Derby Talk

Oh. See, I have never in all my days seen one of these commercial timers. So when I searched for Racemaster IV pinouts, and this popped up, that's what I went with. On the actual real Racemaster Timer product, are pins 4 and 7 used for anything, or am I able to purpose them for my own needs? Sorry f...

Sorry, I guess I wasn't totally clear. It is my intention to create a bit of a break-out box for this. Thanks for the tips.Looking at this schematic, I think pin 4 is taken by a lane? The schematic is at http://home.simplyweb.net/bosworth/timers&.htm" target="_blank , about 3/4 of the ...

Whipping up something quick and easy for someone who got in touch with me...wondering something. I have a schematic in front of me for the Racemaster IV timer (don't ask me where I got it, I can't seem to find it again, even a day later) and am wondering how best to snag a light tree pulse from here...

My only concern would be getting enough flex out of 6' sections of plywood. One of my fellow leaders seemed to think 6' sections wouldn't flex enough. Thoughts?

I'm building a new 5 lane Kub Kar track for our Group/Area/Me. I know that standard length is 8', but for ease of storage and portability, has anyone else built different length sections? I should point out that this will be a wood track. I was thinking of going to 6 or 7 6' sections (optimum plywoo...

Actually I have my timer working beautifully. I've run the first USB version through a race, and have a second USB version (with some modifications) nearly finished. However, I have already found some improvements to make to a third version. This third version will be the first version publicly avai...

I found that using IR sensors in our Groups older track, we were just using a desk lamp from Ikea as our light source (after screwing around with IR emitters and alignment). That being said, our new timer system I built up has an overhead bar of plexiglass maybe 3/4" high, that the leds are mou...

Nice thing about solid state discreet electronics is that if they work, they work. Period. Very rarely do you end up with failures that are not simply a bad electrical connections, or dirt build up on the sensors, or whatever. I am sending you a PM with some details.

thank you men for your advice on the software. Any input on the Derby Magic Track? Sorry for the double post. All the tracks in our Council have been built by handy Scouters with shops. however, looking briefly at their site, it looks like a decent enough system. I like very much their 'wire condui...

My Rover Crew has run the Area races the past several years, and after looking around a little bit, we opted to purchase Grand Prix Race Manager. We figured that $60 was a good deal for a piece of software that had as many features as GPRM does. We scoped out some of the freebie stuff, but weren't ...

Our track uses simple IR break sensors. In previous years, the overhead IR has been provided by a simple desk lamp with an incandescent bulb, shining straight down on the track from above. I'm working on a new timer system (USB based), but I'm still planning on sticking with the IR break method for ...

My Rover Crew has run the Area races the past several years, and after looking around a little bit, we opted to purchase Grand Prix Race Manager. We figured that $60 was a good deal for a piece of software that had as many features as GPRM does. We scoped out some of the freebie stuff, but weren't w...

I am building a USB based timing system for our Kub Kar rally (which is in two weeks). A question. I have various setting in the 'Other Serial Timer' option set up for the commands I've programmed, but when I hit the Start Testing, and then the Test Race buttons, it says timer non responsive. I can ...

Without having to actually purchase the software, can you give a quick run down on what you mean by 'Made serial port communication routines more robust.'? I'm building a custom USB timer and am currently running Version 7.0

Our Rover crew has contemplated doing something similar. A 'Korporate Kar Rally', where a business, or organization, would get a car kit for a $25 donation, or for a $50 donation one of the Rovers would build it. With the number of Tech / outdoor companies out in Vancouver BC I think we would see qu...