If you’ve ever been to a regatta where an NK tent is present, you’ve probably seen one or more NK representatives busily changing batteries on customer’s StrokeCoaches, SpeedCoaches (Red and Gold), and Intervals.  I have learned from doing this and performing troubleshooting on these units at regattas that often times customers are replacing their batteries earlier than necessary.  In the SpeedCoach Gold, StrokeCoach Surge, and Interval 2000, 2 batteries are required to run the device.  Physically it appears that these 2 batteries are in series (sorry to get technical for those non-techie types!), they are not!

You’ll notice if you look in the battery cavity that there are two metal contacts off to the side (one short fat one, and one tall skinny one): the reason for this is that the backlight circuit runs parallel to the rest of the circuitry and is driven only by the top battery.  Conversely, the bottom battery drives only the display (and corresponding circuits).  If you’re doing most of your timing with your Interval during daylight and not using the backlight, the battery for the backlight is probably going to have plenty of juice left on it.  The same goes for SpeedCoach Gold and StrokeCoach Surge use – if you don’t use the backlight very much, it probably has some extra energy.

As a result, if you’re in a pinch, trying to get by for a little longer without having to stop at that local electronics store, or our booth at a regatta, switching the two batteries around should help to give you a little more battery life for your NK product!

In the past we have published troubleshooting approaches to specific products but this month, we would like to create a nearly universal one to aide you in any diagnostic testing (note: this could be hung in your boathouse near your NK equipment!)

The approach for everything is similar: use logic, and a system of known variables and unknown variables to deduce what’s not working.  Specifically, taking a control unit (whether it is Cox Box or SpeedCoach) and put it in one boat to test it.  If it doesn’t work, test the same control unit in a different boat.  From here you can determine whether the unit is the cause of the issue or if it’s a boat wiring issue.  Typically with unit malfunctions we recommend calling NK Technical Support (and short a few specific diagnostic questions depending on the control unit, I still recommend this).  However, with boat wiring issues, there are some more things to look at.  Age of the wiring, and salinity of the water where you practice are two relatively important issues to consider when thinking about malfunctioning wiring.  Also it is important to inspect the wiring where it meets the connector to the control unit to be sure the wires haven’t stressed and broken at this point (plug for Cox Box or wiring harness dock for SpeedCoach).

There are some specifics I would also like to mention in the hope that they help someone: try different microphones if the problem is with a Cox Box/microphone combination; if the SpeedCoach isn’t recording splits or distance properly, check the calibration factor of the unit, as well as the impeller on your boat; and lastly, if you get confused, write things down – it always helps me to see what’s going on if I make notes as I’m working on a boat!  Good luck with your diagnostics!

If you run into any issues along the way, don’t hesitate to contact NK at techsupport@nkhome.com for help.