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Post by dynomike on Jul 20, 2020 17:42:37 GMT -7
A couple of months ago I stumbled across a youtube video on using a digital stop watch for a timer. I will post the link below. I started to use the stop watch I had, but when I took it apart, it was to different from the one in the video. I went to ebay and found the exact same watch in the video for less than $10 shipped. Besides the stopwatch, it only required a 555 chip, 2 resistors and a capacitor plus a couple of photoresistors or opto sensors. I just completed it yesterday, and it works really well. I had to make a few changes to the wiring instructions, but other wise everything went smoothly. I now only have to drill the track and install the sensors. If anyone here decides to take on the project, let me know and I will show you the couple mistakes that are in the link. There are two sizes of sensors available. A 4mm and 5mm. The 4 works better, the 5mm doesn't leave much room between the rail and the slot. Michael Mercer www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Race-Timer/ |
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Post by wbj on Jul 20, 2020 18:00:40 GMT -7
Dyno, That is really interesting video. Keep us posted on how it works with your track. Like GTS I went with Drag Race Coordinator by Race Coordinator (https://racecoordinator.net/index.html). Super setup at a relatively low cost. WBJ
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Post by jjwallace on Jul 20, 2020 19:07:40 GMT -7
A couple of months ago I stumbled across a youtube video on using a digital stop watch for a timer. I will post the link below. I started to use the stop watch I had, but when I took it apart, it was to different from the one in the video. I went to ebay and found the exact same watch in the video for less than $10 shipped. Besides the stopwatch, it only required a 555 chip, 2 resistors and a capacitor plus a couple of photoresistors or opto sensors. I just completed it yesterday, and it works really well. I had to make a few changes to the wiring instructions, but other wise everything went smoothly. I now only have to drill the track and install the sensors. If anyone here decides to take on the project, let me know and I will show you the couple mistakes that are in the link. There are two sizes of sensors available. A 4mm and 5mm. The 4 works better, the 5mm doesn't leave much room between the rail and the slot. Michael Mercer www.instructables.com/id/Automatic-Race-Timer/Great information Mike! Great tool for tuning. I used something just like this when I first started on the forum. It was a hand me down setup that had been started and never finished using a regular digital stopwatch with a wire pigtail that had been soldered to the internal start / stop switch. The car started on a magnetic reed switch but I could never get it to work consistently at the finish. So I rigged up a micro switch with a "paddle" to stop the clock. The paddle was a strip of an old credit card. All of this on a 7' stretch of Tyco track. It worked pretty well enough for me to have some idea of what my cars were doing. I went to the Finals of the first race I used it for tuning  . I'm diggin the do it yourself stuff. |
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Post by jjwallace on Jul 20, 2020 19:11:57 GMT -7
Dyno, That is really interesting video. Keep us posted on how it works with your track. Like GTS I went with Drag Race Coordinator by Race Coordinator (https://racecoordinator.net/index.html). Super setup at a relatively low cost. WBJ I have a Trackmate System but I really like what Gale has done with this timing system. I also like the "do it yourself" aspect of build and/or repair. I don't know what I would do if Trackmate ever stops supporting their product. That is the problem with proprietary ANYTHING. How are you liking the Race Coordinator WBJ? |
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Post by dave632 on Jul 20, 2020 19:51:13 GMT -7
I also have the Track Mate system but I like to see the innovation used by our members. I surely agree that a timing system
is a great tuning tool.
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Post by wbj on Jul 21, 2020 6:19:40 GMT -7
JJ, First off without help from GTS and the author of the software it never would have happened. Many thanks to both of them. The Drag Race Coordinator (DRC) software has performed very well. There is a little learning curve but nothing that anyone on this site couldn't figure out. If you do the math it cost me about $60 total to get up and running. That's just for the software part of the system. Next up is setting up an external tree. The parts for that have run under $10. Very reasonable as compared to the other options that are out there. (I owned a Trakmate system in the past, it was their DOS system (not their basic system)that could be run under Windows 95.) Any questions please feel free to ask. WBJ
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2020 8:22:53 GMT -7
glad to see there are viable options.
yes, always good to have a test bed.
maybe some others will see this and get the "fever"!
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Post by wbj on Jul 21, 2020 14:30:59 GMT -7
Al, Options are a good thing. On occasion I look at the number of non members viewing this forum. The number is significant at times. Maybe a lower cost option like this may help them get the fever. Options like these help lower the cost of entry. Just think the higher end with a PVC/Sintra track and the lower cost Trakmate system you at or around the thousand dollar mark. With these other options significantly less. WBJ
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Post by dynomike on Jul 21, 2020 18:43:02 GMT -7
I appreciate the feed back guys. I plan to get the sensors installed this weekend. I haven't had as much free time this week, business is starting to pick up some and that's a good thing.
Once I install the sensors, I plan to have to toggle switches. These will be spdt. The first one will be for either et or mph. When set to et, then the other switch will determine either 60' or finish line. There will be two sensors before and after the finish line aprox 17.6 inches apart. 1 mile and hour is equal to 17.6 inches per second, so if the et between the two sensors was .04 that would be equal to 25 mph, if my math is correct. I did go to public school , so correct me if I am wrong.
I did attempt to download drag race coordinator a while back, but I got an error that said bad exit, so I let it go. May try that again later.
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Post by dynomike on Aug 23, 2020 15:42:21 GMT -7
Things are never as simple as they seem. After installing the sensors in the track and doing the wiring for the sensors and the differant timing events, I could not wait to run the first car down the track. First car was a stock tjet and the system worked fine. But as I ran faster cars, quite often the finish line sensor didn't seem to be tripping. So I tried differnt lighting and resistor values. The more I messed with it the worse it got. All last week I just kept away from it. Today I decided to go back to the original settings and give it another shot. What I discovered is the sensors are being triggered multiple times when the car goes over them. I think one of the problems is I have the sensors flush with the top of the track. The sensors might be picking up light from sparking contact shoes. I am going to reinstall the sensors and lower them aprox .1 inch below the track surface. At this point I am kind of committed to get this to work. Any input or suggestions are more than welcome. Some might suggest I take a course in spelling.
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Post by wbj on Aug 23, 2020 16:29:48 GMT -7
What I would try next is does the timing system work with a stock inlne car? If this works make sure that you have a power side of the track and a timing side of the track. Doing your best to keep them away from each other. Next make sure that you have the sensors well insulated (shrink tubing)where they connect to the wiring harness... no exposed wire anywhere. Pancakes throw a lot of interference. Hope this helps???
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Post by dave632 on Aug 23, 2020 16:51:14 GMT -7
In my early track building days I used a different system. I found lighting to be critical and even with the track mate
system, which uses infra red, the right light is critical and pointing it in the right direction is important to. I also remember that some of the cars
would let light thru the windows of the car triggering the system more than once. I wound up blocking the windows with
masking tape on some cars. With some cars even the body would let enough light thru to trigger the sensors more than once.
Another thing I remembered was electrical noise, RF interference, would cause some problems with some cars.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2020 16:58:15 GMT -7
yes, what wbj is describing is Radio Frequency Interference.
some of the new slot cars have circuit boards built in to help eliminate that.
also as explained, sparking of any type produces RFI and can trigger timing systems.
also, what he suggests to try and keep electrical paths as far away from the timing system wiring as possible.
some folks have tried shielding the timing wires with aluminum foil, especially at the sensors where solder joints might be exposed.
Track Mate / Drag Mate ( a long ago timing system) suggested putting capacitors between the positive and negative wires at any joints in jumpers under the track.
if there are no jumpers, maybe try to engineer them into some of the joints between track sections..
getting the joints between rail section as smooth as possible to prevent arcing (sparking) will help.
setting up cars so that pick up shoes don't lift off rails will also be an advantage.
also, if the wiring for the sensors/timing system are not twisted within the insulation ( some phone wiring for instance was parallel inside the insulation) will cause induction which can also trigger the timing system improperly.
if at all possible find shielded wiring ( expensive) for the sensors.
hope you can find solution.
I am sure some other guys will fill in anything I have left out.
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Post by skillet on Aug 23, 2020 18:22:38 GMT -7
Al you nailed my first idea with the aluminum foil. I had some wacky things going on with lap timer 2000 . Foil seemed to take care of that.
I "think" the type/brand of sensor may play part of the problem. I used some cheap sensors i had found on my Circle track. They didn't seem to work well at the end of a long straight. I had to use them off a turn. I tried pulling a sensor from an autoworld drag strip set. It performed much better but not 100 percent.
I'm working on my dragstrip now and I think I'm just going to pay for good sensor and hope that's it.
I tried the things you are about to lol. Im not saying don't try anyways. It actually helps you get a better understanding with trial and error.
Sam/Skillet
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Post by dynomike on Aug 24, 2020 15:17:34 GMT -7
It appears that RFI is the main problem. I set a car mid track and held the rear wheels up while giving it throttle. It set the timer off and on. While at work today, I found a fair amount of 20-2 twisted wire left over from when we updated our security system some time back. I will rewire the sensors and move the timer farther away from the track. I will also run capacitors across the rails. I have some small motor caps from my brushed rc days. What do any of you suggest?
Thanks
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. I'm diggin the do it yourself stuff.
