Redstone Racetrack Help

[RaustBlackDragon]

Yeah, I wanna compare movement speeds of various methods of transportation, and I'm thinking the best way to do this would be to set up two pressure plates at either end of a straight path, each connected to a timer setup that will start when one is pressed and stop when the other is pressed.

I'm aware of multiple different kinds of timers that exist in vMC and Better Than Wolves, but I was wondering what the best choice would be for this situation: What would have the most precision and be most reliable to not miss counts?

[Itamarcu]

I suggest Block Dispensers. Make a pulse maker (A really fast one!), connect it to a BD filled with 15 non-opaque blocks and one opaque, which (when ejected) should do the same for another dispenser, and so on.

If you're measuring very long distances you might as well try using a platform which goes up (and up, and up) until it's stopped by the pressure plate. This method is less accurate when measuring short distances, but you can easily "read" it. It's basically like a ruler.

[Fozzel]

I would suggest a binary counter. The fastest I know of is this one:

Spoiler

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Use that in conjunction with a fast pulse generator (4 tick) and an RS NOR latch.

When the first pressure plate is pressed, the latch flips, turning the pulse generator on. The pulse generator sends pulses to the binary counter, then the second pressure plate switches the latch again, turning off the pulse generator. You can then work out the time taken based on the state of the counter, or even output to a 7-segment display.

[Siege Wizard]

First of all, use an OR gate with both the preasures plates so that both trigger a T-Flip-Flop

T-Flip-Flop suggestion

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I suggest you this one because is the fastest I've found:

I know that this way you wont know which was faster, you can test that visually, or even attach the inputs before the OR gate to RS (NOR) LATCHes, making any latch disable the other one when set:

EDIT: pay special attention to arrows

Spoiler

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Input 1 -> AND GATE 1 <- RESET from RS (NOR) LATCH 2
Input 2 -> AND GATE 2 <- RESET from RS (NOR) LATCH 1
AND GATE 1 -> SET RS (NOR) LATCH 1
AND GATE 2 -> SET RS (NOR) LATCH 2
Input 1 -> OR GATE <- Input 2
OR GATE -> T-Flip-Flop -> Pulse Generator -> Binary/Dispenser Counter

I know it seems to be a bit tricky but what I was trying is to make the counter be very precise, getting the info of who was first from another way so that it doesnt delay the counting.

If you didn't understand something tell me and I'll try to post some images or explain myself better.

[RaustBlackDragon]

That looks like an excellent setup for the t flip-flop, thanks a ton SW!

As for the timer, those sound like good options, but I wanted to ask about one I thought of that hasn't been brought up, see what's wrong with it:

What about a hopper that's only given power while the race is on, and dispenses its contents into a network of connected powered hoppers below it at a steady rate, being refilled by another set of multiple stages of connected powered hoppers, and then stops dispensing when the race is finished by pressing the ending pressure plate? The amount of items in the lower set of hoppers would work like an hourglass if hoppers dispense items at any constant rate.

Am I overlooking an issue with this?

[Itamarcu]

That looks like an excellent setup for the t flip-flop, thanks a ton SW!

As for the timer, those sound like good options, but I wanted to ask about one I thought of that hasn't been brought up, see what's wrong with it:

What about a hopper that's only given power while the race is on, and dispenses its contents into a network of connected powered hoppers below it at a steady rate, being refilled by another set of multiple stages of connected powered hoppers, and then stops dispensing when the race is finished by pressing the ending pressure plate? The amount of items in the lower set of hoppers would work like an hourglass if hoppers dispense items at any constant rate.

Am I overlooking an issue with this?

The hoppers eject items in mini-stacks of 8. It won't be very accurate.
Although you could do the same thing using vMC dispensers.

[Siege Wizard]

That looks like an excellent setup for the t flip-flop, thanks a ton SW!

As for the timer, those sound like good options, but I wanted to ask about one I thought of that hasn't been brought up, see what's wrong with it:

What about a hopper that's only given power while the race is on, and dispenses its contents into a network of connected powered hoppers below it at a steady rate, being refilled by another set of multiple stages of connected powered hoppers, and then stops dispensing when the race is finished by pressing the ending pressure plate? The amount of items in the lower set of hoppers would work like an hourglass if hoppers dispense items at any constant rate.

Am I overlooking an issue with this?

Appart from what Itamarcu said, you are changing a precission of 1/10th of a sec (a redstone tick) for a much worse.

[Shmooooo]

If the goal is to genuinely determine which method is faster, I think the best way to do this would be an IRL stopwatch and F3.

P.S. Or looking at source code.

[Deepsniper]

I would say best way is using a Detector block that sets off a BD making a timer circuit and another to turn it off.