Ace of Spades
New Member
Hello everyone! New to the forums and a bit new to electronics. Well, sorta kinda. I took BEE back in 1991 but haven't used any of that knowledge except the common Ohm's law formulas. You see, I'm a Residential/Commercial electrician but have always been intrigued/baffled by the electronics (smaller circuitry) side since then. Never built anything since the electronics kit I received when I was about 10. That was 30 years ago. So I don't remember much at all.
What brings me here is the desire to follow through with my quest for knowledge and learn something that I probably would never have the time or inclination if we didn't have the internet. What I would like to build as my first project is a lane judge for a pinewood derby track. How do I go about doing such a thing? Or better yet, where do I start my learning process here? I'm not asking anyone to design this and do it all for me as I wouldn't learn anything so if you can, steer me in the right direction so I may learn how this whole system would work.
Just in case you need some info on my project, I need there to be a way to detect the placing of each car and be able to display that at the finish line using some 7-segment LED's. I am going to incorporate some flashing lights above the winning car as well. Another thing I am going to design is a countdown timer with lights at the starting line like the ones used at drag races. I saw one on another track that also incorporated an automatic car release once the light turned green. Ingenious concept! Anyway, that's the start of my projects. Please help a electronics tech 'wanna-be' get his feet wet. Thank you!
Ken
*sorry for being so long-winded.*
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
What brings me here is the desire to follow through with my quest for knowledge and learn something that I probably would never have the time or inclination if we didn't have the internet. What I would like to build as my first project is a lane judge for a pinewood derby track. How do I go about doing such a thing? Or better yet, where do I start my learning process here? I'm not asking anyone to design this and do it all for me as I wouldn't learn anything so if you can, steer me in the right direction so I may learn how this whole system would work.
Just in case you need some info on my project, I need there to be a way to detect the placing of each car and be able to display that at the finish line using some 7-segment LED's. I am going to incorporate some flashing lights above the winning car as well. Another thing I am going to design is a countdown timer with lights at the starting line like the ones used at drag races. I saw one on another track that also incorporated an automatic car release once the light turned green. Ingenious concept! Anyway, that's the start of my projects. Please help a electronics tech 'wanna-be' get his feet wet. Thank you!
Ken
*sorry for being so long-winded.*