My dad wanted something portable like this for his chronograph and I tried the same thing - but I had no luck. With the light coming in from all sides, the projectile doesn't create enough of a shadow. So I tried concentrating the light to a smaller space directly above the sensor, and had SOME luck but nothing consistent. It turns out the problem is that chronographs operate in the infrared spectrum and most LED bulbs don't produce much infrared light. I had much better luck with a 15w incandescent light bulb (the ones they make for candle warmers) (above each sensor with an additional piece of material to block the light from hitting the opposite sensor) as incandescent bulbs produce a lot more infrared than LED's do. Only problem with that is it needs to be plugged into wall power. My next idea is to mount a single 10mm infrared LED bulb at the top-center of each of the 2 strips and power each one with a AA or C battery (they're rated at 1.4-1.6 volts each). Chronographs also work fine indoors if you use an incandescent light bulb in a socket directly overhead (like a 60w to 100w bulb), but accuracy falls the higher above the sensors your projectile goes due to the V-shape of the shadow relative to each sensor (think of your 2 sensors and light source creating a triangle). So you'll get artificially too high of readings this way.
Most chronos operate in the visible light. But the kind of LED's you use are importaint - dimmable leds (if they have a dimmer) cause the light to flicker and thuss, wont work with chronos. I bought a LED set that had a USB plug and a dimmer. Even on max brightness they flickered and reported wrong readings. But i removed the dimmer, and just drove it from a USB power bank and now it works reliable. Its important you drive the LEDs from a DC source like batteries, a AC-DC adaptor cause flicker aswell, as they generaly are switched supplies.
I didn't see anything in the manual for this one, and the company sells a similar product but the LEDs are located more in the diffuser bar (which may make a difference). If I have issues I'll have to update this video/description in the future
i have bought many battery operated leds, well three sets of two to be exact and it does affect the chrono. sometimes it doesnt work at all, and sometimes it goes crazy and other times it produces constant errors. i suspect i need both led sources to come from the same power source, if the front light is simply a tiny bit brighter due to battery charge that may throw it off. but who knows
its because LED's driven from a AC source flicker. Or if you have a dimmer circuit in it. DC driven LEDs work fine with my caldwell. I use a similar 5v LED strip but power from a USB-A plug
You're a readings will be wrong or you'll get an error with those lights you need to use 850 nm infrared light strips they come in adhesive backing and are like five dollars on eBay
Nice, I'm making my own 'tube' chronograph, (hopefully a few LEDs will be good enough lighting for that) but I don't want to shell out the £50 for an entry level one, which I could only use full length or half lengths with
Very nice! I've been wanting to do something similar with mine, so I can do away with the ghetto lamp setup I'm currently using, but I don't know enough about those LED strips. Do you have a link to the ones you used? Also, would there be any negative consequence to adding an appropriate resistor, and tapping into the chronograph's power? So everything comes from the same source, and turns on together?
Added to the description in case anyone else has the same question. You could definitely do that, and the only down side I would see (if set up correctly) would be that battery running out faster so you may want rechargeable ones. To drop the 9V to 5V you could use the resistor method, or a small voltage regulator board. I have used regulators like these before where you manually set the output with a knob, but there are nicer ones with digital displays as well. www.amazon.com/eBoot-LM2596-Converter-3-0-40V-1-5-35V/dp/B01GJ0SC2C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536777733&sr=8-3&keywords=voltage+regulator
My dad wanted something portable like this for his chronograph and I tried the same thing - but I had no luck. With the light coming in from all sides, the projectile doesn't create enough of a shadow. So I tried concentrating the light to a smaller space directly above the sensor, and had SOME luck but nothing consistent. It turns out the problem is that chronographs operate in the infrared spectrum and most LED bulbs don't produce much infrared light. I had much better luck with a 15w incandescent light bulb (the ones they make for candle warmers) (above each sensor with an additional piece of material to block the light from hitting the opposite sensor) as incandescent bulbs produce a lot more infrared than LED's do. Only problem with that is it needs to be plugged into wall power. My next idea is to mount a single 10mm infrared LED bulb at the top-center of each of the 2 strips and power each one with a AA or C battery (they're rated at 1.4-1.6 volts each). Chronographs also work fine indoors if you use an incandescent light bulb in a socket directly overhead (like a 60w to 100w bulb), but accuracy falls the higher above the sensors your projectile goes due to the V-shape of the shadow relative to each sensor (think of your 2 sensors and light source creating a triangle). So you'll get artificially too high of readings this way.
Most chronos operate in the visible light. But the kind of LED's you use are importaint - dimmable leds (if they have a dimmer) cause the light to flicker and thuss, wont work with chronos. I bought a LED set that had a USB plug and a dimmer. Even on max brightness they flickered and reported wrong readings. But i removed the dimmer, and just drove it from a USB power bank and now it works reliable.
Its important you drive the LEDs from a DC source like batteries, a AC-DC adaptor cause flicker aswell, as they generaly are switched supplies.
Straight forward and short ! 👍
I don't know about your chrono, but my Caldwell said in the instruction manual that light from LEDs could effect readings. But this is a cool idea.
I didn't see anything in the manual for this one, and the company sells a similar product but the LEDs are located more in the diffuser bar (which may make a difference). If I have issues I'll have to update this video/description in the future
Mine has a light bar like that, but I'm not sure what type of bulbs it uses.
i have bought many battery operated leds, well three sets of two to be exact and it does affect the chrono. sometimes it doesnt work at all, and sometimes it goes crazy and other times it produces constant errors. i suspect i need both led sources to come from the same power source, if the front light is simply a tiny bit brighter due to battery charge that may throw it off. but who knows
its because LED's driven from a AC source flicker. Or if you have a dimmer circuit in it. DC driven LEDs work fine with my caldwell. I use a similar 5v LED strip but power from a USB-A plug
Sooooooooooo..... does it work?
You're a readings will be wrong or you'll get an error with those lights you need to use 850 nm infrared light strips they come in adhesive backing and are like five dollars on eBay
Nice, I'm making my own 'tube' chronograph, (hopefully a few LEDs will be good enough lighting for that) but I don't want to shell out the £50 for an entry level one, which I could only use full length or half lengths with
Very nice! I've been wanting to do something similar with mine, so I can do away with the ghetto lamp setup I'm currently using, but I don't know enough about those LED strips.
Do you have a link to the ones you used?
Also, would there be any negative consequence to adding an appropriate resistor, and tapping into the chronograph's power? So everything comes from the same source, and turns on together?
Added to the description in case anyone else has the same question. You could definitely do that, and the only down side I would see (if set up correctly) would be that battery running out faster so you may want rechargeable ones. To drop the 9V to 5V you could use the resistor method, or a small voltage regulator board. I have used regulators like these before where you manually set the output with a knob, but there are nicer ones with digital displays as well.
www.amazon.com/eBoot-LM2596-Converter-3-0-40V-1-5-35V/dp/B01GJ0SC2C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1536777733&sr=8-3&keywords=voltage+regulator
@@Rmods74 awesome! Thank you very much!
That's clever
Great job ....👍
But have you tried measured on outdors with your mofify chrono?
If the results like on indoors, its mean your light have done well 🙏🙏🙏
I don't think this works
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