JOAD Tournament Light Control

by Scot Heath

Overview:
This goal of this design was a simple, rugged control which operated on common 120VAC and met the requirements set forth in the FITA rules for time and simultaneous horn/light operation. In addition, it was desired to have the horn be used to run the shooting line and have the time selectable for 3 arrow (2 minute) and 6 arrow (4 minute) ends.

Electrical:
The control uses industrial grade switches and relays available from most electrical supply houses. For the control pictured, the supplies were purchased at the vendors listed in the bill of materials.

Bold lines on the schematic should be 16 gauge or larger wire, non-bold lines can be smaller control wire such as 22 gauge.
 

Schematic




 

Mechanical
The box used to house the control is steel and measures 8" wide by 8" long by 6" deep All the components are mounted to the bottom of the box except the switches which are on the lid and the outlets which are in standard quad steel boxes on the outside. Note the plastic grommets in the holes between the main enclosure and the outlet boxes:





Light box:
The light box is constructed such that the 100w flood lamps illuminate the white painted lid which is propped open at 45 degrees. The box may be placed either horizontally or vertically. A design improvement would be to make the box a bit deeper, perhaps 50%, so that the lights could be placed closer to the shooters without the lights being visible directly.



The back of the light box is left open at the bottom for cooling and for cord exit. The supports fold down, the cords fit inside and the lid secures for transport via the two thumb screws shown. The front of the box is ¾" thick while the sides are ½". This protects against arrow strikes while keeping the box light enough for easy transport. The horn is installed in the end of the box which is away from the camera, you can just see the mounting over the top of the red bulb in the photo above.


Operation:

1. The operation of the control is:
    
2. When first switched on, the box is in a reset state and the red light is on.
   Proper timing (2 or 4 minutes) is selected via the selector switch.
    
3. To sound the horn momentarily, the red horn button is pressed.
    
4. To start the shooting time, the green start button is pressed momentarily. The green light will illuminate.
    
5. After 90 or 210 seconds, the green light will go out and the yellow light will illuminate simultaneously.
    
6. After an additional 30 seconds, the yellow light will go out, the red light will illuminate and the horn will sound simultaneously.
    
7. The horn will continue to sound until either the stop or the horn buttons are depressed. If the horn button is depressed, the horn will continue to sound until the horn button is released.
    
8. At any time during the operation of the control, the stop button may be pressed. This re-sets the control with the red light on.
    
9. Any time the horn button is pressed, the control is re-set and the horn sounds until the horn button is released. This mode may be used to control the shooting line.
    

Notes:
You won't find a fuse in the photos, I added it to the schematic later. The enclosure is steel and is grounded and for catastrophic faults, the wall outlet is must be protected by code. Probably not a good idea to leave the control connected if it's unattended. If you choose to leave out the fuse, you're on your own.
The bill of materials shows cords, bulbs and sockets that don't appear to match up to the parts pictured. That's because some scrap was used, we also have a small light board for the 9 meter shooters, and the bill of materials was developed for reimbursement purposes.
 It is time consuming to set the time delay relays accurately. An alternative is to use digital switch set relays from ICM, model 103B, which has the same pin outs.

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