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Post by cozee on Oct 14, 2018 16:15:18 GMT -7
Very interested in this. Going to order my track later this week and been wrestling with the $800.00 price tag of the DP3000. I love "tinkering" with electronics so I just might go with this to see what can be done with it. If it doesn't cut it, there is minimal investment and I can still buy a Trackmate.
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Post by GTS on Oct 14, 2018 16:53:51 GMT -7
Cool!
Once the computer and Arduino board are communicating, the rest just kinda falls into place. I read where some of the Arduino knock offs won't work with the DRC software. That kinda scared me but a guy on the forum said he had good luck with the brand I got and that's why I bought it. The boards licensed by Arduino are supposed to work, no problem but they are a little more money. Just sumpthin' to be aware of.
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Post by GTS on Oct 14, 2018 19:02:48 GMT -7
Installed the sensors in the track pieces with hot glue and attached the track to the base.
It came out pretty flat, not perfect but flat enough. All the seams went together really well and are a very smooth transition.
I have 92.5" of slow down. 6" of that will be a catch box at the end, so just a little over 7' of actual slow down area and I'm happy with that  . Just going to use the same rail for that. This coming week I'm hoping to lay some rail, install the puck lights and hopefully hook up the power  . Might have to cheat on some other projects  . |
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Post by gnome on Oct 15, 2018 5:47:37 GMT -7
Gale you do beautiful work very professional!!!! My track uses a slot dragon timing system, i have struggled with lighting until what i have now . Tried ac florescent had nothing but problems, tried one of those supper led pocket light you see at the counter of the parts house and that would work for a short time maybe 10 15 minutes then the timing system would freak out. What i have now is dc florescent and it works killer. I took a camping lantern and disassembled it rewired the sockets to fit the table soldered in a wall wart and mounted the switch to the face of table then plugged the wal wart and timing system into a switched ac outlet under the table, hit one switch and everything comes on .
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Post by GTS on Oct 15, 2018 6:16:03 GMT -7
Gale you do beautiful work very professional!!!! My track uses a slot dragon timing system, i have struggled with lighting until what i have now . Tried ac florescent had nothing but problems, tried one of those supper led pocket light you see at the counter of the parts house and that would work for a short time maybe 10 15 minutes then the timing system would freak out. What i have now is dc florescent and it works killer. I took a camping lantern and disassembled it rewired the sockets to fit the table soldered in a wall wart and mounted the switch to the face of table then plugged the wal wart and timing system into a switched ac outlet under the table, hit one switch and everything comes on . Thanks gnome, appreciate it! I love what you did with your sensor lighting! That's really cool stuff to know about! Yeah, it seems sensor lighting has been or will be a struggle for all of us. I am pretty hung up on keeping the lighting a ways off the track. I have read in the forum where SKR & jjwallace have had success with the puck lighting (w/xenon bulbs) so am hoping for the best in that regard even though they use infra red sensors. If it doesn't work satisfactorily with the photo transistors, I'll be faced with making a decision on changing out sensors or trying a different lighting. Now that I think about it, I suppose I better get that puck lighting installed and run it thru it's paces before I run the rail  , just in case. |
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Post by gnome on Oct 15, 2018 8:17:39 GMT -7
I like the idea of keeping from the gantrys as they can be a pain when cleaning and staging , my first set up was the natural light but i had trouble with shadows. Super excited for ya
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Post by dave632 on Oct 15, 2018 10:23:21 GMT -7
I am not to crazy about the gantries either as they are in the way and don't look great. I used track lighting mounted about 3' above the track which worked ok but I still added IR emitters above the high speed areas and that seems to work well as I have very few misfires.
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Post by GTS on Oct 15, 2018 16:14:54 GMT -7
Well, I got good news and bad news, mostly good news, about the lighting of the sensors with the xenon puck lights. They work and they work great! I set it at 34" above the track (as high as I could go with the jig I rigged up to test with). This set up has a dimmer that has three different settings. The sensors worked on the dimmest setting except for lane 2, 60 footer. Not sure why. The dimmest setting is pretty dim so I'll at least be using the mid dim setting. I am really impressed with these puck lights. Thanks to SKR for sharing this solution and Jeff for conversing about them via PM's. Here's a link to the one's I got. This first picture is the jig I thru together to test with. Just a metal yardstick, some clamps and the light on a wood bracket.
The second picture is one of the configuration screens in the software. The green indicates the pins I'm using. When there is enough light it turns to red and then you can use your finger or what ever to trip it, easy breezy. And now the bad news: the sensor for lane 2, 660 footer got damaged during install, I got a little to forceful jammin' it into the hole and busted one of the leads. I have extra sensors so should be an easy fix. I will be mounting all 6 puck lights on 2 - 1x4x8 footer's hung from the ceiling above the track. I think it's gonna be slick . I love it when stuff comes together! |
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Post by dave632 on Oct 15, 2018 16:36:40 GMT -7
Looks good.
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Post by GTS on Oct 16, 2018 19:15:34 GMT -7
Thanks Dave!
Was able to find 3 hours to spend hanging the puck lights today. Decided to use some old style 4' shop light cans, I didn't want to buy bulbs for 'em any more anyways. Got 'em all mounted and hung, just gotta batten down the wiring and such. Used little 3/4" plywood blocks to actually mount the lights to. These lights are normally mounted to plywood cabinetry so am hoping it will be safe. I'll keep an eye on them and if there's a heat issue I'll do some sheet metal spacers. Sure would've liked to have gotten them goin' but ran outta time.
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Post by jbailey on Oct 16, 2018 19:21:31 GMT -7
Looking good! Worse case, if heat is an issue, just mount the lights directly to the fixture as it should act as a giant heatsink. I don't think you'll have any trouble though.
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Post by GTS on Oct 17, 2018 2:58:16 GMT -7
Looking good! Worse case, if heat is an issue, just mount the lights directly to the fixture as it should act as a giant heatsink. I don't think you'll have any trouble though. Thanks! I was originally hoping to mount them straight to the metal fixtures but two of them were angled and wouldn't quite fit, thus the plywood spacers. The plywood was quicker and easier at the time. I don't think I'll have any trouble either  , just frettin'  .
EDIT: Okay, got all the wires battened down and cords shortened & lengthened where necessary. The puck lights are done and operational. They all work according to the software on mid dim. Will no doubt run them on the high setting. I am gettin' jazzed, might find time to run some rail today . |
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Post by GTS on Oct 18, 2018 17:44:08 GMT -7
Got some rail laid for 1 lane. Ran out of the .050" nylon trimmer string, drove all over town for 2+ hours and none anywhere, lol. Ordered some on line, will be here in a few days. Oh well, one lane is operational and I can turn my attention to getting ready for gnome's race now . |
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Post by GTS on Oct 18, 2018 18:47:23 GMT -7
Here's a screen shot on a pass with the 33 Willys that was at Jeff's race last month. I mistakenly ran it at 18 volts, should've ran it at 20 volts to compare times and all but close enough to get an idea about tuning and such. I'm thrilled I have the one lane to work with and it seems to be working satisfactory.
I think need to change the settings in the software so it will give me the ET from segment to segment rather than from start to each segment  . EDIT: tried that setting, didn't give me the data I was concerned with so for now "start to each segment" time gives more valuable data, IMO. |
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Post by cozee on Oct 18, 2018 19:24:45 GMT -7
Cool beans!!!
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. Just going to use the same rail for that.
. Might have to cheat on some other projects 
. 
, just in case.
, just frettin' 
.
. EDIT: tried that setting, didn't give me the data I was concerned with so for now "start to each segment" time gives more valuable data, IMO.