USB Adapters

[Bananasmoothie1975]

Are those Arduino things cheaper than Phidget?

[daufderh]

I think Arduino is a little cheaper than phidget, but not by a lot. I wanted to support at least one of them in RC so I went with phidget because there were almost no posts about Arduino in the community and there were at least some about phidget. Plus supporting phidget was a lot easier for me.

[Rainman]

I have the Rockfire adapter but misses laps, I have also tried the PCMCIA parallel port adapter method as described above and could not get that to work at all. I find the whole lap counting thing to be beyond frustrating to the point where I have given up on it the past couple of months. It would be great if someone could figure out the USB thing or some other reliable method that does not require adapters, old PC's or some other combination of things to get it to work. You would be a hero to the novice world Dave if you could get USB to work consistently.

Does anyone sell a complete setup, PC and laptimimg gear, as a package for Tomy track?

[RichD]

It may not be a cheap solution, but you can get Trackmate and also order the serial to USB adapter that they sell. I have not heard of anyone having problems with that combination. I have hear of a number of cases where people bought printer to USB adapters that they could not get to work.

[daufderh]

Yeah the problem with the "easy" track interfaces are that they cost a decent amount of money. Trakmate is very simple the way they've set it up. Their instructions are so easy I figured it out, and they are serial port based which means you can find an adapter from serial to USB if your computer doesn't have a serial port. But you're looking at well over $100 for the entire setup.

Phidget is another USB based interface that RC and several other RMS packages support. It's native USB, and you can sort of piece together whatever setup you want. But again, it's going to cost you at least as much as Trakmate.

If you want the ultimate in inexpensive easy setups, go webcam. Odds are you already have a webcam lying around. All you need after that is third party software. I think "Zone Trigger" is the one most people use. You basically configure "hot spots" for each lanes Start/Finish line and you're all done. ZT detection motion in the hot spot and you have it configured to run an application with the correct command line when that happens. The application comes with the RMS (in RC's case it's called "Webcam.exe"). That's it. There are minor trade-offs but in general this is the absolute easiest solution available. If you don't already own a webcam it might run you $50 for the camera and software...

[Rainman]

Thanks gents. I have invested that much in what I have now. I will check both of those options out.

[Phil Kalbfell]

Buying Zone trigger and a web cam is about the same as buying Trakmate.
My USB adapter seems good on my Dell BUT I gave Slo1Quick one of the same adapters and he has had all sorts of problems.
No easy answer.

[Maddman]

No problems with Slottrak running a 4/0/0 Phidget card over a 25 foot plain USB cable (not a powered extension cable) for individual lane power control. I run Trakmate over a 25 foot DB9 serial cable. USB to serial port adapters can be problematic . When they work all is good. My USB/Serial converter never worked properly.

My understanding is that the Fray in Ferndale race does both lapcounting and individual lane power control using Slottrak and 8/8/8 Phidget cards

[daufderh]

What sensors are they using with phidget? I'm just curious if you're using phidget reflective sensors or using more traditional IR/Reed/Deadstrips. We just got an Race Coordinator user up and running with two 4/0/0 to do per lane relays on an 8 lane track.

-Dave

[___cory___]

I believe the Fray in Ferndale uses reed switches as all recent photos I've seen of Fray tracks are devoid of a gantry/bridge and have tell-tale short dark lines at the start/finish line.

-Cory

[daufderh]

Ah cool. At some point I want to hook up my reflective sensors to see how well they work. I'm hoping to be able to put them either under the track facing up or on the edge of the track (2-lanes). I think with some tuning it could be made to work. Although I'm curious if a super fast open wheel will trip it if it's on the side.

[Maddman]

Originally Posted by Phil Kalbfell

Buying Zone trigger and a web cam is about the same as buying Trakmate.

How's the update time? I experimented with a webcam trigger using Slottrak several years back. It worked OK for a slow HO car. For even a moderately fast car (i.e. HOPRA superstock) it just wouldn't count. Trakmate with IR sensors will count unlimited cars without problems!

[tabcomary]

The Phidget 8/8/8 interface limits you to about 7 ms resolution using the analog interface, but it has no problems with simultaneous inputs or fast cars. I have not installed the power relays, but I have been very pleased with the lap timing/counting operations using Dave's software. I have some guests coming over this weekend. I hope to get some feedback on how the software/hardware work with a variety of cars.

Reflective sensors used overhead can have issues with crosstalk between lanes. I have it worked out for two lanes, but I think four lanes would be a problem. The main advantage is that they can be put anywhere on the track. That is important when you don't have a permanent layout! There can also be issues with sensing dark colored cars with no decoration. They need a lane sticker, or a 1 cm square of Post-It note tacked on the hood to ensure reliable counting.

Thanks again Dave. I am finally starting to get the hang of your software...