Digital Lap Counter, whats it like?

[jrc2005]

Has anyone got the lap counter? Is it worth getting and can it record more than 1 cars laptime or do you need 1 counter per car?

BTW, if its of interest, I have a tomy Blue Subaru with a 120mah and 2.6 – will be getting a few more bodyshells soonbut can anyone suggest a nice one to get?

Thanks, jrc2005

[Admin]

No, unfortunatly it can only record one lap time at a time. As for the body shells the Mobil NSX and Castrol Supra rock! epecially with some well done light mods. Check this out…

[Admin]

I dont really like the nsx, but the castrol supra is the best body in existence

[Admin]

I heard that the lap counter works with IR, I also heard it records the lap times, and beeps when you break the record. It would be perfect for training…anybody know how much it costs?

[PandaBear]

Counter uses an infra-red beam which the car breaks each time it passes. You can only have 1 car on the track at a time, it cannot identify your car.

[Impreza]

Sounds like you have to create lanes (like slot car racing) in order to get it to distinguish two cars from one anouther. There must be a mod? DrSky nice car.

cheers

[Impreza]

Sorry…Add to the above that you would need 2 lap counters to get the lane thing to work:smiley9:

[PandaBear]

Well, you *could* build something like a tollbooth and each car has to pass through its specific lane, each with its own counter… but imho that’ll be too much of a pain to be worth doing. Remember Its only a laptimer – not a ‘lapcounter’. It won’t tell you how many laps over an elapsed period.

[GT-ahh]

it’d be good for a bitrally, you could set up stages and record times, like a proper rally, and have stage winners and overall and stuff.

[PandaBear]

If its a once-off race… err, why not just have someone with a stopwatch? Surely you’re not sitting there alone playing with yourself?

You guys are just *desperate* for a reason to buy the thing, yeah?? :smiley4:

Trust me, I’m a gadget freak meself -I even bought a IR temp gun so I can test temperatures in my RC car… but I still cannot find a good use for the laptimer. Same thing exists for the Tamiya Mini4WD, I still can’t justify buying one even when the shops were selling it for 70% off. It does nothing worthwhile that I can see… still thinking of a plausibleexcuse.

[Trackmaster]

PandaBear

It is a Lap counter too…you can switch between lap or time.
Set a desired number of laps to race and do it in the best possible time, or…
Set a desired time to race, and complete as many laps as possible during this rime.

Still not sure whether it?s worth it or not… :smiley5:

/Trackmaster

[jrc2005]

Thanks for the replies.

I used to race 1:10 scale rc’s and we used to have a transponder clipped to thebonnetof each car in the race (upto 10). I wonder if the same thing could be achieved with the bitchar-gs? The 1:10 scale transponders were about the size of the bitcharg themselves, its worth pointing out.

I dont know exactly know howthe transponderswork but the main transponder receiver beeped when the leader had passed a set no. of laps, signally that he had won the race. It also recorded every lap time of every car on the track! most impressive.

JRC2005

[jrc2005]

Just foundthis websitewhich look interesting….

http://www.infoserve.net/oss/slotcar/rctimer.htm

They are basically saying that you have a post which 4 different height IR beams are beamed across from to the receivers. Each car then has a flag attached to its antenna at its appropriate height. This idea might work if you bought 4 Tomy lap counters and took them apart to build it.

Hmmmmm, now that is an idea……

[jrc2005]

I had to sketch this idea out, i also scanned it in for you ppl to take a look at. any ideas and suggestions would be great.

img here: http://www.mercurywd.co.uk/bitcharg_ircounter.gif

PS. sorry about the third posting in 10 minutes!

[Trackmaster]

I doubt that this would work.
In your sketch,I guess that the antenna from the left car will add one lap not only to it?s own lap timer, but to all the others too.
I have yet not tried how much is needed to break the IR beam, but I?m afraid that the antenna itself is enough for the TOMY lap timer.

/Trackmaster

[jrc2005]

I see, I wasn’t aware that the lap counter was that sensitive to actually detect the antenna. The counter must be very sensitive. :smiley6:

Trackmaster, could you let me know if the counter does detect a bichar-g’s antenna by testing it – I would love to know if it does for this idea to work. Thanks. JRC2005

[DaveF]

The idea shown at http://www.infoserve.net/oss/slotcar/rctimer.htmwould be the only ‘no fuss for the driver’ way to do it with Char-Gs. There are similar kits out there, and you can build something like this yorself with the right knowledge.

There’s also other freesoftware to do the counting, timing, starters lights, record keeping and average speed calculations, but you need a PC near your tracks to plug into the timing lights.

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Originally posted by jrc2005 on 02November2002

I used to race 1:10 scale rc’s and we used to have a transponder clipped to thebonnetof each car in the race (upto 10). I wonder if the same thing could be achieved with the bitchar-gs? The 1:10 scale transponders were about the size of the bitcharg themselves, its worth pointing out.

I dont know exactly know howthe transponderswork but the main transponder receiver beeped when the leader had passed a set no. of laps, signally that he had won the race. It also recorded every lap time of every car on the track! most impressive.

Most if not all RC transponder systems are made by company called AMB. They’re also used in various forms of 1:1 motor racing, from gokarts upwards.

Transponder unit in the car (size of matchbox) contains a rechargeable battery and emits a radio signal. This signal is picked up by a wire loop on the startline and relayed to the processor box at race control. Processor then sends this data to the race control PC which does the rest of the data crunching.

Times are recorded to 1/100ths of second, and the system can be modified to suit the local racing styles. Usually its time (eg most laps in 4, 5 or 6 mins) or sometimes set # of laps for the final (more common for gas cars).

For your homegrown races… the AMB system is nice, but a bit pricey. The transponders would also be bigger than your BCG and double its weight. :smiley3:

[GT-ahh]

its not really that hard to make a multiple car lap counter. all you need is to attach an ifrared transmitter under the shell of each car with a small tube or a hole to focus the beam so it only shines out the side in a 1 or 2 mm beam, you then need to have a reciever hooked up to acounter for each car, when the car passes the start/finish the beam shines into the reciever and triggers a logic high, which triggers the counter/timer

Its possible to make a transmitter out of a few components that will run on 3volts and fit under a shell, i can find kits availible on the web but I am still looking for a schematic..

ive found a 3 freq schematic here but they dont tell u what the chip is, so u have to buy from them…

http://www.rentron.com/remote_control/tinyir.pdf

I’ll keep looking, and post as soon as i find a viable schematic….

[Admin]

theres transponders the size of a dime. i used 1 on my nitro rs4 2 the smalles are made by brp racing and team orion

[jrc2005]

Nice ideas here, but adding anything to the car itself is going to cause handling and performance problems. Even ifthe transponder isthe size of a dime.

The ideal solution would be to use what Tomy have already made for us in the way of their digital counter “Why re-invent the wheel?”. Take 4 of these andhave one reset button linked to all four counters.

But my real question is Does Tomy’s lapcounter count a lap when the bitchar-g’s antenna passes the IRbeam?

[Trackmaster]

Hi

I?ll check the antenna issue tonight, hopefully the IR beam won?t react.

/Trackmaster

[jrc2005]

Thanx Trackmaster. That’ll be greatto know so I can start to plan the construction of a 4-car lap counter.:smiley14:

[GT-ahh]

jrc2005,the idea is that you can use multiple cars, with the tomy counter u canonly use1 car…

[Trackmaster]

OK, here are the results:

The TOMY lapcounter does NOT count a lap when the Bit Char-G antenna passes!
I added a small”flag” to the antenna and drove past the counter and got a positive result. According to this “test” it should be possible to come up with a lap counter system for multiple cars.

Some problems though:
1. The antennas on the Char-G?s are very weak and tend to bend down and/or sway upon driving, especially when you add a “flag”. Onthe booster car I use I have added a second wire so I?ve got a double wire antenna. This solution makes the antenna construction a little more stable.
2. If we are going to use 4 lap counters (#1 at the bottom- #4 on top)on top of eachother, the flag on car #4 will end up way up in the air. One lap counter is approx. 8 cm high which makes 4 lap counters end up at approx. 32 cm up in the air. The flag on car #4 would need to be placed somewhere around 1 ft up…:smiley6:Try to imagine how that car would be to drive in corners!

Onesolution to the above mentioned problem could be to build two “lap lanes”. In each lane you then place a construction of 2 lap counters on top of eachother, and the corresponding cars have to pass through “their” lane. Piece of cake, ehhh…!!! :smiley4:

Other ideas anyone??? Corrections???

/Trackmaster

[jrc2005]

I know what you’re saying about the weakness of the antennas. How about inserting the antenna through a 1.5mm DIA. stiff clear plastic tube (like a drinking straw!)?

The note about the height though isn’t a problem. I’m talking about completely taking apart TOMY’s track counter and combining 4 in a bespoke unitand taking all the excess plastic away -I love a challenge! My bitchar-g’s antenna+ caris 15cm high, that is the tallest the “IR transmitter post” needs to be. I have included this pic to expain the plan…

Anyway, I have all faith in this plan now. I am sure it will work.

Let me know your thoughts, suggestions and comments.

JRC2005

[PandaBear]

Umm… we fully extended a BCG antenna to about 4″ above the car and this handles much worse; it rollover’d at every corner.

The guy with your tallest flag is gonna have an unfair disadvantage. :smiley3:

[Admin]

and aart from the antenna hindering your cars lap times, 4 lap timers isnt exaclty going to be cheap, maybe around $100 for them all

[Admin]

i would prefer a new couple of bits for that:smiley4:

[PandaBear]

Quote:

Originally posted by Shypo on 06November2002

4 lap timers isnt exaclty going to be cheap, maybe around $100 for them all

I tot the eBay fellas were selling them at ~ US$30-35 each…? So 4 = $140 = A$280… ow, too expensive for limited use.

[Admin]

HOLY DAMN

[jrc2005]

I can get the lap counters for $12USD a piece! (I’m from England) Good note about the stability of the car though, I had thought about that.

[Admin]

Even the standard antenna when erect and facing the sky has noticably worse performance.

[Author]

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