that I have had more issues with the rifle not sensing SCATT at all, as opposed to it sensing but not picking up the shot (although I have had plenty of those). I went through the following process below when SCATT wasn't working properly, or at all.

i. Hit ctrl H, which will reset the hardware in SCATT. Then, open up the optical sensor. Make sure that your crosshair is sensing in the center ring, not in the outer ring. If it isn't, you will have to play around with the alignment of the sensor on your barrel and or how far away or close you are to the target (sometimes just a few inches will do).

ii. Make sure the body of the lamp you are using (assuming you are using one) isn't covering up the sensor down range. Make sure the lamp you are using is a fluorescent. Incandescent bulbs burn hotter; we solved a number of our issues simply going to florescent (LED should work to.) You want a good amount of light on the target while at the same time making sure not to have the lamp body covering up the top of the sensor. Also, make sure the floor you are shooting over isn't reflecting too much light, I have read on this forum before that this can be an issue (simply placing a towel on the floor in front and underneath the target I have read helps).

iii. Unplug the target from the computer, restart ect. Sounds like an obscene solution, but sometimes simply resetting the computer helps.

iv. Play around with the piezo sensitivity. I know you already have, but I found with the older models, there seemed to be a sweet spot. Also, since you are live firing an air rifle, maybe try and mount the sensor elsewhere. If it is clamped to the bottom of your barrel, try clamping it on the cylinder instead (or vice versa).

If all else fails, call it a day and try it later. Someone else may know more, but these steps above are the ones I follow whenever our teams older ones were not working (which happened frequently). I never found a magic solution, I suspect the hardware is just not as reliable as it should be. Like I said, I have only worked with the USB models (not the wireless), and SCATT's latest MX 2 system. For what it is worth, the new SCATT system has proven to be very reliable across all of our new units, as it uses an optical sensor as opposed to what I believe is a kind of infrared system on the older units. I hope this helps.

-Zach

[inzl]

Thanks, Zach, for a comprehensive answer. The reason may be that the sensor is not tight enough. Lately I was making the sensor more lose on purpose, such that when it is initially mounted and pointing to a wrong direction, I could adjust a little bit by hand. I can't mount the sensor permanently (with zip locks or anything like that), because when the sensor is on, air cylinder cannot be removed. I did not think that tightness may affect sensitivity, thanks for pointing out! I'll try tightening it properly tomorrow.

Also, I am using a rubber band on the barrel as padding for mounting the sensor, this way it does not slip, but maybe that also affects sensitivity?

[ZD]

Your welcome. I doubt a rubber band would be affecting that, but it is always possible. Sounds like your sensor being loose may be part of the problem. The sensor should be tight when you set it up the first time, but it will usually be able to rotate a little, seems unavoidable. That being said, to add to this, make sure that you line the sensor up relatively center under the rifle. Make your calibration shot as good as possible, (a good ten or at least a nine you can call) as SCATT treats your first shot as a 10.9 (Any time you have to drag shots more than 2 rings or so, SCATT has a lot of issues.) I always re-shoot my shot on the optical sensor adjustment until I get good a good shot before I move on to the sighter shots. Makes your life a lot easier. Since you would be shooting at ten meters, lining up the sensor as is should work, although I have had to put shims under my sensor before to get one to work at home at 5m (consequently, I ran into the issue of it not always registering the shot). Anyway, good luck, please let me know if this works.

-Zach

[David Levene]

Also, I am using a rubber band on the barrel as padding for mounting the sensor, this way it does not slip, but maybe that also affects sensitivity?

I would suggest that is highly likely. The sensor picks up the vibration of the trigger being released. A rubber band will dampen that vibration.

[bluetentacle]

Also, I am using a rubber band on the barrel as padding for mounting the sensor, this way it does not slip, but maybe that also affects sensitivity?

I would suggest that is highly likely. The sensor picks up the vibration of the trigger being released. A rubber band will dampen that vibration.

This.

The reason for tightening the sensor to begin with is to make sure that it picks up the vibration consistently. Putting a rubber band between the barrel and the sensor defeats that purpose.

[bdutton]

Also, I am using a rubber band on the barrel as padding for mounting the sensor, this way it does not slip, but maybe that also affects sensitivity?

I would suggest that is highly likely. The sensor picks up the vibration of the trigger being released. A rubber band will dampen that vibration.

This.

The reason for tightening the sensor to begin with is to make sure that it picks up the vibration consistently. Putting a rubber band between the barrel and the sensor defeats that purpose.

I use some electrical tape to avoid scratching the barrel. It picks up the sensor no problem. This will also prevent it from slipping.

[inzl]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The rubber band is for tennis rockets, I bought it in a sports shop. I used it to lower the sensor, as if I mounted directly on the barrel, it was pointing way too high. I'll try electrical tape.

I promised to write some feedback regarding tightening the tensor, but I haven't had a chance to set up Scatt yet since the last discussion. I'll post when I test.

[inzl]

I tested yesterday with both screws as tight as possible - problem solved, all the dry firing shots are registered perfectly. The only problem is that it is very difficult to align the sensor, such that it points inside the circle on the screen when the rifle is aimed at the target. Typically the aiming point varies +-10 cm to the side of the target. Then I have to unscrew the sensor an try to mount it again.

Here is how the rubber band looks like:
[attachment=0]20141126_220322 (2).jpg[/attachment]

[bdutton]

Don't use as much padding shown. Most likely, the padding is causing the alignment problem.

However, if the alignment is consistent, you can manually adjust the POI by clicking on the shows in sighters and dragging them to the point where you call the shot. This is MUCH better than moving the sights to fix the alignment issue.

Basically, use the click and drag to fix gross errors and sight click adjustments to fix minor errors.

[inzl]

Scatt instruction says that the calibration shot should be inside a circle, that is shown during calibration. Is it still ok to adjust by dragging the center, if the calibration shot is outside the circle?

[David Levene]

What happens if you remove all of that padding?

Just stick some PVC tape to the inside surface of the fixing band and sensor bracket.

[inzl]

If I remove the padding, it points straight, but too high, so still not in the circle. I use the padding for lowering the sensor.

[ZD]

SCATT calibration shot has to be made inside the center circle, does not work well otherwise.

-Zach

[bdutton]

If I remove the padding, it points straight, but too high, so still not in the circle. I use the padding for lowering the sensor.

Got it. I usually keep adding tape under the front half of the mounting bracket to get the angle down until the angle is correct. Back side to get the angle up.