Dead strip lap timer

[slothead]

I used a link someone on HRW posted to put a dead strip on my track connected to a PC mouse so cars would trigger left clicks, which I used to record lap times using the timer available at online_stopwatch.com. It actually worked quite well a week ago and I recorded time trials for 41 cars on my road course. I had 1 car to go when the dead switch stopped working.

I think I shorted out the mouse because the gap after the dead strip was short, and the longer braids on a Pioneer car could touch the copper tape for the track and the dead switch at the same time. I'm now using a new mouse with the left click switch wired to the dead switch and it works perfectly when I use a paperclip to close the circuit across the dead strip, or push a car across the dead switch by hand. But cars driven over the dead strip do not close the circuit and activate the mouse.

Anyone else had problems like this with a dead strip? The mouse still works fine, and the dead strip seems to work for everything except a car driving across it.

Slothead

[buspor63]

I use "PCSLOTMOUSE" on my oval, it may have been me you referenced. The author, Richard, contributes on Slot Forum. I don't recall his screen name at this time. His thread is something like the "4£ lap timer" I just remembered, his screen name is PCSLOT, I think...

I found I had to use a long gap, say 6", with the timing strip being about 1". With Richards software , you can wire the center wheel click to count the other lane. The right click can't be used because of how often it's either sampled or not sampled.

Back to your question. It's never a good idea to have short across to different segments. Not too much of a problem though, USB mice are cheap and plentiful in thrift stores. Some extra notes, PCSLOTMOUSE is polarity specific, but not fatal to the mice if cross wired. I put wire connectors on mine so I can run the track in either direction.

[slothead]

buspor63 - thanks for your reply. I was away on business, now back home and ready to get this working. I never thought about polarity and will swap the wires going to the dead strip to see if that helps.

This was a very easy setup when it worked and gave me exactly what I needed - split times for as many laps as I chose to run so I could recreate multi-car races myself.

Slothead

[slothead]

I reversed the wires going from the dead strip to the mouse's left click switch and it's working again. I never thought that would matter when I build it. Thanks for the help.

Slothead