controlling lighting with chrono?

[shortpants]

Would it work to build a shade over the chrono so you could control lighting or is it better to have them in the sun and just make sure the lighting stays consistant ( no clouds or shadows. ) I've been keeping mine in the shade of the awning at the range but I'm not sure if you are supposed to put them in the shade. If it doesn't hurt then why not build a shade for it?

 

[royinidaho]

I place a Styrofoam sheet over mine.

I noticed difference in readings between cloud and bright and when the metal shade support shadow was over one "eye" and not over the other.

 

[shortpants]

That's a great idea! I was thinking of building a wood cover but your idea is so much more simple. How big is the sheet of styrofoam and how do you attach it? Do you still attach the shades that come with your chrono with the styrofoam on top of them or do you just use the styrofoam? Thanks for the reply.

 

[royinidaho]

That's a great idea! I was thinking of building a wood cover but your idea is so much more simple. How big is the sheet of styrofoam and how do you attach it? Do you still attach the shades that come with your chrono with the styrofoam on top of them or do you just use the styrofoam? Thanks for the reply.

This was an on the spot fix.......There was a 12x24 piece of styrofoam laying around and some pieces of 1/2" PVC. A quick saw job, some holes drilled in the PVC and some grabber screws did the deed.

The piece styro isn't large enough as the shooting direction is nearly 180 degrees (South). When the sun is low in the sky I have to move the styro forwards and backwards to compensate for shadows.

No normal sky screens used. They styro is about the right shade of white..

 

[shortpants]

Interesting! I didn't realize the shade had to be white. After reading your response I searched the net on the subject and found some things guys have tried and it seems white paper or plastic that allows some light through works well. Thanks again for responding, I learned something new!

 

[sp6x6]

Dont know if I am doing something wrong, but I dont use the screens when it is overcast, seems like I dont need them. And it is like that a lot here. Use them when bright and sunny?

 

[royinidaho]

Dont know if I am doing something wrong, but I dont use the screens when it is overcast, seems like I dont need them. And it is like that a lot here. Use them when bright and sunny?

When its completely overcast I've found that screens aren't necessary. However, when bright periods occur between clouds, readings change.......big time. Thus the shade is a permanent fixture...simulating a completely overcast day.

 

[shortpants]

Went shooting yesterday and set up 3 chrono's in-line with eachother under a pop-up ez-up shade. Worked great all 3 fuctioned pretty well ( one read a duplicate 1 time.)

 

[Wingnut]

I have found that consistant light whether it be overcast or sunny outside works the best. It is hard to have the same even light day after day, but a fairly transparent material around the chrony so that the light is even worked the best for me. I think the only way to eliminate the issue is to build a box around the chrony that keeps most light out and use a seperate lighting system that you can control. I think strips of LED lights that would run off a 12 volt battery could be the fix. I am going to try this build this summer. Anyone else tried this?

 

[shortpants]

I have found that consistant light whether it be overcast or sunny outside works the best. It is hard to have the same even light day after day, but a fairly transparent material around the chrony so that the light is even worked the best for me. I think the only way to eliminate the issue is to build a box around the chrony that keeps most light out and use a seperate lighting system that you can control. I think strips of LED lights that would run off a 12 volt battery could be the fix. I am going to try this build this summer. Anyone else tried this?

Let us know how that works. I was satisfied with the ez-up canopy, worked well and was well, EZ! It would be difficult if you were by yourself but not impossible you would just have to stake one of the legs down to open and close it by yourself.

 

[milanuk]

The LED lights that run off a battery is basically what you get when you order the IR sky screen set for a CED Millenium chrono. The catch is... they are IR, so you can't tell if its on or not.

CED attempts to get around this by putting some visible red/green leds inline to show battery status, etc. They don't really light up enough to be visible (for me).

Being pretty far north (for the continental USA, not counting Alaska of course!) we get some steep sunlight angles... the sky screen shades don't do much good, and sometimes even with the IR lighting I have problems clocking shots - I think the direct sunlight coming in at such a steep angle interferes with the weaker (relatively) IR lighting coming straight down. Then again, I might be all wet on this one. I'm sure there's a lighting guru out there just waiting to chime in...

A few years ago I'd chatted with some action pistol shooters, and they described the chrono box they used at matches to certify guns as 'major' or 'minor' power levels... basically a plywood box with two CED Milleniums back to back, and interior lighting (incandescent, as they had 110VAC handy at the range).

Sounded like a neat idea, and the wife got me a heavy duty surveyors tripod from HD last Christmas... I was going to build my chrono box, but now I need new side screens because the wiring jacks are hosed.

The ez-up pop-up sun shade sounds like it might be a good bit easier...

 

[Forester]

milanuk beat me to it...USPSA and IDPA major matches typically used IR screens inside a box back when i still had time to shoot that much. 2 CED chronos back to back setup this way made for a pretty hard to beat setup. It is a lot of trouble to tote around though.

I use a CED and almost always use the IR screens. It is a rare thing that it misses a shot and seems to stay fairly consistent day to day.

I used to rely on a chrono more than I do now. I will shoot a ladder through one getting started with a load and then use on paper performance from there on out. If the load has a bunch of vertical then I know the same thing as if it has a high ES.