Renats Kevrels' ProTimer Is a Do-It-Yourself Timing System for Runners, Bikers, and More
Powered by an Espressif ESP8266, this compact break-beam race timing system promises 0.003 second accuracy.
Maker Renats Kevrels has released a do-it-yourself high-accuracy timing system for cyclists, runners, skaters, and more — delivering a claimed 0.003 second resolution: ProTimer.
"ProTimer [is] a versatile, open source training timer you can build yourself," Kevrels explains. "Designed for athletes and enthusiasts, it offers high accuracy, wireless connectivity, and a range of customizable features. Whether you’re training for speed, endurance, or precision, ProTimer is the perfect solution."
The ProTimer hardware is based on the user's choice of an infrared or laser sensor, with the latter offering increased rage, connected to an Espressif ESP32 microcontroller. The beam from the sensor unit is fired to a retro-reflective panel that bounces its back — unless the beam is broken by a runner, cyclist, or other object, in which case the sensor fires off an event.
The units' design includes an optional on-board display for immediate feedback, cloud connectivity to a service Kevrels has launched for historical tracking, a companion smartphone app, and the ability to run multiple sensors — to track per-section times, for example — connecting to a main sensor over a Wi-Fi connection.
"With an accuracy of up to 0.003 seconds," Kevrels claims of his creation, which includes a 3D-pritable casing with tripod mounting point for ease of deployment, "ProTimer ensures reliable performance for sports like BMX, sprinting, skiing, skating, and more."
More information on the project is available on Hackaday.io, while binary firmware files, wiring diagrams, and 3D printable STL files are available on GitHub under the permissive MIT license — but, at the time of writing, the repository did not include source code.
