Electronic timer clock

[paul60]

I need some help and advise about building a circuit that saves the time when a beam is broken.
I breed and race homing pigeons. when the pigeons get back to there loft, they enter the loft through a small opening
called a trap I thought if i had a beam of light across the entrance to the loft that would trigger a clock to store the time
is this possible?

 

[Chemelec]

Yes it is Possible, But first you need to find a clock that has an option to Stop it and hold the time.
And you can use a Photo detector or a Proximity Detector.

 

[AnalogKid]

Very. Someone probably already makes one, but where's the fun in that? The least hardware effort uses a small microcontroller to do the counting, drive the display, and interface with the light beam system. But that takes programming skill, a complier, device programmer, etc. If you don't have all of that, then a single-chip digital clock circuit or module that is modified to inhibit the timebase when the beam is broken seems like a good place to start.

What are your skill sets for uC programming, soldering, wiring components on perf-board,etc?

ak

 

[AnalogKid]

Re-thinking -- is reliable AC power available near the trap? Any AC-powered alarm clock will have a point between the power supply (where it gets its 50/60 Hz timebase) and the clock chip where a modification could be installed.

ak

 

[paul60]

I need some help and advise about building a circuit that saves the time when a beam is broken.
I breed and race homing pigeons. when the pigeons get back to there loft, they enter the loft through a small opening
called a trap I thought if i had a beam of light across the entrance to the loft that would trigger a clock to store the time
is this possible?

If i was to use a clock as in enclosed photo so when the light beam is broken it disconnect the battery
now how do i go about finding a circuit to do this

 

[Bluejets]

I once modded a dick smith kitchen timer to monitor discharge time of nicad flight packs.
Connected a set of small relay contacts across the stop button.
Operation was, set timer to count up, set to zero time, start the discharger, then start the count up timer.
At the end of the discharge period, the discharger would pulse the small relay on and then off again to simulate a "stop" button press.
In your application, there are infra red slot switch modules or similar available on Ebay for maybe $2 which have a relay output that would do the same if connected via say a vane on the "in" door on your pidgeon coup.

 

[Bluejets]

This ir unit has a digital ( 5v ) output signal, which a resistor, small transistor and a relay could be added to give the desired "no volt output contacts" required to interface with whatever timer arrangement.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/TCRT500...red++arduino&_from=R40&rt=nc&LH_TitleDesc=0|0

This clock is an example with it's count-up count-down ability.
Difficult part will be knowing how to get it apart and soldering two small wires across (in this instance) the start/stop button.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Digital...104051?hash=item1eda934773:g:k6gAAOSwMgdXyA6L

 

[Bluejets]

Lastly,( many other ways also BUT) using your clock and a standard stop/start circuit and a relay with a microswitch on the "in" gate as the stop switch.

Note:-.....Microswitch could also be replaced by the previously mentioned IR relay contacts.

 

[paul60]

thanks bluejets I will try using my clock and the stop start circuit you supplied thanks