Alge S4 - Program 3 (one of seven different timing programs in the S4) is used so the timer is reading clock time of day. To get the elapsed time of the run, the finish time is subtracted from the start time. Ref: S4 manual, section 18-channel-Timer.
Turn the unit on: Display will show: Full: 0.0 ; Prog 3; Clr nEln: then push the red and yellow buttons to clear memeory: Now the display should show 0:00.00. If the S4 is not on Prog 3 when it is turned on, turn the unit off. In order to select a program you press the toggle switch upwards (position program+line test) turn turning the device on. Select the Prog 3 by pressing the yellow button. Push both red and yellow together to accept the selected program.
Set Time of Day by setting the time you want the timer to start (for example 8:05 a.m.) Turn on the S4 as describe above and the display should show 0:00.00. Then press the yellow and red buttons at the same time (the yellow can be pressed first, but not the red) HP will appear to the left of the zeros. The red button now will change the hours digit, and the yellow button will change the minutes. Set the hour and minute to the time you want to sync (start) the timer. When the time has arrived to sync, short the wires that are plugged into the start connections ( banana plug A in the back) or request someone at the start to open the start gate. (If you want to start from time zero, you can start the timer with shorting the start or by pressing the red button if you have not entered the "HP" mode.)
Power Supply: The S4 can operate on either 6 alkaline "C" batteries (112 hours) or from an external 12 VDC power supply. Remove the alkaline "C" batteries if you are using an external 12 VDC battery.
Check the condition of the batteries by pressing toggle switch (8) upwards (position/ program/line test). It shows now in the display (1) the program number, the memory in use, the baud rate of interface "display board", "printer" and "RS 232", as well as the voltage of the batteries. The battery conditional will display in the green area on the needle if they are above 6 volts. If they are about 6 volts, it will indicated in the green/red.
Line Test - Checking of the Start - Finish Line checking of the 1 pair cable which is connected at banana socket A. Turn the timer S4 on.
short-circuit-test 1) Cable is open at the start side 2) press toggle switch (8) upwards (direction "line test") 3) needle of meter must stay in the middle of the green area (otherwise short-circuit)
resistance-test 1) short the pair on the start side (press banana plug together) 2) press toggle switch upwards (direction "line test") 3) needle of meter must go the the far left side (otherwise the resistance is too high) 4) needle is at 2000 ohms about 1 mm before the left end which is the maximum line resistance.
needle of meter swings as soon as the photocell is out of line. Check the set-up of the photocell. It could also be caused during a very long timing impulse or a short-cut of the cable.
Pre-adjustment of the options should not need changing. To review settings or change values, turn the timer on and start-up until you have a time 0:00.00. Before you start the timer, push the toggle switch (8) downwards (delay time). changing options is now possible. increment the choices with the yellow and red button. The red button is for left of the decimal, yellow is for right. when finish, save the changes by pressing both red and yellow buttons together. Typical values are:
dF-02 finish delay time = 0.2 seconds (dead time after a finish)
dS-20 start-delay time = 1 sec (dead time after start to prevent switch bounce, false starts)
SLP-50 duration of display on the display = 5 seconds
LZE Eln running tenth seconds are off
LF CH1-2 runing time for display board interface is on channel 1 and 2
TAU EIN precision is 1/1000 seconds
HUn AUS precision is 1/1000 seconds
AUT Eln display automatic is on
Pri 60. printer speed
Lr 2 line feed two lines after print
Memory: The S4 has an internal memory that can store up to 8000 times. It should be set to request a memory clear upon power-up by pressing the red and yellow buttons together. If the memory becomes full, the S4 will not output any additional times to external devices. To download times from the memory requires a computer via the RS-232C interface. The S4 starts to transmit as soon as it receives the hexadecimal code 85. If CLr JA does not appear after power up, the unit can be set back to request this memory clear as follows:
press toggle switch (8) to the upper position and turn on S4, then release the toggle
select the program Prog 0 with the yellow key
press toggle switch (8) to the upper position
display show "CLr nEln" (= does not clear memory on start-up)
press yellow button until display shows CLr JA (=clears memory on start-up)
press red and yellow button together to same setup and start timer.