Derby Talk

The green light is on for 3.0 seconds so the total hold-off time is about 9-10 seconds, good for the longest tracks, although your point is taken. Another thing that must be considered with 120VAC solenoids is to make sure any failures do not put the juice into the computer circuits or into a metal ...

For Microwizard finish lines, I install a time delay circuit, which has no delay for the start, but delays the re-close of the reset by 5-6 seconds, allowing all cars to cross the finish line. This makes it easy to use solenoid power to substitute for the switch.

Both solenoids and spring-loaded gates have this in common: They cause the pegs to completely disappear into the slots before the cars even think about moving, assuring a perfectly fair start, and rendering moot any timing error from this source.

The lamination of the relay pretty much contains the mag field, although it would be prudent to separate the switch as far as practical. As long as you are using electricity to operate the gate, why not interface the relay power to your finish line? Then you would not need a switch at all!

It is still lots of bumping around. Microswitches have even been used as the finish line detector. Not very successfully, however. I used to supply microswitches with The Judge. There were enough problems with this component that I took a careful look. I now supply mag switches, and have not receive...

Microswitches have a few disadvantages: They take a pounding, they must be mounted with fairly close mechanical tolerances, and they are prone to switch bounce. The bounce (a rapid series of contact break and makes) can contribute to timing unifority if the switch closure resets the timing to zero. ...

A possible cause of the symptoms described is that the modular cable connector might have a bad contact. Normally, these crimp-on connectors are quite reliable, but they sometimes fail. Use an ohmmeter to check the cable end-to-end. If you discover one of the lines is open, let me know, and I will r...

I have had some recent correspondence with my customers regarding aluminum tracks, and have not seen this issue discussed before on DerbyTalk. I just got this email yesterday from a Judge customer who made his own electrical start gate: ".....Static fried my gate. I never had an issue until we ...

This can probably be arranged. Any objection to starting the race with a button from a remote control, as opposed from a keystroke from your keyboard? I might have to consult with Microwizard Stu Ferguson to see if there are any other issues with the interface.

This will never become a high production item, so it is practical to treat each order separately. Some additional information: Yes, the computer does plug into the black box. I normally supply a small circuit card that acts as a junction point for the computer, the Judge, and a magnetic switch. Usin...

The black plastic box has sockets for the solenoid, the computer, the Judge cable, and for the Light Tree. I suppose it would be possible to offer a mechanical switch that bypasses the optical switch powered by the Light Tree. But the whole concept is to provide the mystique of nobody near the start...

See this latest Pinewood concept at www.newdirections.ws/startgate.htm

For those needing an inexpensive timer, I have some overrun of a timer that I supplied on my Judge models from 1992 to 1996. It measures 0 to 9.99999 seconds to 10 microsecond resolution, and displays on a 6 digit LCD display with .35" high numerals. I don't have an enclosure, but any plastic b...

I can supply the complete schematic for the 4 lane Judge, which was the king of finish lines from 1993 to 1996. It is all gates and flip flops. When the microprocessor came along, this model was discontinued for economic reasons. However, the ability to split hairs is actually superior to anything o...

For the do-it-yourselfers, I have a number of Red Lion Sub-Cub 2 6 digit LCD counter modules, and custom circuit cards which contain a 100 KHz oscillator circuit and mates with the module. If you input a signal from your start gate, and finish line, this makes a great 10 microsecond resolution timer...