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Race timer
#3
I tried several displays. I didn't try E-Paper, but I would think it would be the only thing that is really very readable in direct sunlight. The problem with E-Paper is that it has a slow update time, which I don't think would work well with a countdown timer.

I used an Adafruit LED display that was advertised as being very bright, It is, but still I find myself shielding the display from the sun sometimes. The countdown tones help, but for me, the ideal solution would be a monochrome display similar to what is used in most on-deck instruments, with a diagonal polarizer so that it is readable while wearing polarized sunglasses (I found out about the diagonal polarization when I replaced the polarizer one of my Raymarine instruments). I'd also like, some day, to have the alert sounds as an actual voice - while the beeps are good to indicate the countdown, nothing is better than a loud voice that says "One Minute to Class Flag down!" or something like that.

I've only tried the OLED in testing on the bench, and using sunlight through the window. It still washes out, but it doesn't seem to be as bad as LEDs. One thing I intend to try is inversing the display to black on white to see if that is better. One problem I'm having with the OLED and the current code is that the loop tries to update the display on every cycle. OLEDs take some time to update (as much as 40ms) and I'm thinking that might be contributing to exception errors I'm getting on the ESP32.

As far as what device to use, I'm discovering that the ESP32 may not be the right platform for this, at least not with the current code. For one thing, there is no TONE library for the ESP32 - I'm in the process of trying to do something with the internal CW generator, or perhaps with PWM - unfortunately there aren't really libraries for Arduino to work with it so more direct coding is required. The other things is, even though it is cheap, the ESP32 is a pretty big overkill for this little program. It's a very powerful device! So, I'd suggest either an Arduino, or an ESP8266. I'm still going to make it work on the ESP32 just as a learning exercise - one thing it does have that would be very helpful is a sleep mode that draws very little current - it might help in battery life.

As far as your wishlist:
- GPS synced signal (< 1 sec Accuracy) on full minute, compensation for canon.
I would think this would be pretty easy - since on most Openplotter-based boats GPS NMEA is available via Wifi. You really would only have to sync once in a session.
- 5 min repeating sequence
That's already there - mode 3 (5r)
- Mute function (clock keeps counting down but no signal, eg for delay or General recall)
That's a good idea. For the tone alerts I just turn off or turn down the amplifier, but it would be nice to prevent the horn from sounding as well. That might be as simple as a switch!
- Log of signals on webpage (including time), option to download / save
That would be cool!
- (Next) Flags up | down on a webpage
This also would be cool, and pretty easy to do.
- Solenoid to release a elastic powered flag (I only see a option for up only, down need to be a fixed line)
On the AC races in San Francisco, they used flags that got sucked into a pipe. I assume they were using a motor to make that happen, with perhaps some limit switches. Something like that wouldn't be hard, but I worry about too much automation! Still, as it becomes increasingly difficult to find volunteer deck crew for races, it would be nice to be able to run a committee boat with only 1 or 2 persons.

When we start talking about wind for ORC ratings and that sort of thing, we start needing storage, and then we get into something like a PI, or perhaps an SD card on an Arduino or ESP. That's great, and I would love to see it, but my experience with race officers, particularly the ones at the international level, is that they are pretty skeptical of any automation. Some, like my good friend Peter Von Muden, embrace it - he even brings a suitcase weather station to the events he works on. (My problem with Peter is convincing him that there are other operating systems beyond Windows!). Others generally still prefer their stopwatches, air horns and flags on poles! So whatever is made has to be simple, bullet proof, and easy to override.

Good discussion and suggestions. Let me know if you get it working and if you have any code suggestions. I'm not a professional programmer, and I'm a little ashamed to show my code to others!
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Messages In This Thread
Race timer - by abarrow - 2017-12-30, 03:58 PM
RE: Race timer - by Sjoerd02 - 2017-12-31, 02:32 PM
RE: Race timer - by abarrow - 2017-12-31, 04:31 PM

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