OK, I bought the power base that has the signal output on a (I think) RJ45 connector. Just need to try and find out which pin it outputs on to get that signal into the pi. I'll start off simply - just logging the car ID every time it completes a lap, and I'll work up to having a proper race manageme...

So thinking this through further, and bearing in mind that I'll want to upgrade to the ability to run 6 cars anyway at some point, I think I'll buy the 6 car powerbase, and get the output from that. That way the car detection part is already established and robust and I can use the output from that ...

I'd probably set it up so that the start line was directly after a corner, so the cars would not be going at full speed.

I think I'll take a stab at the circuit in the linked article. Total cost will be quite low, depending on how much a programmer for the IC is.

I'll report back!

If I can get a cheap CMOS programmer, I might just make that circuit as is on a breadboard - looks fairly straightforward - and put their code on it, then feed the output to my pi.

Not really sure what that means - does that mean I can't plug the output from the IR receiver directly into the IO pin on the pi?

That's quite interesting. You could do this all on the Pi I think - you should be able to monitor a GPIO at 2.2Khz (or 4.4 really for Nyquist). Not sure how IR detectors are normally plugged in but cannot be too horrendous. That woud be good. I think the IC does some error checking and disregards n...

So this looks interesting.
http://www.electricimages.co.nz/SSD_Decoder.ashx

Has a circuit diagram for a detector.
Guess I would also need a programmer to get the program onto the IC. Maplin probably sell one.

http://www.electricimages.co.nz/Scalextric_Digital.ashx#tab2563 Beneath the car is mounted a small Infra-Red LED which constantly pulses the car's ID downwards onto the track. Detectors mounted under the slot pick up the signal, and can decode which car is passing over them. The same signal carries ...

It seems people have worked out how to interface to SXC Digital. http://www.virklund.dk/scx/ http://www.fi.muni.cz/~kas/scxreader/ I don't know how they work to count laps, but you may find what you need in there. Thanks, that's really interesting. However, SCX is not the same as Scalextric . I wil...

Just found this, from http://www.electricimages.co.nz/Default.aspx?Page=Scalextric_Digital the Scalextric protocol leverages a square-wave 12v p-p high current signal driven onto the track. The signal is balanced, such that each 'side' of the lane is driven in opposite voltage, allowing the car to r...

Do you know how the current system detects which car goes past? You might be able to add a sensor for that specific method. (I'd guess an RFID tag of some sort) No idea. I'll try and find out. I don't think it's RFID, as the chip that you need to buy to make a car digital compatible is the same, an...

Hello Having been lucky enough to get a rPi for my birthday, I'm thinking of a few projects to do with it. My son got a Scalextric Digital set, which is pretty cool, so I was thinking of setting up a lap counter/timer system. I've already seen the project that uses reed switches under the track, whi...