Systems and Connections

Hook your timing system, registration platform, results destinations, and scoreboard up to a meet on the meet’s Connections page. The keys, sign-ins, and usual choices behind them are kept in Settings → Systems.

This page covers adding connections to a meet and running them. Two more pages cover the rest: Saved Systems and New Meets for the new-meet wizard’s Systems step and Settings → Systems, and Setting Up Each System for each system’s own settings, Cloudflare R2, and publishing.

A system versus a connection

2Timer uses two words for the things it works with.

• Systems are what you own or sign in to: your timing system, your registration platform, where you publish results, and your scoreboard. They are kept on this device, in Settings → Systems, with any key or sign-in they need and the ones you usually use in new meets.
• Connections are those systems hooked up to one meet. A connection is part of the meet: it travels with the meet’s backup, and it is paused, running, or in error. Open Connections in the meet’s sidebar to see them.

A saved key or sign-in isn’t a connection. Removing a key in Settings → Systems doesn’t remove any meet’s connection, and deleting a connection from a meet doesn’t remove your key.

The four kinds of system

Every system has one job in a meet, and every list shows systems under the same four headings, in this order: Timing, Registration, Results, and Scoreboard.

Timing systems

Timing systems bring reads or results into the meet.

• ONETIME: reads arrive live from your ONETIME decoder and go to each race’s finish. Needs your ONETIME API key and the decoder’s device name.
• FinishLynx: results come in from Lynx; athletes, entries, and the schedule go out to it. Needs the shared folder FinishLynx watches.
• IPICO: chip reads come in from the files your IPICO reader software saves. Needs the folder it saves them in.
• Time Machine: finish times in order over a serial cable, matched to runners afterwards. In a track meet, lap and finish records matched to each heat’s lanes. Needs a USB serial adapter.
• Trident: chip reads come in from Trident’s filtered log as it grows. Needs that log file.
• MyLaps: chip reads come in from the files MyLaps ReadLite, or an older MyLaps export, saves. Needs the folder it saves them in.
• ChronoTrack: chip reads come in from ChronoTrack SimpleClient’s Auto Save files. Needs the Auto Save folder.
• Race Result: results come in from a RACE RESULT 14 server on your network. Needs the server’s address and the event.
• Generic RFID: chip reads come in from files saved by a reader that has no entry of its own here. Needs the folder they are saved in.
• Feibot: chip reads come in from a Feibot Workbench CSV export as it grows. Needs that CSV file.

Registration platforms

Registration platforms bring athletes into the meet.

• RunSignUp: athletes come in from your RunSignUp race, and results can go back to it. Needs you to sign in to RunSignUp.
• RaceRoster: participants come in from your RaceRoster event. Needs your RaceRoster API details.

Results destinations

Results destinations take results out of the meet.

• Local Files: the live results site or a results file is written to a folder on this computer. Needs a folder you choose.
• S3 / R2: the live results site or a results file goes straight from this device to your own storage bucket, such as Cloudflare R2. Needs the bucket’s access keys.
• FTP: the live results site or a results file is uploaded to your web server. Needs the server’s address and sign-in; live results also need 2Timer online to pass them on.
• Total Active Sports: road race results go to your event on Total Active Sports. Needs your Total Active Sports key.

Scoreboards

• DisplayWorks: results go to a DisplayWorks board on your local network. Needs the receiver’s address. DisplayWorks boards show results only for now.

Which systems a meet and a browser offer

• FinishLynx and Time Machine are offered for every sport. Every other timing system is for road and cross country meets, so it doesn’t appear in indoor or outdoor track and field meets. RunSignUp and RaceRoster are also for road and cross country meets.
• Total Active Sports appears only in running (road race) meets.
• A system this browser can’t run is left out, and the list says which and why, for example “MyLaps isn’t offered here: this browser can’t read a folder on this device.” Folder-based systems need a browser that can open folders, such as Chrome or Edge on a computer. Time Machine needs a serial port, in desktop Chrome or Edge.
• A system whose key or sign-in isn’t saved on this device is still offered, with Needs a key or Needs a sign-in. Its form asks for what’s missing or points you to Settings → Systems.

Add a connection to a meet

1. Open Connections in the meet’s sidebar. The page shows Timing, Registration, Results, and Scoreboard, always in that order, each with its connections as cards or a line such as “No registration platform in this meet.”
2. Under the heading you want, press its add action: Add a timing system, Add a registration platform, Add a results destination, or Add a scoreboard. The list opens under the heading; Cancel closes it.
3. Choose a system:
   • Your systems come first, such as Your results destinations: the ones you added in Settings → Systems, saved a key for, or used before, that work with this kind of meet.
   • Another timing system (or registration platform, results destination, scoreboard) opens the rest of the list. When none of your systems fits, the list opens straight onto it.
4. Fill in the form and press Create Connection.

Adding a connection here changes this meet only. A system you add here becomes usual for this kind of meet only if that kind had nothing usual and the connection then brings data in or sends it out.

At the Basic experience level only Timing has an add action, and an empty Registration, Results, or Scoreboard heading is left out. Another timing system offers the Basic list for the sport; your own timing systems are listed at every level.

Add one of your systems with one click (Add or Set up)

Each of your systems in the add list shows its status (Ready, or what it needs) and one line saying what it will do in this meet:

• Add and the system’s name, such as Add FTP, when it is Ready and nothing more is needed. One click adds it to the meet, paused, with what 2Timer remembers: a results destination publishes to the folder it would have in a new meet (a folder named after this meet, unless it has learned otherwise), ONETIME gets its device name and one read rule per finish, and FinishLynx gets its shared folder and this meet’s subfolder. Nothing runs until you start it from the card.
• Set up and the system’s name when it needs something first: a key or sign-in, a folder you choose, the RunSignUp race for this meet, or a finish marker. Its form opens with what 2Timer remembers filled in.
• A system already in the meet says so and opens its form, so a second one, such as a backup reader with another device name, is only ever added on purpose.

The new connection form and Start connection

The form is titled New and the system’s name, such as New FinishLynx Connection, with Name, System (the one you chose), and the system’s own fields. Test Connection checks it before you save, and Create Connection saves it.

Start connection (“After save”) is on to start with: the connection starts as soon as it is created. Turn it off to create it paused. It is on the new form only; afterwards, start and pause a connection from its card. It isn’t shown for Time Machine, or for connections that only run when you press a button, such as RunSignUp, RaceRoster, Total Active Sports, and DisplayWorks.

The connection card: what it shows

On Connections, each connection is a card with its name, its system, and:

• whether it receives, sends, or both;
• a status: Paused, Manual (it runs only when you press a button), or running (Started, Live timing for ONETIME, Receiving times for Time Machine). Needs restart means a connection that receives and sends is running in one direction only;
• for each direction, its mode, named as in the mode list (such as Timed check, When files arrive, or Manual), when it last ran, how many records it moved, and any error with “Try this:” advice;
• Edit, which opens its settings, and Actions, which holds start, pause, and run-now.

A DisplayWorks card has Manage sends on the Scoreboard page instead of a send button. See Scoreboard. A card holding imported results for you says “N import results need review”.

Start, pause, or run a connection now

Open the card’s Actions menu:

A results destination publishing a single report, rather than the live results site, says Push now. A RunSignUp connection that also sends results back says Sync now.

Delete a connection from a meet

Tick the card’s checkbox (Select All selects every card), then press Delete at the top of the page and confirm. The meet stops using the connection; your saved keys and usual systems don’t change.

Edit a connection

Edit on the card opens Edit Connection, with the connection’s settings for each direction, its read routing or destination, and Test Connection and Save Changes. Some timing systems (IPICO, MyLaps, ChronoTrack, Trident, and Feibot) also have Preview Data, which opens Connection Preview so you can see what 2Timer reads from the files before trusting it.

Turning a direction on or off is in its section: Read timing data for a timing system, Import files and Export files for FinishLynx, Enable Import for RunSignUp, RaceRoster, and Race Result, and Push files or Active for a results destination or scoreboard.

Connection modes: Timed check, When files arrive, When results change, Manual, Always connected

Each direction of a connection has a mode (Read mode, Import mode, Export mode, Push mode, or Send mode):

• Timed check: looks every few seconds (Read every, Look for files every, or Check every, in seconds).
• When files arrive (FinishLynx import), When meet changes (FinishLynx export), When results change (results destinations), or When data changes (other systems): acts on each change, after a short Batch delay that gathers changes into one send.
• Manual: nothing happens until you press the card’s run-now action.
• Always connected: ONETIME and Time Machine stay connected and take reads as they come.

RunSignUp, RaceRoster, and Race Result offer only Timed check and Manual.

Read Routing: send reads to the right marker

A chip timing connection sends each read to a marker (Start, Finish, or a split) through its Read Routing rules, on Edit Connection. Create the markers first, on Markers; with none, the section says so.

1. Press Add rule. New rules are named Rule 1, Rule 2, and so on.
2. Choose the Marker.
3. Optionally fill Reader IDs, so only reads from those readers use the rule:
   • IPICO: reader numbers such as 00, 01;
   • Trident: reader and port such as A:3; Trident also has Read Types (FS, LS, BS);
   • Feibot: names such as Finish_Line_1;
   • ChronoTrack: Point Names, the SimpleClient location names such as start and finish;
   • ONETIME has no Reader IDs column: the connection’s Device name already says which decoder the reads come from.
4. Leave Active on, and use Order to put the narrow rules above the catch-all ones.

Rules run top to bottom; active rules that match are tried until a marker accepts the read. A read that no rule routes shows No Marker on Reads. See Markers and Reads.

The folder, subfolder, and File patterns a connection reads belong to the connection, not to a rule: they are in its Timing Folder section.

Troubleshooting by Symptom

No reads coming in from the mat, antenna, or reader

Nothing is coming in from the timing system: the Reads page stays empty, or reads are not appearing as runners cross the mat. Check these in order.

1. Is the connection running? On Connections, look at the timing connection’s card. Paused or Needs restart means it isn’t reading: open the card’s Actions and press Start pulling, or Start live timing for ONETIME, Start Time Machine, or Start syncing for FinishLynx. A running card says Started, Live timing, or Receiving times.

2. Is reading turned on? Edit the connection and check that Read timing data is on. For FinishLynx it is Import files.

3. For a system that writes files (IPICO, MYLAPS, ChronoTrack, Generic RFID, FinishLynx):

   • Check that the reader or timing software is writing files into the folder chosen on the connection.
   • If the card shows a folder or permission error, edit the connection, choose the folder again, and allow access when the browser asks.
   • If this browser can’t read a folder, the connection’s page says so. Open the meet in a browser that can, such as Chrome or Edge on a computer.
   • Check that the File patterns match the files’ names. For FinishLynx, check that Watch for files includes the kind of result file.
   • Feibot and Trident read one file: check that it is the file the reader is writing.

4. For ONETIME:

   • ONETIME needs an internet connection. The card says Reconnecting to timing… or Timing needs attention when it can’t reach ONETIME.
   • The connection’s Device name must match the device’s name in ONETIME exactly.
   • The ONETIME API key is saved on each device, under Settings → Systems.
   • Once it reconnects, press Replay missed reads to fetch reads from while it was down.

5. For Time Machine: connect from desktop Chrome or Edge, press Choose Serial Adapter, pick the USB serial adapter, and check the cable.

6. Reads arrive but don’t become results. Then the reads are on the Reads page with a status that says why:

   • No Marker: the connection has no Read Routing rule for that reader.
   • No Bib: the chip isn’t on Chips.
   • Before Start, Early Read, or Late Read: the race’s start or the finish window doesn’t fit.
   • A card that says “N import results need review” is holding imported results for you to decide.

   See Markers and Reads for each fix.

Reads are going to the wrong marker

• Check each Read Routing rule’s Marker and Reader IDs.
• A catch-all rule above a narrow one takes its reads first: move the narrow rule up with Order.

Connections checklist before race day

• The system on each connection is the one you’re actually using.
• Keys and sign-ins are saved in Settings → Systems on the device you’ll time with.
• Markers exist, and every reader has a Read Routing rule.
• Each connection’s mode is what you want, not just what it started as.
• A test read reached Reads, and a test send reached the website, folder, or board.

Related Pages

• Saved Systems and New Meets
• Setting Up Each System
• Importing Data
• Markers and Reads
• Timing Workflow
• Results and Reports
• FinishLynx for Track and Field
• Scoreboard
• Repair and Recovery

Metadata

• Last Updated: 2026-10-14
• Document Version: 1.0
• Status: Active