Mysterious Light Going off of the storing box

[BySword]

ok, here is what happened.
Fencer A is fencing epee against fencer B. Fencer A's light first lighted up mysteriously when two fencers' blades were in slight contact, it turned out that fencer A's blade had a very loose barrel to a degree that the his light would go off by twisting the barrel. Ok, that was clear, so fencer A changed blade. With his second blade, fencer A's light went off mysteriously again when fencer B beat(it was clear just a beat) hardly on fencer A' blade. However, the referee was not able to recreat the situation nor able to find a flaw on fencer A's blade. Then then referee reached fencer A's bodycord end that was connected to the reel, the light went off again with referr's light pull. However this just happened once and was never recreated. Then fencer A fenced all his subsequent bouts with the second weapon without any single issue. So what do you guys think that cause this(beside the ghost in the machine)? The brand of the scoring box was unknow, but this happened in Georgia Game and they use a orange kind of scoring box with seven presetted modes on it(it has seven or six modes, but it is not indicated which mode is which). Maybe someone can recall the brand and model of the scoring box.

[oiuyt]

The box sounds like Triplette's club machine.

Problem could be any number of things. A short (A/B wires) in the body cord (probably the end that was plugged into the reel, not that that's useful information at this point) or reel. Less likely a short on the weapon, either stripped wires touching or conductive gunk in the tip. I'm sure there are other possible causes.

-B

[epeeisky]

There is more that likely a short between the A and B lines. If it is a wire with clear insulation look for breaks in the wire. Although, more than likely the problem is in one of the plugs.

[BySword]

I suspect it was a short between A and B too, because I (fencer A) just rewire the second blade with LP wire, and I suspect I stripped some of the cotton insulation off. but besides short between A and B, what other possible reason should be checked for?

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by BySword

but besides short between A and B, what other possible reason should be checked for?

An A-B connection is what turns on the light in epee. Either it's happening the way it ought to (depressed tip) or it's happening because of a short somewhere. There are a large number of places where such a short could occur.

In theory it's possible that there's a problem with the machine other than a short, but this is extremely unlikely (despite the general unreliability of the Triplette scoring machines (especially in sabre, which, obviously, isn't the issue here)).

-B

[keropie]

I will say that I've had far, far fewer issues with the Triplette FIE machine, but their club machine's only reliability is in its un-reliability ><

My favorite was at least one year their club machines would fail to turn on a light in saber if you hit with 'too much' blade. I'm assuming maybe the current was too high, and getting shunted off by something designed to protect the chips or somesuch, but it was awful watching someone lay half the blade on the lame for no light at all ><

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by keropie

I will say that I've had far, far fewer issues with the Triplette FIE machine, but their club machine's only reliability is in its un-reliability

Which is which? The only machine currently on the website is described as "TCA Club FIE Scoring Machine". I've experienced a number of problems with it, with the black-cased version, and with the silver-cased version (same as the black case but an older model?).

And who designs a scoring machine with six lights to denote the various weapon settings and then doesn't bother to label what the lights mean? Talk about poor thinking.

-B

[keropie]

The machine with the six lights and no labeling is the club machine. The FIE machine (which they definitely used to make, we still have like 8 of the things) had 3 lights, labelled, and two leds/light (green and red) for different settings. Usually came in a hard shelled little 'briefcase.' The biggest problem seemed to be their power supply or case or something, cause random static shocks had a way of knocking them for a loop, but the machine itself was fine (until they got knocked for a loop, anyhow )

[oiuyt]

Originally Posted by keropie

but the machine itself was fine (until they got knocked for a loop, anyhow )

Not in my experience.

Dropped touches, random occurances that triggered lights, the clasps of the case being valid target (gray case, the black case was all plastic), etc. And, of course, the design flaw that you mention.

I was mostly pointing out that even the club version includes "FIE" in the title, which removes that as a distinguishing characteristic.

-B

[BySword]

just wondering (and being noobish), can anyone explain why there are six lights to denote different weapon settings on the club machine or what are they denoted?

[larkmaj]

I would think those lights would represent volume setting or possibly even reset time as in saber industry boxes. However, not really seeing any other lights that could indicate weapon setting I wonder myself.

[KD5MDK]

I had the impression that with the upgrade they represented old and new timings for each weapon (that has them), but that's just pure speculation.

[oiuyt]

The 6 lights in order (the cycle starts at the bottom and moves up with subsequent changes):

#6 new sabre
#5 old sabre
#4 epee
#3 epee
#2 new foil
#1 old foil

-B

[KD5MDK]

Just make sure you're on epee #3, and not #4, because the #4 setting automatically enforces right of way.

[BySword]

Originally Posted by KD5MDK

Just make sure you're on epee #3, and not #4, because the #4 setting automatically enforces right of way.

yea right, how?