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Timing devices

The devices the desk reads: one row per device, its make and connection, its status, Test and Sync all.

TimerUpdated 27 October 2026Open in the app ↗
On this page
  1. What it's for
  2. Before you start
  3. Steps
  4. What success looks like
  5. If something goes wrong
  6. Related

What it's for

A timing device is the unit that sends the impulses: today an FDS T-Box, plugged into the computer, into the timing box, or linked over the box's own Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The Timing devices card in the rail shows every device with a dot — green CONNECTED, orange CONNECTED · NOT TURNED ON, red NOT CONNECTED — then ⚙ for the desk Settings, Sync all and Connect device. The Timing devices screen behind it has one row per device: its name (Timing device 1, Timing device 2 …, or the name the device reports), its Make, its Connection and its status line with Connect, Test timing device and Disconnect.

Race Bureau reads a device; it never writes a time to one. ALGE and Lympik are listed under Make but greyed Planned; FDS is the make Race Bureau reads today. Under the row, the device's own box — General Settings, Synchro, WIRC/WINP, Times List — opens once it is connected.

Screenshottiming/timing-devices-01.png
One row per device, with its connection

Before you start

  • The browser the connection needs: USB and Bluetooth need Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge on a computer (Bluetooth also on Android). An iPad or iPhone has neither, so there the device plugs into the timing box.

Steps

  1. Open Timing Desk and press Connect device on the Timing devices card. The Timing devices screen opens.
  2. On the device's row choose the Make and the Connection: Direct to this computer, Internet (through the timing box), Timing box (offline, its own Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth. The choice is remembered as the device's default.
  3. Press Connect and follow the line: plug in by USB and pick the port, pick the T-Box in the Bluetooth list, or pick the unit plugged into the timing box. See Connect an FDS T-Box.
  4. Press Test timing device and press the device's buttons: each press appears with Seq, Channel, Role and Time. Close the window when done; a test press is never numbered and never used in a calculation.
  5. For a second device, press Connect another timing device (TBC: where this button sits while no device is connected yet; the rail row is named in the app's register).
  6. Press Sync all to set every connected device's clock in one go: This Device, GPS or Manual with a time typed as hh:mm:ss. One result per device.

What success looks like

Every device in use shows a green dot and CONNECTED on the card, the test window shows a press within a second, and Sync all answers Synced to this computer (or to the timing box's clock) for each one.

If something goes wrong

  • Timing device 1 is plugged in by USB but not turned on: orange dot. Switch the box on.
  • Open Race Bureau in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge to connect a timing device by USB: this browser cannot talk to USB. Use Chrome or Edge, or plug the device into the timing box and choose Internet or Timing box.
  • USB needs the timing box on an iPad: Direct to this computer is greyed on an iPad; use the timing box.
  • The timing box is not online. Switch it on and plug the timing unit into it.: the box has no connection to Race Bureau yet.
  • X is also set on Y. A unit belongs to one window: assign each timing window its own device (see Timing windows).
  • Sync all is not the FIS synchronisation. That is ⟳ Sync on the desk's window bar: it synchronises the units and checks them one minute later for the timing report.
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Timing devices · Race Bureau Help