SCRC Arena Upgrades 2017

[Travis7s]

 I should just get a calibration weight to use at events, I think they are pretty cheap.

[Darkwynter9]

Would truck bed liner be better than paint for the arena floor? For the steel floor, it's tougher than paint, and if/when we do switch to stainless, bare non-hot-rolled metal is super slippery, so some extra traction might be nice. It also looks nice and matte on camera.

[rcjunky]

I've got a 200g calibration weight I can bring in september. I figure I'd make my bots weigh in correctly to it so I shouldn't need to worry about scale discrepancies. They are pretty cheap though, I think I got mine on amazon for around $5. I'm not hardcore enough though to only handle it with tweezers or gloves though

[Travis7s]

Never used truck liner but isn't it usually applied pretty thick, and then could craters form if it gets ripped up at all? Also need to make sure paint can stick to it as well.

[FingerTech]

Regarding the LED strips, I have a price list from one China company (SE-LED.com) that sells 5050 sized RGBW strips.  They are 60LEDS/m, 17W/m.  Works out to around $7.50/m (CAD currency).  Part number is SELS-5050RGBNW30-12 if you're looking.
If we space them every 6", that's <40m which would cost $300.  15% cheaper if we don't want silicone coating to waterproof it, but I'd think we want that.
I'm not married to this company so feel free to find cheaper or different strips.

Scott, I've dug up our Facebook thread and copied it below in case you wanted to reference:
Back of napkin here, because I'm totally guessing at most of the numbers, but... those halogens are probably about 350W because we trip breakers if we add anything else, but can run them continually on a single 15A. (So they're probably not 500W.) A typical 350W halogen is around 5000 Lumens. The arena is 6 feet by 8ft? If all of the light from those four halogens is landing in the 4.5M^2 of arena, we have a light level of around 4500lux. That's pretty bright, and I doubt we are actually that high, but I guess that would be a design target for any replacement lights. (Well, since the M^2 doesn't change, we can just aim for 20,000 lumens total.)

[Darkwynter9]

I looked into bed liner more, and yeah, I didn't realize how easy it is to just cut it off unless you get the really pricey stuff that has to be applied at a special shop, so that's not a good idea.

[Travis7s]

8. Replace inner walls. I'm going to try and get a headstart on this one. I'm going to see about visiting the arena this week and take the walls with me. I'll figure out what we need and then hopefully WD can get us a deal on some lexan. I will cut, drill, assemble the walls at my house an then we just have to bolt them on after floor painting.

[rcjunky]

Does the arena need new lexan? If so I can get you guys in touch with the guy who bought the lexan for the Ontario arena from china. Its a bit of a process but cheaper and the same stuff, the stuff we got is made using Bayer raw materials, same as Makrolon

[Travis7s]

Its just for the inner walls, less than a full sheet. We have a good relationship with WD Plastics who is local and one of our sponsors so we usually get rather good deals.

[rcjunky]

ah, certainly not worth shipping/importing from overseas.

[Travis7s]

Plus I want you guys to test out the Chexan polycarb first How do you know they are using real Bayer products?

[rcjunky]

Thy got it from a reputable china supplier (oxymoron?) but I believe theres plans on doing some testing just to confirm. I don't think its any more questionable then chitanium or china '6061' or '7075'

[FingerTech]

14. Quick-release locking pins (so the doors can't open while driving down the highway)

Any objections to buying these?
https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Release-Finish-Button-Diameter-Usable/dp/B009P7MA3E/ref=pd_sbs_328_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B009P7ND1M&pd_rd_r=TMNTS6KBMSFRGVVEMRW4&pd_rd_w=f1JYS&pd_rd_wg=Fimh8&refRID=TMNTS6KBMSFRGVVEMRW4&th=1

What length do we need?

[FingerTech]

1. Four TVs on top of the arena for displaying schedule, brackets, and highlight videos.
Does anyone have a large flat TV they can bring in Sept?

3. A 2ft metal post/stand that raises the spinning red light above the sponsor signs.
Who wants to earn some easy brownie points?

12. New 12V battery and charger
I'll purchase them, but what do we need?

[FingerTech]

Scott, these are all control box related.  What do you need to make them happen?

4. A new control box that can run fights independently of a laptop (but can still take laptop inputs, etc).
6. Audio system with cues from the control box
1. ...displaying schedule, brackets, and highlight videos (on the TVs).
5. New arena lights - 12V RGB LED strips that can be controlled via control box.  Possibly individually addressable.
7. Run permanent ready/tap out cables inside frame with connectors on the end.
11. Hazard motors run from ESCs
13. Door lock interrupts so the control box can disable hazards and not start fights until locked.
15. Ref controlled count-out trigger
17. 3 judging tablets/phones, tied into the laptop software.

Let's pick out some LEDs so they can be installed asap.  Re individually addressable: That might actually be easier for you to control versus a pile of fets.