lights advice please-finally done

[davet]

This is our last year racing derby and my boy wants a lightningbolt car. I was thinking some blue lights inlaid into the center cutout with a 1/64 plywood cap and lightningbolt cutout for the blue lights to shine out the top. He really wants a fast car but has always had pretty creative ideas.

I see http://www.pinewoodlights.com/ has a pretty neat setup but it weighs .28 oz. I think we could cut the circuit board up a little to save weight and use it as a brace on the bottom of our cutout rather than a ladder type setup. Anyone have any ideas on how to make our design with lightweight lights?

[whodathunkit]

Hi davet,

I think Sporty has a Tron car topic,
That might be along the lines of what your wanting to do for lighting.
http://www.derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5776

Maximum Velocity's - pinewood derby times news letter Vol 13, issue 8, Jan 8th 2014.
Also has some good pinewood derby car light ideas as well as how to info .

( The Fishing Bobber light refills.)
I don't know if you can get them with the blue lights or not.

[davet]

Excellent. Thank you. We'll check those out.

[Vitamin K]

Man, that Tron car thread has some awesome ideas. I always forget what an amazing builder Sporty is.

Unfortunately, it's giving /me/ ideas now. My son wants a Minecraft Enderman car for his upcoming Derby. Now I'm wondering: "Enderman with glowing eyes"?

And this is, of course, after I've vowed to keep things simple to avoid last minute time crunches...

[davet]

I found these that look promising.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221947199003?rmvSB=true

[whodathunkit]

Say davet,

There's this topic by Go Bubba Go.
As well that you might enjoy for some Ideas also.
http://www.derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=2353

Best of luck to you guys..

Whoda.

[davet]

That's the car I saw last year and my boy almost decided on something like that. I couldn't find it now this year so thanks. Those finger lights are around .09 oz though but that's what he wants to do. Blue light showing through.

[whodathunkit]

I thought you guys would like to see the blue lightning car by Go Bubba Go.

davet That's just the thing with lights for pinewood derby cars
some of the electronics are some what heavier then you would like to have them for your lighting needs.

If your son likes the scanner light look as well.. check out the scanner lights by excite engineering.
http://www.derbylights.com/

Good luck to you guys.

[Noskills]

I like the blue lightning bolt car. Can you get a piece of clear plastic to cover the cut out like a veneer? I also wonder in led lights that shine straight up would be seen better in daylight (I assume you cant turn off the lights during your derby)
Noskills

[davet]

I found these that look promising.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/221947199003?rmvSB=true

We picked these up off e-bay. I hooked up 2 of the blue lights to a very tiny CR1220 lithium pancake battery and they ran extremely bright for 2 solid days. .04 oz total weight. Anyone know if running lights will affect timing? Instead of having them shine up from the surface of the car could they shine to the track at the rear to avoid front end/lighting issues? The GoBubbaGo thread referred to in this thread says he turned the lights off for the race.

[whodathunkit]

davet,

Sporty ran his 18 wheeler maximum overdrive truck at Mid-America with the lights on.
Here's the topic where you can see the lights were on while racing.
http://www.derbytalk.com/viewtopic.php? ... ive#p77353

Anyone know if running lights will affect timing? Instead of having them shine up from the surface of the car could they shine to the track at the rear to avoid front end/lighting issues? The GoBubbaGo thread referred to in this thread says he turned the lights off for the race.

From the photos seen I'd say no issues with the lights affecting the timing system.
But that's not to say the lights your using will as well.

It would be best to check with your race chairman..
To see if the lights can be on at the time of the race if your son wants to run with lights on.
You can always ask to see if a test run can be set up to see if the lights will affect the timing system.
Then if the lights need to be off at the time of the race you'll know the issues be for hand.

But I would not let the lighting issues stop your son from building a car using lights.

Because like your son:
I think it would be cool to have a room lights off.. pinewood derby car lights on race.

Good luck guys.

[davet]

Now those are some cool derby builds. I could really get into something like that. So many more factors involved I bet than with a standard car. Are the trailers solidly attached to the tractor or does it swivel at the hitching point like a real one? Aligning one of those well would be a masterful task.

I see his lights shining brightly out front and onto the track well ahead of the rig. My boy's car would be illuminated like the GoBubbaGo car linked in this thread. We may just look into the trial run thing.

Thanks.

[whodathunkit]

Not to go off Topic:

Are the trailers solidly attached to the tractor or does it swivel at the hitching point like a real one? Aligning one of those well would be a masterful task.

Sporty's, Ryan's & Shawn's, trucks all look to be running with one pin letting it swivel.
The Wife and I tried running our rigs with 2 pins & not letting the trailer swivel.
The Mid- America big rig rules can be seen on this link.
http://www.mid-americaderby.com/home/bi ... semi-rules

There rule for the hitch pin.. was that the hitch pin must detach from the cab.
And that any material could be used to make the pin secure enough not to separate during the race.

[Scrollsawer]

I keep my eyes on Arduino technology, and it sure seems as though it's now sized to be able to really do some cool things in a Pinewood Derby car build context. Case in point is this Arduino Keychain (see below link to a video) that somebody built that is pretty much sized to fit into a Pinewood Car body. With some effort, I think a Scout could build a small Arduino board and in-lay it into a car body for some pretty cool light effects.

http://blog.atmel.com/2015/12/09/keycha ... hain-game/

Scrollsawer

[davet]

Here is what we came up with using tiny PinewoodLights kit. We won't use the board that comes with it but will just secure a tiny battery into a cavity in the bottom with the wires tapes to it. The pic of the lightning bolt was just placed over the car last night. The lights and battery weigh .07 oz. The bulbs are much smaller than what they appear here. We tapered the outer edge of the holes and put white paint in and around the hole to make it look bigger.