Racing Lights for athletics running track, 40-50m. What are the correct questions to ask?

B

BoomerNation999

New elf
Joined
Sep 8, 2021
Messages
3
I am looking for answers, as well as questions to ask.

I am a complete beginner to this world. I have posted some on reddit threads, but have yet to find answers. I have watched YouTube series as well.

I am looking to create some racing lights, 40m-50m long for a running track. I am attempting to help a small track program with this project. Something similar, but a smaller scale to Wavelight. However, 20k is quite a bit more than we can afford.

I am hoping to help sprinters by utilizing chasing lights to keep and drive up pace. What is the simplest set up?

What kind of lights are going to be durable, or able to be moved often? I've watched the YouTube series, but understand the level of expertise that is available on these forums, and hoped to get a little guidance.

More details about the purpose of running/pacing lights in the news:
 
Hello, and welcome. I'm a complete beginner here but looked at the article and these things come to mind.
1. Is installation going to be permanent or not? (You hinted at being able to move things so semi permanent?)
2. Where is the power coming from? Is this only for a training facility with power or will you need batteries or a generator to run it.
3. Is the track strait or are there curves?
4. What spacing do you want between the pixels? (It looks like led strip which is fairly high density)
5. What sort of weather are they going to be used in?
6. How are you going to set the timing / pace?

The distance isn't much of an issue since it is only 50m or just under 170 feet. Bullet pixels or square pixels would be fairly durable and something that is reasonably priced.

As for mounting them to things there are many different ways to do it.
Perma track is something available in the US https://www.permatrack.us/shop/permatrack/
For bends you could look at modifying and using PVC housing trim with landscape edging
People use 1/2" pvc drilled out for mounting lights which also bends.

The hardest part is going to be controlling the lights and the timing of the pace in my opinion.

Those are just some of my initial thoughts.

Dean
 
You could make a fairly robust system by putting lengths of WS2811 strip inside lengths of white/clear rigid PEX water pipe. You would end up with rigid lengths of lights that would require some sort of butt join every 4m or 5m or whatever PEX comes in lengths of. PEX provides a fairly good diffuse omnidirectional light. The use of higher leds/metre count pixel strip would give you a brighter chase light. As you only ever have a short section turned on voltage drop wouldn't be a significant issue. PEX is pretty tough and would handle being walked on with little issue and would probably handle running spikes pretty well. The joins would have to be made water/runner proof but that wouldn't be that hard to do.
It wouldn't be that hard to create chase sequences. You could use something like a raspberry pi with different sequences to match the different events.
Have a search for "leaping arches" and you'll see what is done and how it looks. Because most of the Christmas light stuff is for night time it would probably be necessary to use higher than the typical 30 led per metre pixel strip in order to be daylight visible.
At a guess I'd say you could create something that is usable for under $10/m regardless of length. Curves shouldn't be especially hard. I suggested the rigid rather than roll PEX as repeatedly rolling the strip back up is probably more likely to damage it.
 
What's wrong with releasing a German Shepard behind them for motivation? 😁
Im guessing it would be during daylight so would need to be something bright? My thoughts would be just have a lot of sequences with a chase to different time lengths (4.4 seconds, 4.5 seconds etc) then run the sequence that that runner would be chasing.
 
Definately WS2811 pixels as they are easier to drive sequentially. Depending on spacing 2", 3" or 4" is roughly 500 to 1000 pixels.
To keep things simple I would probably go down the Arduino path with a rotary encoder. Powers on instantly and once you have the code working is fairly foolproof.
Turning the encoder would change the speed of the chase and then a sensor (IR across the start line) or switch to trigger the start/stop/reset. You could even have all the lights go red, orange, green when you press the start button.
Have a look on either hackster.io or adafruit for examples of the FastLED library.
 
Last edited:
A video online of this in action:

View: https://player.vimeo.com/video/154329809


I can see in this video that it has presumably a power source and controlling device for the light strip every 10m (32ft).

Main issue I get is brightness outside. Strip or nodes, it will be barely visible in bright sunlight.
1631150771542.jpeg1631150778476.jpeg


I would take waterproof pixel strip and place it in a aluminium C-channel. I don't think it's necessary to spend the money on the version with a diffuser designed for strip.

1631150379643.png
I would do this mainly so it's compact.

Controlling/software wise:
My first thought is an Arduino. Similar to the video posted above, code written to take a potentiometer dial input and correlate that to a chase speed.

The ultimate goal in that would be to have a small LCD attached and the Arduino's code displays the time taken for the lights to chase over 50m.

Post #2 from me to follow from me with another idea.
 
Mark_M said:
Post #2 from me to follow from me with another idea.
Click to expand...
Idea #2.
Thinking outside of lights. Could it be something mechanical...?

I'm thinking a closed loop pulley with a flag.
complete_with_flag.JPG
Either end has a pulley and paracord in a loop between. A flag attached as marker.
A flag would be used so no end stop switch is needed, the flag would just go around the pulley.

Each end can have a hole big enough for the pulley's spike to sit in. This would give a perfect 50m and insure the loop is tight. Ideally in concrete so it will not move over time.
hole_in_track.JPG

One of the pulley's would have a motor inside.
We know the distance; so calculating the revolutions per minute with the radius of the pulley, into meter per second of the loop would be easy.
A simple Arduino sketch (code) with a screen and a knob. I would use the knob to set the time taken. Background task would assume 50m distance.
Arduino can easily calculate all the stuff in the background for how fast the motor spins.
pulley_with_motor.JPG


This also means it could be battery powered? LED strip takes a lot of power.
It also saves having to run power constantly beside it, as only one end needs power.

The system would also have a natural speed ramp instead of instant speed.
 
NTKing(Brad) said:
What's wrong with releasing a German Shepard behind them for motivation? 😁
Im guessing it would be during daylight so would need to be something bright? My thoughts would be just have a lot of sequences with a chase to different time lengths (4.4 seconds, 4.5 seconds etc) then run the sequence that that runner would be chasing.
Click to expand...
Go with a Rottweiler if they are looking to set new records. :D

Mark_M:
Click to expand...
LED strip takes a lot of power.
It also saves having to run power constantly beside it, as only one end needs power.
Click to expand...

The led strip actually uses very little power as you would only have maybe 1 metre lit up at a time. With 30 led/metre 12V strip and using white that would be 550mA. The balance of the 40-50m would probably use sub 100mA as it's not driving any leds. The lit up section would probably be red, white, green or something like that and as only 1 colour is lit up for the majority of it the current would be more like 250mA for the lit up section and 350mA overall.
 
Thank you guys so much. I have not had as much success getting information from other places.

Indigogyre said:
1. Is installation going to be permanent or not?
Click to expand...
I would like this to not be permanent. I am pretty sure they would like to move it around, as they will train in a few places.
Indigogyre said:
Is the track strait or are there curves
Click to expand...
The plan is to have just a straight area. I understand how moving them a lot could lead to damaging them. maybe instead of one 50m strand, i have 25 - 2m strands connected. (once again I really have very little idea how things work).

However, if this is a very successful venture, someone will want to do an entire track around, 400m, i am sure of it.

AAH said:
PEX is pretty tough and would handle being walked on with little issue and would probably handle running spikes pretty well.
Click to expand...
I have used pex a lot, (I used to be a plumber) rolling it up in a wide arc could be safer than folding small sections. But disconnecting could be better, depending on how durable the connections are and constant plugging and unplugging would affect them.

Grozzy said:
Definately WS2811 pixels as they are easier to drive sequentially. Depending on spacing 2", 3" or 4" is roughly 500 to 1000 pixels.
To keep things simple I would probably go down the Arduino path with a rotary encoder. Powers on instantly and once you have the code working is fairly foolproof.
Turning the encoder would change the speed of the chase and then a sensor (IR across the start line) or switch to trigger the start/stop/reset. You could even have all the lights go red, orange, green when you press the start button.
Click to expand...
That sounds like an awesome idea. the red green blue is great. It seems from reading and watching youtube that the pixel lights are definitely the best path to take.
The flag pully system definitely seems like it could be easier and less expensive. Just like a dog track chasing a rabbit. But the Rottweiler idea could also be great, we have bears here as well.

AAH said:
The led strip actually uses very little power as you would only have maybe 1 metre lit up at a time.
Click to expand...
I do not know the power situation. we can probably have extension cords, or I have used car batteries with inverters on them before.


it seems like the biggest issue is moving it around and durablity. i think a raspberry pi with a small LCD screen could allow me to select 5.0, 4.95, 4.9, 4.85 seconds as we train. But the rotary encoder might be even easier.

Basically a friend I coach sports with is going to buy this. He has two sons he wants to train with. But we are friends with the track coach, and he will use it as well, so the mobility seems like it is something they will want.
 
BoomerNation999 said:
Questions about e product possibilities.


Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect

Alitove Pixel Light or Aliexpress Ray Wu store

power Supply

Will these work together?

Are there any other items I will need?

I will look into either using the aluminum C channel, or using rolled up clear pex (simply for mobility)

Once again thank you so much for replies.
Click to expand...
The RP2040 is an awesome new controller that has far better CPU and RAM than the older Arduino boards. The only thing I would put a question mark on is as it is so new I'm not sure how well all the old libraries and code examples translate over to it.

I would maybe look at the square pixels as they have a lower profile. The bullets stick out quite a bit.

As long as you keep the first pixel very close to the controller (centimetres rather than metres) you should be fine otherwise you will need a booster/shifter (74LS125 or F-Amp or level shifter)
 
This thread is very old. An answer might not be needed anymore.
Back
Top