Race position board

[John Kwong]

Is there a solar panel to battery to inverter solution that could be put together to power the board?

[evannadeau]

I was thinking the same thing John. I think that would probably work well, dependent on the amp draw of the board. Or is there any chance the board also has a DC input?

[Mark]

A couple of considerations:

I orginally spec'd 2 conduits under the track at the timing tower. One was to allow a big power feed cable to allow the possibility of lighting in the future; the other was for a smaller power line for the scoreboard. Those conduits never got installed so there is no power.

While I agree the vertical orientation is preferable, it would be taller than the timing sea can and would need to either have bracket fabricated to support it to the side of the can or to move it somewhere else.

Do we still have the enclosure to allow it to be mounted vertically ?

As for a battery/inverter, it's possible but there are a LOT of high-brightness LEDs in each digit so the current draw isn't negligible. A battery bank that could run that all day long without having to turn it off when there wasn't a race happening would be significant. also consider multi-day race events where it would need to be charged each night (not via solar). I can look into it if we want to go that direction.

[Jen and Don]

I am all in as far as looking into , at least trying, to get this tower located central. It's a one time thing. And would be awesome. Is there anyone on the membership that has a connection to a directional bore machine? I'd be willing to hand trench the needed line as it doesn't need to be that deep. We don't have heavy traffic running over the area's where it needs to be run. I trenched 125' from my shop to my house for internet and dug it in only 8". I figure there is only two straight pieces of track to go under if we want it located in the central grass area. The area to go past at the pit exit/entry, could go overhead and come down at the marshal post in front of the control tower.

Solar has come a long way and may definitely be a viable option! Can't be that many amps to run LED lighted numbers, and 120v is always doable with batteries and a small inverter.

[Fred]

This is an emergency decision .. if it is to go on the sea can it has to be wired and mounted this week .. if you indeed want to put it infield (i still believe its for spectators not drivers and I would never allow my drivers to look at it ) someone has to commit to it now or it will never be used in 2021 .. you would have to horizontal drill under two track straights which has a heavy price attached to it and the complications it might have for the track heave.

I'll get it on the agenda at the exec meeting tomorrow and see if they want to commit money to it. I originally only wanted to know what orientation you wanted it in not relocation.

[John Kwong]

Apparently, the scoreboard's wireless capability is only short range, so wiring would need to be used for the distance to the center of the track. Trenching under the track is expensive and will eventually cause a bump or dip in the asphalt. When we built the track, we considered putting in piping underneath those lanes to accommodate wiring for the scoreboard but missed our window of opportunity before the base was put in.

I would recommend that we keep the scoreboard in the same position on the side of the new crow's nest but perhaps put it into the singular 1 row configuration with the appropriate supports to prevent any issues with the wind. Being one vertical column will be more visible from many vantage points.

John K

[Jen and Don]

I agree with John. Guess the mid field quest is out of our reach for now.

Definitely a vertical scoreboard as apposed to a side by side one seems to be the choice of many. I am in agreement.................

Don

[kolsen]

my $0.02

I rarely if ever look at the board while on the track, but that's me....I think the board overwhelmingly provides the greatest value to spectators. The other challenge would be how to accommodate driver visibility when the track direction changes...

It's definitely easier to read if it's all vertical. If a decision is needed now, then I say we stick with status quo - and as part of the site master plan we look at relocating to the infield.

I've been looking into directional drilling, and there are other options to accomplish this for shorter runs and small diameter (3"), that we can rent the kit and do it ourselves (Fred we can discuss tomorrow eve)

As far powering via solar, this might be possible, but I know there's more than just LEDs in there, there is a bunch of other electronics and fans ---looking at the daktronics site, a 5 digit board is rated for 2.5A and 300W, so we'd need 5A and 600w for our current boards (assuming it's similar - being older it might be higher req's) Think we'd need a pretty beefy system to support the board for a double header weekend...

Keith

[evannadeau]

What if it was on a post on the East side of the track. Could possibly sit at an angle where both spectators and drivers can see it (from both directions), and would not require any track crossing conduit runs.

The flagger position lights that signal greens and yellows, are they running on battery?

[kolsen]

The LED flags are battery powered, but keep in mind they are not on all the time, and a simpler device, so much lower power draw...