> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.time2.bike/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Laser timing

> Beam-break gate boxes that time the rider, not the person with the button.

Time2Bike's laser timing system replaces the human at the button with a beam
across the course. A rider breaks the beam, the box stamps the moment, and it
lands in your results.

It's the right tool when hundredths decide the podium: downhill, time trials,
dual slalom, hill climbs.

> !!-IMAGE-NEEDED-!! — The laser panel with three boxes connected, showing signal, battery, and last pass.

## What's in the kit

| Piece            | What it does                                                 |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Gate boxes**   | Sit on the course with a beam across it. Stamp each pass     |
| **Base station** | Plugs into a laptop by USB. Receives from every box by radio |

Boxes talk to the base over long-range radio. A box too far from the base is
relayed by the others, so a start gate at the top of a hill still reaches a
laptop at the bottom.

## Getting connected

<Steps>
  <Step title="Plug the base station into a laptop">
    Use Chrome or Edge, on Windows or macOS. Firefox and Safari can't talk to
    the base station.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the laser panel on the timing screen">
    Click connect and pick the base station from the browser's device list.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add your boxes">
    Each box has an ID printed on it. Add the ones you're using — boxes you
    haven't added are ignored even if they're heard on the radio.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Say what each box is">
    Map each one to its job: the start gate, the finish, the red lane, the blue
    lane. This is what turns a beam break into a timing entry.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Arm the fleet">
    Once armed, passes are recorded. Until then, boxes report but nothing lands
    in your results.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Accuracy

Each box stamps a pass **at the box**, against satellite time, before it's sent
anywhere. So the time in your results is the moment the rider broke the beam —
not the moment the message arrived at the laptop.

You'll see a "delivered +12 ms" figure next to passes. That's how long the
message took to reach you, and it has no effect on the recorded time.

## The whole crew sees it

The base station is plugged into one laptop, but the fleet isn't that laptop's
private business. Whoever holds the USB cable becomes the bridge and mirrors
everything to everyone else timing the event — box health, alerts, passes,
mappings, the arm switch.

So a marshal at the bottom of the hill can wake a sleeping box or disarm the
fleet without walking up to the tent.

If a remote operator loses connection they lose *visibility*, never a rider's
time — the timing path itself runs through the bridge laptop.

## Speed readings

Each box measures how long between your front and rear wheel and works out your
speed from it. There's one wheelbase setting for the course (1.2 m by default).

If the wheels didn't give the beam a clean look, you get no speed for that pass.
The time is unaffected.

## Watch for these

The panel raises alarms for the states that silently stop recording riders. Each
one shows a countdown and a one-press way out:

| State     | What it means                                              |
| --------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Align** | The box is being aimed. Records nothing at all             |
| **Quiet** | The box is timing but not transmitting                     |
| **Storm** | The box has paused its radio over a suspected sensor fault |
| **Deaf**  | Bench-test mode. Pretends the link is dead                 |

All of them expire on their own, but don't wait — a box in align mode during a
race run is a lost rider.

**Silence is itself an alarm.** A box that hasn't checked in for 15 seconds is
flagged, because a box you can't hear from is a box that isn't timing.

## If a pass goes missing

Every box keeps its own record on a memory card. If a message never arrives, the
panel notices the gap and the pass is still recoverable from the box afterwards.

## You don't need any of this

Laser boxes are an option, not a requirement. Most races on Time2Bike are timed
by two people typing bib numbers into phones, and that works.

## Next

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Interval starts" icon="gauge-high" href="/timing/formats/interval-starts">
    The format that gains most from beam timing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="RFID pads" icon="tower-broadcast" href="/timing/hardware/rfid">
    The other hardware route, keyed by bib.
  </Card>
</Columns>