I just bought a PIC 18f2520 and Olimex dev board and I'm programming with C18 in MPLAB. I would like to make a lap timer for my motorcycle. A lap timer is a device that records lap times every time it passes an IR beacon set out on the track. I thought it would be an easy first project but it may be harder than I thought ;-).
I need help with the following:
It doesn't need much of a user interface, just a button that I can push at the start of a session to create a new file with the date and time where the lap times will be stored. Power will be from the motorcycle for the receiver and a 12v car battery for the beacon.
I need help with the following:
- time source - I want it to keep the current date and time and have some sort of way to set it. The date and time will be used for keeping track of each session as well as each lap time. I don't know if I can use the PIC for this or if I need a separate circuit that I can query for the current time or something. Doesn't need to be terribly accurate, 1/100th of a sec resolution is fine but of course the more accurate the better.
- Storage device - the PIC has some eeprom on it but I would rather use SD cards for storage. The data would be stored as comma seperated values in a text file on the SD card so I could pop the card out and load the data into excel or whatever easily.
- IR transmitter/detector - something like a common 38hkz IR transmitter continually broadcasting a number. Should be capable of transmitting over 100 feet. Numbers or some sort of channel would be useful so multiple people can use the same beacon and/or the ability to set multiple beacons up around the track to monitor specific sections of the track. The receiver would send an interrupt that would cause the current time to be logged to the SD card along with the beacon ID.
It doesn't need much of a user interface, just a button that I can push at the start of a session to create a new file with the date and time where the lap times will be stored. Power will be from the motorcycle for the receiver and a 12v car battery for the beacon.