openrcforums

My club just hosted nitro pylon racers. Wow, fast!
I was a lap counter.
I was asked by a flyer about how he could make a portable timed glow driver.
It seems there are some on the market but in the $130+ range.
As always, we look for the less $ option. In my case it's the circuitry I'm interested in.
Sadly I'm not a programmer, so I lean towards more conventional or pre made circuitry.

The requirements are as I under stand them.

A pulsed type driver to deal with a flooded glow plus. A timer that auto shuts off the driver after let's say 3 min.
Internal rechargeable battery.
I saw a bar dot led array that displays current.
They seem to connect the driver on the ready line before actually flying. They push the arm button and the display shows a led that represents a normal current draw, or a open or shorted plug. They can change plugs as long as they are in waiting.
Once on the ready line they have 60 seconds to start their engine or be disqualified.
They use a quick disconnect glow plug clip.
They may have a test on/off and a timed arm button?
So they again push the driver arm button, see the LED display is showing a normal current range led, start their engines and disconnect. Several X min later the driver auto shuts off.
There is a master recessed power SW I believe for storage.
I'm not sure about a voltage monitor option. A 7.2v lithium ion battery, life, or nimh batteries seem to be popular as a power source.

A portable glow driver with these features would seem useful for sport flying with timing changes if required. I use a nicad glow starter but it can't clear a drowned plug. I have one with a meter that does tell plug status as open or not.

I am not familiar with this but I can hack some code together. Could you make another attempt at explaining what is required?
My background is RC flying, some electronics and programming.

If you have the energy to explain this to me like you would to your grand ma I may be able to help.

I received a request to implement a lap timer from someone who in turn received it from someone else. The request (I think) is to track lap times on the Tx display every time a switch is activated.

I got thinking and wondered about automating it. An led array that creates a light curtain. A sensor on the RC model that detects it when it passes through, an analog telemetry sensor then sends a state change via the model Rx to the Tx. Code on the Tx that does something every trigger.