I added elevation changes in my track! I have an up hill section thru the wide L "S" turn. It leads into a downhill straight into the last right hander. It's a blast to drive. The rise is about three inches. It is gradual over about 5' of the course. There aren't any ground clearance problems.

jaubery

Sound like fun man. I started construction on my lap counter. I completed allot of it last night. I'm hoping to get a test run tonight, but it looks like tomorrow will be better.

rlc77,
Will it time your laps or just count? Can you do multiple cars with it? RS sells one for zips $9.99 I am hoping they will sell one for our track and the xmods soon.

Hey, I added banked turns to my track tonight. They work and look great!

dont worry, u will get a counter that is good enough to satisfy anyone. current plans are to have it computer monitored in spreadsheet form.

What is the time frame?

This is the one I'm building.

http://www.latencyproject.com/miniz/timer/timer.html

I have the pointers installed and aligned. I am going to start working on the the transistors tonight.

This is the lap counter so far. Still no way to test because my parallel connector didn't work.

Looks good. What do you have in costs for the parts? How many cars can it keep track of?

Lasers $1.00 a piece at dollar store. I bought 12 altogether
Phototransistors $1.49. Bought at RS. I got 6 of those.
4.5V Power Supply $16.99 Bought at RS.
Surface mount DC Power Connector $2.79 Bought at RS
All PVC Components were $10.00 combined.
So Far $48.00 plus tax of course.

I only have demo version of software so far but best I can tell it's going to run around $50.00. I'm not going to pay for that until I know this works.

It will score 6 cars.

I'll pick up a new parallel connector and start testing it soon.

I'll of course let you know if it works. LOL

That's great.

When my group races each other we shout out our number of laps as we cross the start-finish line. It gets a little confusing. It's hard enough to drive your car; add counting to it and we sound like a bunch of Jay Walking Allstars.

Just wanted to post a direct link as I hadn't seen one in the thread; the lowest price on RCP Tracks, shipped to your door!:

http://mini-zracer.com/shop/products.php?pid=11

btrc

Lap Counter Update
 

OK Guys.....Initial test results are in and........WOO HOO!!!!!!!!

IT WORK'S

4 of the 6 lanes are working after I just plugged it in.

I have 2 lanes that continuously count laps without the beam being interrupted, but every time I waved my hand through the beams the other 4 lanes counted a lap and gave the time.

Both of the Lasers on the lanes that don't work have weaker beams. (This is why I bought 12 of them) I will change them out later but for now......I'M GOIN RACIN!!!!!!!!

THIS ROCKS!

Well worth the time and effort.

Back in the day, we used to have people (spotters) do the lap counting. Works best if you have those little "clicker counters" One person watches each car. Low tech, effective and cheap.

Pretty cool system that RLCs got going so far, though...

Well after taking a meter to my malfunctioning lanes. I've discovered that I need to better isolate the phototransistors from each other. They are receiving light from Lasers other than the one intended for them. I got a reaction from all the transistors no matter which Laser I blocked. My plan is to recess the transistors inside the PVC with a black tube surrounding each one. Then I will shoot the Lasers through a hole in the PVC. I have tested it with cars now and need to better shore up my construction as after a couple of guard rail hits I knocked the Lasers out of alignment. After I work a few bugs out I think this should work.

rlc, Sounds like a plan.

Nuero, thanks for the tip. We could get enough car spotters together if our wives and girlfriends would do it.

I can see it now, "Honey will you be a spotter for my car?"....The following headline in the news: Death Ray Eyes From Girlfriend Kills Xmoder.