Labradar captured & displayed each shot, but failed to save on SD card!

[JimGnitecki]

I took my Labradar with me to the range yesterday as I always do, and everything SEEMED to go as it normally does: The Labradar started up like normal, I requested a new "series" of shots as I normally do, the Labradar captured & displayed each shot ( I actually look after each shot to see the muzzle velocity, so KNOW every shot was captured).

But when I tried to upload the new series data from the SD card, the card showed only past series. The new series was simply not there!

I know I had the SD card in "properly", as it only will go in one way, and it seemed to "click" in when I inserted it before the range session. I did EVERYTHING the same way I always do. So what could have gone wrong this time?

Jim G

 

[mcb]

Did the write lock get accidentally switch on the SD card?

You need it in the position in the left picture.

 

[JimGnitecki]

Did the write lock get accidentally switch on the SD card?
View attachment 1140068
You need it in the position in the left picture.

Good suggestion! But, no, I just checked it and it is the UNlocked position.

Jim G

 

[Kaldor]

Did it write to the local memory instead of the memory card?

 

[JimGnitecki]

Did it write to the local memory instead of the memory card?

The answer is not straightforward, as the Labradar does normally allow you to view statistical data "so far" during the shooting session, because it stores it in volatile memory (memory that loses its data when the machine is shut off). It ALSO stores the data to the SD card normally, because the user does NOT have to "tell" the Labradar to do that.

You can normally see the data accumulated in the volatile memory by pressing the "Arm" key twice, and I did that at one point and saw data. But after shutting the Labradar down after my range session, and then removing the SD card at home to transfer the data to the computer, I saw that the Labradar had NOT written the day's data to the SD card. NONE of the day's data.

Jim G

 

[gifbohane]

Unbelievable--That happened to me last Friday for the first time. I was going to buy a new chip this week.

Thank You!!!

 

[JimGnitecki]

Unbelievable--That happened to me last Friday for the first time. I was going to buy a new chip this week.

Thank You!!!

Do you mean a new SD card? Or?

Trying a new SD card is a good idea, as the SD cards are not very expensive, whereas any diagnosis on the Labradar by someone who knows what he/she is doing is likely to be VERY expensive.

Jim G

 

[higgite]

Any chance the card is full?

 

[JimGnitecki]

Any chance the card is full?

No chance. It's a large capacity card with only about a dozen range sessions recorded on it so far, and those sessions had relatively few shots fired (typically 30 to 90) since my long range rifle shooting is only about 30 shots per session, and the 90 shot test session is the longest ever.

Jim G

 

[gifbohane]

Yes, my "chip" was an SD card and it was full. I deleted all the information before taking it to the range last Friday and must have accidentally turned it off. Well, I will find out at the next session if this worked.

Good luck Jim!

 

[mkl]

deleted

 

[jmorris]

If for any reason it doesn’t recognize the card, the data should still be in the devices memory.



Might be a clue.

 

[JimGnitecki]

If for any reason it doesn’t recognize the card, the data should still be in the devices memory.

View attachment 1140169

Might be a clue.

Hmm, this gives me a different way to look for the data. I had followed the "Quick Start" instructions when looking to see if the data had been saved in volatile memory. That did not find it. Your posting gives me a different idea: Pull up the entire history on the Labradar, and look for "Series 11" (my last prior series was Series 10). I'll hook the Labradar up to the USB power block and give that a try! Thanks for the prompt!

Jim G

 

[JimGnitecki]

Well, I powered up the Labradar just now, and the listing saved series does NOT include Series 11. It shows Series up to Series 10 only. I KNOW I said "Yes" when it asked me if I wanted to start a new series. But for some reason it did not do so, even though ti did display each shot as I made it at this latest session. I double checked the contents of Series 10, in case it had simply added the new shots to that existing last series, but it had not.

This suggests a couple of things to me:

1. There is probably nothing wrong with the SD card (which continues to work just fine in my computer)

2. If the Labradar itself does not show a Series 11, then that fully explains why there is no Series 11 on the SD card. The Labradart never attempted to write to the SD card at this session.

3. It is looking increasingly likely that I simply did something out of the ordinary when responding to the "Do you want to start a new series?" prompt. I will try again at my next range session to repeat the entire ladder test. But, I will also bring a blank "fill in the blanks" paper sheet to record all 60 of the shots I will fire during the ladder test.

Looking at all the other things that went wrong at that session (electric range gate would not open properly and I needed to call for a club officer to come and open it for me losing 3/4 hour in the cold weather, had to carry all my gear through a 15" thick snowdrift, microbursts of wind kept knocking the target stand down and pulling the paper targets right out of their staples to the backing cardboard, bird crap on all the shooting tables, and more), I guess I shouldn't be surprised if I made a procedural error on the Labradar. Hopefully, that's all that happened.

Jim G

 

[enine]

Some may laugh at my overkill, but I bought a gopro for range sessions. I put it on top of a pole stuck in the ground so its about shoulder height and off to the side where I can see myself on one side and my targets on the other. I watch myself to see if I do any bad habits like jerking, flinching, etc, but I'll also say out loud the load and speed each time. So I have that as backup data should I loose anything.

 

[Blue68f100]

Well, I powered up the Labradar just now, and the listing saved series does NOT include Series 11. It shows Series up to Series 10 only. I KNOW I said "Yes" when it asked me if I wanted to start a new series. But for some reason it did not do so, even though ti did display each shot as I made it at this latest session. I double checked the contents of Series 10, in case it had simply added the new shots to that existing last series, but it had not.

This suggests a couple of things to me:

1. There is probably nothing wrong with the SD card (which continues to work just fine in my computer)

2. If the Labradar itself does not show a Series 11, then that fully explains why there is no Series 11 on the SD card. The Labradart never attempted to write to the SD card at this session.

3. It is looking increasingly likely that I simply did something out of the ordinary when responding to the "Do you want to start a new series?" prompt. I will try again at my next range session to repeat the entire ladder test. But, I will also bring a blank "fill in the blanks" paper sheet to record all 60 of the shots I will fire during the ladder test.

Looking at all the other things that went wrong at that session (electric range gate would not open properly and I needed to call for a club officer to come and open it for me losing 3/4 hour in the cold weather, had to carry all my gear through a 15" thick snowdrift, microbursts of wind kept knocking the target stand down and pulling the paper targets right out of their staples to the backing cardboard, bird crap on all the shooting tables, and more), I guess I shouldn't be surprised if I made a procedural error on the Labradar. Hopefully, that's all that happened.

Jim G

Have you done any updates lately? Sounds like something fishy is going on. May want to reload the firmware.

 

[JimGnitecki]

Some may laugh at my overkill, but I bought a gopro for range sessions. I put it on top of a pole stuck in the ground so its about shoulder height and off to the side where I can see myself on one side and my targets on the other. I watch myself to see if I do any bad habits like jerking, flinching, etc, but I'll also say out loud the load and speed each time. So I have that as backup data should I loose anything.

I can see where that could sometimes save the day! And, point out any bad shooter habits! if I had done something like this last range session (described above), the resulting sound track would have an "R" rating.

I feel really bad about losing the data. I'm pretty sure that with one of the loads I tested, 10 shots fired in 2 strings of 5, spaced about an hour apart, I saw on the real time display had an extreme range of only about 10 fps! For a light CAS load (158g bullet at 580 to 590 fps) with only 3.6g of powder in the long 357 Magnum case. that would be an impressive consistency. I'm going to see if that reproduces this next session!

Jim G

 

[enine]

I get really good consistency with Accurate #9 like that. Very close in speed and very close t the published speed as well.

 

[lordpaxman]

No chance. It's a large capacity card with only about a dozen range sessions recorded on it so far, and those sessions had relatively few shots fired (typically 30 to 90) since my long range rifle shooting is only about 30 shots per session, and the 90 shot test session is the longest ever.

Jim G

I’m very sorry to hear you lost all the data - that on top of the rest of the trials couldn’t have been pleasant.
You have to love technology when it works, but when it doesn’t….
Just because it worked before, don’t assume it will work again.

What firmware are you running and did you attempt any updates? 1.3.3 has worked well for me.

I would use the LabRadar menus to re-format an SD card (32GB) or less, and try a few test shots first. SD cards can get messed up and not work for a number of reasons. It could also be that because the SD card was FUBARed, the internal memory didn’t get written.

You could also try running without the SD card for a few test shots just to see a new series is created and recorded. The internal memory should hold 100 series of 100 shots. (In the manual)

Although they still have some Bluetooth connectivity issues, I almost always use the app when running the unit. They just released an update to that. I’ve never had a lost data issue if the app showed a new series and shots, it’s always been on the SD card as well, and the app preserves the data too.

It’d be nice to hear what works for you!

 

[RockRat64]

Love LabRadar, but man it has a lot of problems for $600

 

[jmorris]

Love LabRadar, but man it has a lot of problems for $600

I haven’t heard of anyone shooting one yet though, so it’s got that going for it…

 

[JimGnitecki]

I’m very sorry to hear you lost all the data - that on top of the rest of the trials couldn’t have been pleasant.
You have to love technology when it works, but when it doesn’t….
Just because it worked before, don’t assume it will work again.

What firmware are you running and did you attempt any updates? 1.3.3 has worked well for me.

I would use the LabRadar menus to re-format an SD card (32GB) or less, and try a few test shots first. SD cards can get messed up and not work for a number of reasons. It could also be that because the SD card was FUBARed, the internal memory didn’t get written.

You could also try running without the SD card for a few test shots just to see a new series is created and recorded. The internal memory should hold 100 series of 100 shots. (In the manual)

Although they still have some Bluetooth connectivity issues, I almost always use the app when running the unit. They just released an update to that. I’ve never had a lost data issue if the app showed a new series and shots, it’s always been on the SD card as well, and the app preserves the data too.

It’d be nice to hear what works for you!

Thanks for the ideas on how to proceed! I did as a precaution replace the SD card with a brand new 32GB one. And I then turned on the Labradar here at home, asked it for a new series, and then turned it off. I then removed the new SD card from the Labradar and read it on my computer. It did successfully show a new series had been created with zero shots yet fired.

I have designed in MS Excel, and printed out, a Ladder Test Results form which will enable me to record every shot taken at my "remedial session" next time I get a chance to go to the range. That will give me a paper backup once the Labradar has displayed each shot. I will first fire a few shots in this brand new series, pause, and check the statistics on them, to make sure the Labradar has recorded all the shots to its memory. Then I'll start another brand new series with my actual test ammo, recording each shot on the paper form. Once at home again at my computer, I'll attempt to upload the new data to the computer and see if it the process works properly.

I am hoping that I simply did something wrong in interacting with the Labradar at the range last time. I'll be very careful at the next session to follow the proper series of button presses precisely, and hope for the best.

My "About" screens show Firmware A = 1.2.7 and B = 1.0.0

I am reluctant to change the firmware because:
1. The Labradar has always worked absolutely fine until this last session
2. It would be making another change, thus adding a new variable AND the risk that the firmware change creates a brand new problem.

Jim G

 

[jmorris]

I am hoping that I simply did something wrong in interacting with the Labradar at the range last time. I'll be very careful at the next session to follow the proper series of button presses precisely, and hope for the best.

Is there not a way to ensure it’s collecting the data or do you really have to just hope it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing?

If there is no way to ensure it’s actually working, I’d probably set my cell phone on something and directly record the information.

Kind of like this, not that that string was important to me but all these years later and the data is available to anyone.

 

[JimGnitecki]

Is there not a way to ensure it’s collecting the data or do you really have to just hope it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing?

If there is no way to ensure it’s actually working, I’d probably set my cell phone on something and directly record the information.

Kind of like this, not that that string was important to me but all these years later and the data is available to anyone.

Now that's yet another "backup" idea! Actually, I DID check that it was recording the data, by asking for the statistics after the first 5-shot group was fired, and the Labradar DID successfully display those statistics at the time. But your posting gave me a new idea:

There is an interesting sentence buried in the Labradar instrucitons in section 4.3.10:
"It is impossible to add shots to a previous series once another series has been started."

Note that the wording does NOT say that creating a new series will stop the Labradar from catching., and displaying, the shot velocities that follow creating a new series. It suggests that it may be possible to create a situation where a new series of shots is captured and DISPLAYED, but not added to memory, if the machine somehow thinks it is on a previous series instead of the newly created one.

I am wondering if by checking the data after one 5-shot string I somehow unknowingly triggered that sentence. I don't THINK that is possible, because the SD card should have then shown the prior sessions already recorded there PLUS a new series with zero shots yet recorded. But there was no new series on the SD card.

Puzzling.

Jim G

 

[lordpaxman]

I will first fire a few shots in this brand new series, pause, and check the statistics on them, to make sure the Labradar has recorded all the shots to its memory.

Whenever I have a new session, I create a new series, and then shoot 5 shots of a known gun/factory ammo combo to insure the labradar is working, catching shots, aimed correctly, and displays correctly. Then I create a new series for my test loads.
While I agree it’s a risk to update your 1.2.7 version, you don’t know if they fixed something you are now discovering.

Did you know LabRadar has an app for devices either Apple or Android? It connects via Bluetooth and provides that backup of data to those devices. And you can use the app to control the labradar, adding series or arming/disarming, or changing settings. The notion to film the device and/or to copy to a spreadsheet can certainly be done, you may want to consider the app as an alternative.