PINEWOOD PRO-TIMER 2

Pinewood Derby Professional Timer System

Complete 3-Car Computerized Timer System for $289

Add $25 for each additional car up to a maximum of 6 cars

 

Complete working system includes wooden parts, screws, brackets, solenoid operated start gate, finish line with IR sensors, electronics control box, PC software, power supply and all connecting cables.

FREE SOFTWARE UPGRADE – SEE BELOW

Revised 10-25-07

 

WORKS ON USB PORT WITH ADAPTOR

 

 


Anyone who has been in the Cub Scouts is familiar with the Pinewood Derby.  It is the car race where each Cub Scout builds a racecar made from a block of pinewood.  He must design, cut, carve, sand and finally paint his racecar. And as he builds his car he must make sure that he follows the official BSA construction rules and guidelines so that his car will qualify to race in the Pinewood Derby.

 

As in any race it is important to know who won and how long the race lasted. (The winning Cub Scout shouldn’t be the one with the most aggressive parents!)

 
 

Timer resolution approaching 0.1 milliseconds!

 

 

Our Software

talks

to

MS Excel!

 

Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 has been designed to do this and a whole lot more!

 

Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 is a computerized timing system designed to manage a Pinewood Derby race.  The base system can handle a racetrack with 3 cars competing at once.  (It can be expanded to 6 lanes and will  handle 6 cars racing at once).  It will tell which car finished first, second and third! It will also announce (sound card and speakers required) and display the winning places on the computer screen.

 

All of the control is done by an IBM personal computer running Windows.  The software is written in Microsoft’s Visual Basic and all interfacing is done through one of the serial ports.  You must have at least a 486 equipped computer (Pentium recommended) running Windows 95 or later.  If you have a USB port and want to use it instead, we have an adaptor you can purchase.  The adaptor converts the serial connection to a USB connection.  For USB you must have a Pentium running Windows 98SE or later.

 

Numerous articles have been written about timing the Pinewood Derby.  If you do any research you will discover that any Pinewood Derby timer should be capable of 1/1000 of a second resolution (at a minimum).  In science this is known as a millisecond.  The resolution of our timer is approaching 0.1 milliseconds!

 

More than just an inexpensive racetrack timer…

 

Pinewood Pro Timer 2 is more than just an inexpensive racetrack timer.  It also has sophisticated race management capabilities.  Pinewood Pro Timer 2 makes use of MS Excel and records all the race information in an Excel spreadsheet.   The start gate and finish gate are obviously larger in the 6-car version.  The software is the same for all versions.  Incidentally if your track has only two lanes you would still buy the three car version.  The software will be set up to work with two cars rather than three.

 

A demo is available.  If you would like to evaluate the Pinewood Derby spreadsheet and Pinewood Pro-Timer program you can download a demo copy.  In order to use the spreadsheet you must have a copy of Excel installed on your PC.  Note:  In the demo version the timer is in the PC.  In the actual product, the timer is located in the Electronics Control Box or ECB.

 

 

DOWNLOAD DEMO PINEWOOD PRO-TIMER PROGRAM

 

Click here to start download:  Download DEMO PPT

 

 

After all the scouts have completed their first race, Excel can be used to sort the list of scouts based on race times.  The scouts can be grouped for their second race so that similar performing cars will be matched and will race against each other.  This has the advantage of having a race where the three cars racing are comparable and more competitive. It avoids the embarrassment of having a scout with a very slow car race against a scout with a much faster one.

 

The following is a screenshot of the software with the Pinewood Pro Timer 2 running on top of the Excel spreadsheet.  This is the normal operating mode during a race.  PPT2 can read and write data to the worksheet.  The times shown in the picture below are only indications.  PPT2 actually records time with an additional decimal place (.0001 milliseconds).

 

 

Some of our competitors offer only software that connects to somebody else’s hardware.  Or better yet you have to locate all the electronic parts and circuit boards (at Radio Shack!) and build it yourself!  When was the last time you used a soldering iron?

 

Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 is the total package: great software and hardware.  There is nothing else that you need to buy…assuming of course that you already have a suitable track.  Sample worksheets are included in the kit.  Several of our customers have contributed to the design of these worksheets.  Included in the worksheet design is the concept of a double elimination.  All the cubs initially race and are ranked.  Then the cubs are grouped according to their rank and then race again.  The second race has cubs racing against equally matched cubs.  Of course every cub scout also gets to race his car in every lane.

 

You say you like sounds….”And the winner is Car 54 in Lane B”

 

If PPT2 is controlled by an IBM PC with a sound card and speakers, it is possible to attach sounds to different events in the race.  The sounds are created from readily available wav type files.  There are a number of wav files included with the PPT2 software package.  And if you have a microphone and know how to use Windows Sound Recorder, you can create your own sound files!

 

 

You want to display the winners for all to see…

 

PPT2 comes with a second computer port connector.  The second computer can be used to display the names of the winners and their winning places.  You can also connect a projection type screen to the second computer and project the computer image for all to see.

 

PPT2 uses Infra-Red (IR) optical sensors located at the end of the racetrack to detect the cars as they pass across the finish line.  The electronics circuitry for PPT2 comes assembled and all that is necessary is to install the optical sensors at the finish line and solenoid operated start gate.

 

Some pictures of the finish line. A black matte finish has been added to the track to help prevent reflective light from interfering with the IR sensors.  An IR photo sensor is located in each of those round tubes mounted above the track.  Our test cars are pretty basic…although the red one seems to win all the races!  As you can see our track has outside lane guides instead of the usual inside ones.

 

“We have completely re-designed our finish line IR sensor circuitry.  It is now a lot more sensitive and you can easily mount the bridge as high as 12 inches above the track if you desire.”

 

The finish line bridge assembly is shown here. To the right is the optional tree light.

 

 

The optional tree light has the red light on before the start of each race.  The lights will sequence through the four colors: red, yellow, yellow, green.  When the green light comes on the solenoid will close and open the start gate.  This adds realism to your race and is similar to the tree lights found at a drag race.  The tree light connects to the Electronics Control Box (ECB).

 

Here is a block diagram of the PPT2 system and the ECB below:

 

 

New Pinewood Pro-Timer II

 

The finish line sensors are connected to the ECB with a 35-ft length of CAT5 computer networking cable.

 

The Auxiliary Circuit Board is mounted under the track at the finish line.  It is shown to the left.  It has a screw terminal connector and some amplifier/interface circuitry for the IR sensors.  Notice the CAT5 network cable connection, which comes from the ECB above.

 

What you want is a Start Gate that is easy to install…

 

 

What you want is a start gate assembly that can be easily mounted on any track.  We have designed our start gate to be fully adjustable to fit any track and easy to install.  PPT2 contains a complete kit of parts and detailed instructions. 

 

In most cases the entire kit can be installed on your track in several hours. Click here to see pictures and an explanation of our solenoid opened start gate:  Click here to see our Start Gate

 

 

 

PLEASE READ -  We provide a complete kit of parts and illustrated instructions to enable the Cubs to do the installation.  They will have to use several common hand tools, a drill and a saw.  This hopefully will offer the Cubs a few hours of challenging work with proper adult supervision.  There is also some computer configuration consisting of connecting cables and installing software.

 

Free Software Upgrade

 

If you purchased a Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 system and would like to upgrade your system to the latest software and hardware, please email us and tell us you want the upgrade.  The FREE upgrade includes a new software program on CD and also a new computer chip.  You will need to install the new chip.  This upgrade will correct any problems that you may have had if you were using Windows XP.

 

The Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 System Checklist:

 

You must provide an IBM personal computer running Windows 95 or later and if you want sounds you must also have a sound card and speakers.

 

You must also have MS Excel installed on your computer.

 

Here are the prices for the Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 system.  Shipping and handling is 10%. Please add 6% sales tax if you reside in Pennsylvania.

 

Pinewood Pro Timer 2 - Prices

Price

Pinewood Pro-Timer 2 – (3 Car Base System)

$289.00

Each Additional Car (a maximum of 6 cars total 3 + 3)

$25.00/each

4-Color Tree Light (Optional)

$89.00

USB adaptor

$39.00

 

 

Printout our orderform

 

NOTE: We do not collect sales tax for states other than Pennsylvania.  If you are required to pay sales tax in your state, you must pay it yourself.

 

If you would like to purchase the system using either PayPal or your credit card we have a Shopping Cart.   Click on the appropriate Add-To-Cart button below.  You will be re-directed to a new window showing the items you wish to purchase.  You can see the contents of your shopping cart by clicking on the View Cart button below.

 

PPT System Choices

Click on Shopping Cart Button

 

3-Car

 

 

 

4-Car

 

 

 

5-Car

 

 

 

6-Car

 

 

 

Tree Light

 

 

USB Adaptor

 

 

 

 

 

Have a question?  Need something slightly different?  We would like to hear from you!     

E-mail: info@cp4e.com

 

 

Computer Products for Education

PO Box 1694, Kingston, PA 18704  

Copyright © 2006 by Computer Products for Education

 

 

 

 


Other Links:

 

Pinewood Derby Speed Secrets - Instructions for building your Pinewood Derby car plus 28 speed secrets and hints.