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oXigen in the wild (Le Mans 24hrs)

10K views 51 replies 8 participants last post by  tamar.nelwan 
#1 ·
Hi all.
For those following the oXigen developments, you may be aware the Gary Skipp and others are organizing a digital 24hrs race on a Le Mans shaped circuit using oXigen.
Well, it's been only after Gary posted images of the track assembly that I realised the size of the project: an entire gym! You may follow the thread over here

It's the first time that an oXigen system is used completely outside our control and so far, according to Gary, so good. It's certainly a thorough test which is already helping us shaping and fixing the manuals, whose first release has been uploaded to our website and will be available as soon as the update is online (I hope within this week).

Regards
Maurizio
 
#3 ·
It may also be worth mentioning that we have used an independant power supply for both the circuit and the SCP-1 controllers, which we have wired and configured ourselves. I will try and take some more pictures and video of the testing we are doing ahead of the race.
 
#4 ·
Hello Guys, not sure where to post these questions (here or in the Events forum) but since this question is Slot it related....

Just mailed our registration form for the 24 hrs, 1/32nd ....going back to our roots.
The main reason why we've entered this race is to get accquinted with the oXigen system under race conditions, as we would like to use it in the future for the 1/28 & 1/24 cars we normally run, but ok that's a different story


We're still in research mode for what car to build for this race...and some questions that surfaced concern oXigen.

1 Oxigen controller and system
In order to properly build, test and develop our car for the race we are in desparate need of some oXigen asap
.

What would we need to get 1 car up and running on an analog Ninco club track (controller, dongel, chip what else?).
One of our team members has an old Slot it controller...that's it
I've contacted the Dutch slot it distributor (Fred Quick) and asked him when he would get oXigen.....he had no idea!!!!
Can you give some info on when and how we can what we need asap?

Car chipping
Furthermore there are several chassis options ( for example NSR) that might be problematic with placing the standard oXigen chip (with build in led) Now I've read that there a chips with a seperate led configuration
2 Can you provide more info on its placement and dimensions ? What would be the ideal position for the led?
3 will these type of chips also be provided for by the 24hrs organisation?

I think that other entrants might be having the same questions so... Maurizio if you can inform us please


with kind regards
Tamar
 
#5 ·
Hi Tamar

Hopefully I can answer your questions, and Maurizio will tell me if I'm wrong!

To test on a club analogue track, you will need a controller module and a chip only. The module will fit your existing SCP-1. The dongle is only needed for race management, timing, pitlane, etc, so this isn't necessary just for driving/testing. You'll be able to get laptimes from your existing lightbridge, or whatever you use. You'll also need a dummy controller plug, to short the positive and signal to the track so that the rails are live. But that's no big deal


For the cars I have chipped, I tried to keep the chip directly in front of the motor. You may need to drill a small hole for the infra-red sensor. The biggest problem is the capacitor, if you have very tight bodywork/interior, or a wierdly placed front axel then it might get in the way. I'll have a look at the SCX Dome later and see what the options are.

Your chip will be provided, yes
 
#6 ·
Here's some photos with the o2 chip fitted to an SCX Dome. OK, I cheated a little because I have fitted a wired guide and s-can motor, but hey..









As you can see, I needed to remove the standard interior. There is enough space to fit a 'pan' with driver's head & shoulders and dashboard required by the 24hr regs.

The hole in the chip fits exactly around the body post on the standard chassis. I know you want to use a scratch chassis, but using the standard one might not be a bad idea! It's a perfect fit!


The hall sensor has just been taped in place for the photos.

Any questions let me know
 
#7 ·
QUOTE (tamar.nelwan @ 23 Jan 2012, 22:54) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hello Guys, not sure where to post these questions (here or in the Events forum) but since this question is Slot it related....

1 Oxigen controller and system
In order to properly build, test and develop our car for the race we are in desparate need of some oXigen asap
.

What would we need to get 1 car up and running on an analog Ninco club track (controller, dongel, chip what else?).
One of our team members has an old Slot it controller...that's it
I've contacted the Dutch slot it distributor (Fred Quick) and asked him when he would get oXigen.....he had no idea!!!!
Can you give some info on when and how we can what we need asap?

Tamar,
Gary's right in what he says. To test the car, you just need a oXigen cartridge (use existing SCP1) and an in-car chip. For now, only the 'large type' chip O201a is available. The small one will be available later on.

As for Fred... When he'll place an order he gets the stuff

Jokes apart, even distributors have just received the price and parts list, so I guess he will do it very soon. I'll see him next week anyway at the Toy Fair.

Do you have an SCP 1.0 or 1.1?
 
#8 ·
@LMP

Hello Gary

First off all thx for the time and effort that you've put in your reply. The pictures have been a great help, but have raised some questions as well




From what I read there's a led somewhere on the board that did the communication with the LC via infrared...but I can't discover the led on the circuit board...
So I assume that the "hall sensor" is the part that communicates with the LC? You wrote that you've taped it in place for the Photo's but where should this otherwise be positioned?....confused


Last night I did some prelimanary work on the Dome, mainly to check what would fit under those sleek bodylines, First thing I did was to cut the drivertub as it would foul the motor bracket.



And the Dome's quite low at the rear deck. Had to dremel the body and cut down the motorbracket for a good fit.



P.S the HRS chassis is just there for measurement purposes, needed something quick and dirty to get a general idea where the guide and motorbracket should be.
This is as low as the body will ever be. @the rear the body rests on the bearing bracket and @ the front on the front wheels.

 
#10 ·
No sorry, we can't do ordering like this I'm afraid...
Yes it is an Hall sensor. Note that it must be at an angle, around 60°. We're making a special plastic part (see image) to hold it - available in a couple of months. With luck I may be able to bring a few at the 24 hrs

 
#11 ·
Hello Maurizio

Thx for the fast reply, I will contact Fred and have him order via the "proper channels"

Sorry for the many questions, but its a steep learning curve, there's so much info out there that filtering out what you need has become somewhat difficult....and there's a time limit

In the end I did find most of the answers concerning the placement of the led, and a wiki search led me to understand that the Hall sensor is used to detect the (magnets of ) the Finish line

Anyhow found a nice youtube vid that gave some good info (courtesey of Hotslot 132 shop) and off course Maurizio's tech drawing of the Oxigen chip that I will use as a template


Here's 2 screen captures of the LED's position





And of course there's more questions for Maurizio

1 What is max distance (height above the track) in which the LED works with the LC reciever?
2 What is the preferred distance from the guide's pivoting point for the LED?

This last question is mainly for should one want to chip an AW or SW chassis. Usually there's more room for the chip towards the rear of the chassis (in front of the motor) and especially in the larger scales (1/28, 1/24) which are our main interest, the distances between where you can place the chip and the guide is much bigger.

with kind regards
Tamar
p.s Maybe its a good idea for the mods of this forum to split and combine some of the threads in a new oxigen sub forum where members can post their chipped cars or any questions related to chipping.
 
#12 ·
Tamar, as a physical reference for the 'type a' O2 chip O201a, you may use the SSD chip SP12 - same LED position, but bigger (O2) capacitor.
If possible keep the LED flush with bottom of chassis, but if this turns out to be impossible, make a wider hole so that the cone of the IR light is not obscured by the walls surrounding the recessed LED. I'm not able to give you a number - keep it as low as possible.
As for positioning, either put it where it is supposed to be (like in the pictures you posted) or turn it 180°. It's better to keep the LED near the pickup.
Do not exceed 35mm between pivot and LED.
 
#13 ·
Hello Maurizio

Again thx for the fast response, just the extra info I was looking for...and yes turning the chip 180 did pass my mind

So what ever the position of the chip: do not exceed 35mm between pivot point guide and signal led!
I guess this has to do with the physical distance between the LC reciever and the actual flipper?
Am I correct in concluding that (for example a 1/24 chassis with a "forward facing guide blade") one should measure this 35mm from the tip off the guide.

Also clear on the height of the LED,as low as possible, just keep a clear line of sight with a wider spread as you move the led up.
How prone is the chip to toasting should one decide to desolder the led and mount it with an extension wire?

With kind regards
Tamar
 
#15 ·
I was just wondering if anyone has any pictures of an install of the o2 chip inside one of the new NSR cars (drop guide models)
I am wondering how difficult it would it be to install a LED on fly leads to a chip (type a) on one of these cars while the type B chips are made.

Thanks.
 
#16 ·
Ha, ha, good one Profoxcg, I posted the same question somewhere as we were considering an NSR type chassis for our Dome as well. With the info Maurizio profided it should be possible, but it looked like it would cause other placement and wiring problems under an already tight fitting body. Not to mention adding xtra points off failure for an 24hrs endurance,
So we dropped that route
 
#17 ·
@Maurizio: Lights please

Undoubtably covered somwhere else on this forum, but can't find it so...

Maurizio, you wrote somehwere that with the O2 you'd be able to switch the lights on and of via the controller...cool feature, would love to flash my lights on the mulsanne straight

But combining the O2 chip with the Slot.it SP10 light kit looks difficult...as they are supposed to be mounted in the same place on the chassis ???????

Or does the O2 chip have the light circuitry integrated ?
Meaning we just need the SISP11 set to make it work ?

with kind regards
Tamar
RfH
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Questions: Multiple controllers, 1 car/ O2 chip

Sorry to be such a pain in the butt with all my questions, but....I was just wondering.

Nothing more personal for a slotter than his/her's controller.
So for the race we've bought a couple of SCP1's so each driver can have its own.

Are there any special procedures required to run one car...with multiple controllers?
I mean, I understand that you program the controller to link it to a designated chip, but....
Can you program more that one controller to one chip?
And once programmed I guess you need to switch the other controllers off when you start driving

O2 Chip
The 02 Chip has arrived and it looks like it will be a tight fit, but it will fit. Images of the footprint of the chip were helpful, so many thx for providing those.
But during a trail fitting we saw how tall the chip was, or to be more specific how tall the capacitor mounted on the chip was in its upright position.
It barely cleared the body, less than 1mm to spare.

An other big surprise was how much the whole set weights.... 6 gr

That's almost 10% of the total weight of the car. During our testruns we had 3 grams ballast where the chip would be, but this chip is twice as heavy!!
On a more positive note, I assume that that extra socket in the middle of the chip is to plug in the Slot.it light set?

Just verifying, we are allowed to alter/replace/modify the cables going to and coming of the chip...yes?

with kind regards
Tamar
Racing for Holland

sponsored by slotshop.nl
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
QUOTE (tamar.nelwan @ 22 Mar 2012, 10:08) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Questions: Multiple controllers, 1 car/ O2 chip

Sorry to be such a pain in the butt with all my questions, but....I was just wondering.

Nothing more personal for a slotter than his/her's controller.
So for the race we've bought a couple of SCP1's so each driver can have its own.

Are there any special procedures required to run one car...with multiple controllers?
I mean, I understand that you program the controller to link it to a designated chip, but....
Can you program more that one controller to one chip?
And once programmed I guess you need to switch the other controllers off when you start driving

with kind regards
Tamar
Racing for Holland

sponsored by slotshop.nl

Hello Tamar

since we still allow Maurizio to sleep - so long as he doesn't make too much habit of it and slow down answering our questions

I can answer this part of your questions.

I just made some tests using 2 controllers with one car.
It was neccessary in each case to
i) Decide or learn which channel you are allocated.
ii) set the knobs on both controllers to the same positions, ready for programming this channel
iii) Program controller 1 to the car - leave controller 2 turned off.

When you are ready to change drivers/controllers you must
iv) remove the car from the lane (maybe just raise the guide from the slot)
v) turn off controller 1
vi) turn on controler 2
vii) repeat the usual depression of knobs to "pair" the car and controller 2.
viii) put the car back in slot and the controller will lock onto it
ix) Squeeze trigger twice - (first time it seems there is no power to the car, 2nd time it goes normally)

to go back to driver/controller 1, repeat steps iv to ix.
My opinion is that if the drivers like different settings, it is much faster to make a picture of each driver's settings, and give it to him. Then use the same controller and adjust the settings, which takes much less time than "re-pairing" the car to different controllers.

As an extra tip, I have found that sometimes because of the need to press two buttons on the controller, then squeeze the trigger fully, I get something out of sequence or just not right, and the LED display does not begin "rotating" on the controller in readiness for finding the car when it is placed in the slot. If that happens, release and squeeze the trigger one time, and the rotation begins on the LED. It is therefore not neccessary to release the two buttons and start again.
- I think is is worse because I am left-handed and clumsy.
- Maurizio .... I want a left handed controller
.....
 
#20 ·
QUOTE (slotcrazy @ 22 Mar 2012, 04:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>since we still allow Maurizio to sleep - so long as he doesn't make too much habit of it and slow down answering our questions

I can answer this part of your questions.

Hello Slotcrazy

Well...that's the beauty of this whole wolrd wide web/ time zone thing isn't it, there's always some one awake to answer your questions


THX for the info very helpful
So if I get this right:
1 the controller will loose its pre designated channel once its turned of.
2 you need to link chip and controller every time its turned back on...hmmmm

Ok as we will be planning driver changes with a quick pitstop we'll have some time to perform this procedure.
Geuss we'll just have to practice on how fast we can run the (re)program sequence.
Did you try if its possible to swap the cartridges between controllers?

with kind regards
Tamar
Racing for Holland

sponsored by slotshop.info
 
#21 ·
Sorry but I've been away for racing (yes oXigen, see it here ), then I took a day off then felt sick and still got a headache. But it was worth if you want to take a look here


Currently you must have one controller, one car. To use another controller, you need to reprogram the car. You can have more cars linked to one controller, but I understand you want it the other way around.
Each controller has a unique code, that we can call MAC as if it was a Ethernet hw. During ID programming, the car is programmed to respond only to the controller whose MAC matches the one received from the controller during the ID programming phase. I understand this may be an issue for some but there's a specific reasons for this:
ID programming can happen if and only if, after reset and within a certain period of time, the car does not receive a 'run' code from its own controller, and receives instead a 'program ID' command on a specific frequency. If there was no MAC, imagine this scenario: cars 1 to 5 are racing. Racer 4 wants to try another car, that he previously had programmed (on his home track, for example), as car 3. HEnce, he must reprogram its ID to 4. Without MAC, right after reset the car would get a valid command from someone else's controller 3, hence it would be impossible to reprogram the car on ID4 unless racer 3 unplugged its own controller. With MAC matching, the car #3 discards any 'run' commands coming from driver 3's controller, hence it can be reprogrammed.

However, we understand the need for coupling more than one controller to one car. We are working on such procedure, which will be made public in the future. Not ready yet, but on the 'to do' list. As well as an interface box for other personal controllers (i.e. not Slot.it SCP-1).

Regards
Maurizio
 
#22 ·
Ooh, that sounds interesting. Something to let those with other (analog, I assume) controllers use them for oXigen? I know a lot of people who are "married" to their controllers that would appreciate such an option.
 
#23 ·
QUOTE (MrFlippant @ 22 Mar 2012, 15:39) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Ooh, that sounds interesting. Something to let those with other (analog, I assume) controllers use them for oXigen? I know a lot of people who are "married" to their controllers that would appreciate such an option.

I could not agree more, no offence to the slot.it controller....but it took me more than a month to get used to....and still
 
#24 ·
Yes exactly.
It's a request we get, we'll see what can be done. The main problem is that with all the different types of controllers out there,resistor, diode, transistor based... we need to come out with something that works with most devices, reliably and economically enough to be made and sold!
 
#25 · (Edited by Moderator)
Lights Please part II

Ok guys, here we go again
The cars are in their final stages of construction. This weekend our Electronics wizzard was busy with the lights and their power supply.
Got them all burning nice and bright, the whole set : Led's, cables and connector that goes into the body weights 1,5 gr...so far so good.

Now for the power supply we have 2 options, we can
1. Solder the feed wires direct from the guidewires and us a voltage regulator to bring the voltage down to 5,5volt
2 Use the plug on the chip to feed our power supply which should have a 5 volt output.



Obviously option 2 has our preference as this way we can eliminate the extra voltage regulator. Its a tight fit under the body and besides space it saves half a gram.
Unfortunately the Dutch Supplier still has no cartridges available for our controllers...so we can't test the chip or measure what the output is (besides that the left pin is the ground/negative)

Can any of you guys help out and verify this for us?

For as far as we've been able to find out from the info available it should be
Left pin = black wire = ground
middle pin = White wire = >5 volts (for the brake lights)
Right pin = red wire = 5 volts ( for all lights under regular driving)

With kind regards
Tamar
Racing for Holland

sponsored by slotshop.info

p.s. As you can see The O2 chip fits snugly in the modded Racer's Dome chassis, that is after making a round hole for the IR led square and moving it 3 mm forward

another big thanks for shipping them, has been really helpful!
 
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