Hello all,
My name is Eric and I am a Technical Sales Engineer with MadgeTech, maker of the Shock101 data logger you are talking about. We received a Google Alert about your forum post, and are interested in assisting you with your project. If someone can point me in the direction of the rules you are referring to, I can see what we can do to make this comply with the letter and spirit of the law. I was previously in the RMA Engineering position, so I am familiar with the inner workings of most of our products, and I have a BSEE degree from the University of New Hampshire.
I am happy to post any information about our shock logger that will assist you in collecting impact measurement from your battles. We offer the Shock101 in 3 G-force models 5, 50 and 100G. The 5G is naturally the most sensitive and has the best resolution, but if you want to know "how hard did I get hit," then I suspect you will want at least the 50G model. You might also be interested to know that this product will also tell you orientation, since the accelerometers respond to the pull of gravity with a +1G reading. At the fastest recording rate (64Hz, I believe this is a log time of 45 minutes to full memory), you can see a sinusoidal response when you shake the unit back and forth, up and down, side to side. I will be happy to post screenshots from our software when I return to work on Tuesday.
You can download our software for free here:
http://www.madgetech.com/software/download
For the geek who wants to know everything, we also offer a shock logger that records pressure, temperature, and humidity (we call it the UltraShock)
http://www.madgetech.com/products/UltraShock
Both the shock and Ultrashock are built on the same PCB, and have screw terminals that can accept external power leads. We use a 9V Lithium battery, which can run the unit for about 7 days of constant logging (average current consumption is about 6mA)
We have in the past loaned out a unit for a smaller fee than the full purchase price (This was a children's book author who wanted to study the effects of heat, light, and other stimuli to the activity of mexican jumping beans. The Z-axis board of our 5G model was sensitive enough to detect the beans jumping, and the author was very pleased with the results).
We also carry an assortment of other loggers, all designed and manufactured in-house. One interesting comment made about our shock loggers is that in a time when many companies are outsourcing work overseas, we are actually selling our finished goods internationally (many companies use them for monitorning the shipment of sensitive goods. We offer a version that can run for 60 days on 6 D-Cells). Major categories of sensors include Temperature, Pressure, Humidity, Voltage, Current, Tension (using strain gauges), and dry-contact pulse output (for totalizers, useful for monitoring power consumption).
We are excited that your community is interested in our products, and look forward to working with you to find a solution that meets your needs.
Sincerely,
Eric Swanson
info@madgetech.com