A little help please

[MrDEB]

If the section is long enought then the car will stop before it gets to the powered section.
If you have the pit lane long enought to allow the cars to get out of the flow of traffic (main track) then no bits and pieces. the flipper idea IMO is kinda chessey. not realistic.
As I was lying in bed last nite I got to thinking that maybe this pit light idea could be marketed. But how popular is this SCALEXTRIC setup?
If I designed a circuit to do the same as the PIT GAME set up plus this pit lite setup it for sure would be using a PIC chip.
First, the method to detect which car in the pits. What method are they using?
Second addition would be to have each car use a designated pit area (in the pit game pic I see little white squares on the track. Is there a seperat section for each car?
This would surly add to the excitement.
Then add in a fuel gauge. So many laps at a given speed you need to refuel the car = pit stop. Each car uses X amount of current draw thus the fuel gauge.
LOTS of options for sure.
The cars momentum is a minor issue. The isolated section can be as long as you want. You could even add a speed limit in the pit section.

 

[kris8583]

Alot of upgrades have already been done that you have mentioned, fuel, tyre wear etc and incorporated using PB PRO and using a pc to monitor laptimes, etc. Scalextric as a company have now realised the possibilities of the system features and the new powerbase (google scalextric C7042) incorporates alot of these. After release PB PRO developers will be looking to open it up and match it up to pc software and add extra features by reprogramming it.

Cars are fitted with digital chips that are read by sensors in the track, only one car uses the pit lane game at a time. this is because some people only have room for a small track and so it would fit in well there.

www.slotforum.com/forums is where PB PRO and alot of the ideas are been put into production.

My idea is to incorporate the light system with other ideas i have and part of that is a modified version of the pit game. My only problem now is fonding a way to get round the existing scalextric pit entry sensor and flipper due to the way it is set up.

 

[MrDEB]

I will look at the link you posted.
found this link doing a search as well. They describe a dead section of track, reed switches and photo sensors
HO Slot Car Racing

 

[kris8583]

Got a bit more advice for the guys at slot forum. From my explanation this is what was suggested;

To return the scalextric pit flipper to straight on posistion after a car has entered pits, add a more powerful solenoid alongside the original, power it to the straight through position when you have a car in the pits. Depower when the pit is empty.

 

[MrDEB]

a solenoid would be easier than a servo but still like the dead track section

 

[kris8583]

Another reason for not having a car waiting to pit is to encourage the timing of pits stops during a race. I do feel there must be an alternative, il have a think and see what i can do

 

[MrDEB]

have a separate pit for each car with no waiting.
just build 4 circuits for 4 cars.
the swinging arm just dosn't sound right.

 

[kris8583]

So if car 2 entered pits while car 1 was pitting would this just start the process back from the beginning?

 

[MrDEB]

If I read your reply right then yes.
car 1 in pits, car 2 on dead section of track
when PIT OPEN LED comes on the dead section becomes live thus car 2 enters the pit. car 2 exits and the PIT OPEN LED comes on and dead section is live again.
This will prevent ANY cars from entering and crashing into any other car and no flipper to crash into either.
Just thought of a cool addiion to this senerio = If say car 1 needs to pit but fails to pit then the car S L O W S down until it enters the pit and gets fuel. then the car can go full speed.

 

[kris8583]

I like the idea of car slowing down it has been sort of covered throught PB PRO very similarly and i was going to increase the resistance in the pit lane to simulate real world pit lane speed limit. If we can get the pit lighting and entry sorted there will be something else id like to add to the pit too but want to get one part sorted at a time

Ok so here a simple track with pitlane:

RED pitting, so does GREEN sit at pit entry waiting to pit with power cut? The problem with the dead strip is car YELLOW coming round track on inside lane.

A track this size would take around 3.5/4 seconds per lap so YELLOW driver would really have to pay attention and then stop/wait for GREEN to enter pit before carrying on his lap. If power was cut to the entry flipper car GREEN would be fored to keep lapping unitl pit was free again.

Is this what you had in mind or where would this dead strip be?

 

[MrDEB]

dead strip location

revised off of main track

 

[kris8583]

Right il test it on my track and use masking tape to create a dead strip and see how big it has to be for the car to slow and stop.

 

[MrDEB]

just put the tape on the track connector contacts, not on the rals. It might slow the car down too much for reliable stopping distance measurement.

 

[kris8583]

ok tested my track, with the momentum produced by the car its looking around 12-18inches to stop from half throttle which is quite a long way in 1:32 terms. Tested with 6 different cars with almost the same outcome for each. GOing to get tech spec for lane changer and see what solenoid i would need to overide it.