Scoreboard From Scratch

[Kenneth] built this scoreboard for use at a ballpark that lacks such luxuries. We think this a phenomenal application for his skill and his pocketbook. He laid out PCBs for each digit in Eagle and etched them himself, then installed the indicators for home score, visitor score, inning, balls, strikes, and outs in a laser cut case. A pretty beefy battery along with the folding stand make this quite portable.

In the demo video after the break he’s connected to the scoreboard via telnet to update the score. This trick is accomplished using SparkFun’s WiFly GSX breakout board to set up an adhoc wireless network. The goal is to write an iPhone app that will be used to control the board in the field (or the outfield as it were).

This could definitely be used for different types of scoring during the off season.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ccw5WhbPVZ4]

22 thoughts on “Scoreboard From Scratch

  1. I think this is neat. Like vonskippy states, how well does it operate in the sun? As far as size goes it doesn’t have to go in the outfield, could be place by one of the dugouts.

    I would be interested in making one. Until an app is made I know Android has a telnet app and I am sure the Iphone does and that could be used.

  2. well depends on the situation, if this is kids thing and its going to be ziptied to the fence so the parents can keep track of, its probably more than fine

    if its going to the local high school baseball feild, then you may have the issues mentioned above

  3. Mike… English isn’t your native language, is it?

    “[Kenneth] built this scoreboard for use at a ballpark that lacks such luxuries.”

    Which such luxuries? That maxes no sense. The word “such” is referring to something specific in the previous sentence. There is no previous sentence.

    You do this all the time. Almost every single one of your articles has glaring grammatical errors. Please take an English course. I hate to be so picky, but when I have to read something four times to understand what you’re trying to say, it really takes away from the article. This has been an ongoing complaint every single time I visit this site, I just usually hold my tongue about it.

  4. “Looks way too small to score anything but a ping pong match.”

    LOL… I was going to do something similar to this for my hometown ball teams, but using a much larger 10 x 80(or so)LED matrix display. Thankfully, before I could start, the school got sponsored for a new RGB display. Sweet! I particularly like the idea of the iPhone front end…

    You editors have been doing a wonderful job lately with the addiditonal posts. I think that most of the people that were reluctant to see more posts were worried about the fact that the editors were already struggling to gather hack-worthy posts as it was, and that any new posts would be inferior, since they apparently couldn’t be found before. I am glad that we were wrong. Keep up the good work!

    also, LOL @ Hip… :)

  5. @bobdole: its fairly simple to infer what he meant. If he was writing a technical paper or a book then yes it may need to be changed, but for a blog site like this its just fine. stop being a grammar nazi.

    also “That maxes no sense” whats up with this? k and x are nowhere near each other lol

  6. Okay, I’ll eat my hat. Sorry Mike, I guess I didn’t have enough coffee this morning. My bad. Upon re-reading that sentence it does indeed make sense. I was just venting my previous frustrations with your grammar in the past.

    @chris: yes, actually, k and x are right next to each other on a dvorak keyboard.

  7. Firstly, this is an amazing project. I seriously want to get out the etching solution and start making my own scoreboard. I really have no use for one, this project is just that inspiring to me. Great job, very professional look. I am quite impressed.

    As for HaD,

    @bobdole
    Wow, I was ready to point and laugh like everyone else, but the apology and the fact that you use a dvorak layout as well just scored you points.

    @Mike
    I think it made perfect sense. The luxuries are that of a scoreboard and implied anything else pricey that the field may be lacking.

  8. @bobdole, The story is clear and concise, it conveys the appropriate information summarily and attributes the work correctly. AS almost all HaD submissions do.

    Such:–adjective
    1.
    of the kind, character, degree, extent, etc., of that or those indicated or implied.

    He implied prior to using the word that ‘such’ was in fact a scoreboard. It does not need to be in a previous sentence however the first sentence could really be two. You say you read it 4 times before it made sense and then in your apology say when you read it a second time it made sense? Which is it 4 times before you started your tyraid or was it just once and as soon as you found a flaw you let mike have it?

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