Daktronics Pushbutton

From Libre Aquatics Wiki, the free aquatics reference

The Daktronics pushbutton is the hand-held backup timing button used with the swim-timing systems made by Daktronics, Inc., of Brookings, South Dakota. A timer standing behind a lane presses it as the swimmer touches the wall, and the OmniSport 2000 timing console records that press as a backup time for the lane. The button is the manual check on each lane’s T-7000 series touchpad.¹² The console reads up to three buttons per lane alongside the pad.¹³ This is the arrangement the rulebooks call semi-automatic timing: World Aquatics defines it as a system the starter initiates and timekeepers stop by hand when the swimmer touches, and USA Swimming and the NCAA both build their orders of precedence around how many such buttons a lane carries.⁴⁵⁶ Daktronics does not publish a standalone product listing or part number for the button; it is supplied as a component of the company’s deck-cabling systems, and Daktronics states that its buttons and Colorado Time Systems buttons are interchangeable.⁷⁸

Role in the timing system¶

The pushbuttons overview covers the shared background that applies to every backup button: the layered primary/secondary/tertiary timing structure, the governing-body rules that require independent backup, and how button times resolve into an official time. In a Daktronics installation the button is the secondary layer. Across a ten-lane pool the OmniSport 2000 console times and judges automatically from two touchpads in each lane and from as many as three backup buttons beside them. Each button is read separately from the pad.¹

How many buttons a lane needs is set by the governing body rather than by Daktronics. USA Swimming will accept semi-automatic equipment as the primary system only where two or three buttons per lane are each worked by a different timer, and allows a single button where the semi-automatic layer is secondary; where three button times exist and two match, that value stands, and where all three differ the middle one is taken.⁵ The NCAA ranks its equipment the same way, putting two-button semi-automatic equipment immediately below automatic equipment and one-button equipment below two manual watches.⁶ Both bodies require button times to resolve to a hundredth of a second.⁶

The same button is also used in the console’s track mode, where a race can be started from the horn start, a pushbutton, or a gun transducer, and buttons at the finish line record times for each lane.²

Use with the OmniSport 2000¶

During a race the console records each button press as a backup time next to the lane’s pad time. On the printed results a lane’s button times carry the labels B1 through B3, a backup time is labeled B or BK, and an asterisk flags a discrepancy between the touchpad and the backup times, so the operator can spot a lane whose pad and buttons disagree.² Printing of backup times is a console printer setting, and Daktronics’ meet procedure has the operator print results with backup times after each race.² Through the OmniSport 2000 Pro Swimming software, button times pass to the meet-management computer along with touchpad, relay-exchange, and start-reaction times.⁹

After a start or a split the console applies an arming delay, settable from 0 to 99 seconds, during which lane inputs are ignored; it exists mainly so a finished relay athlete can climb out without registering another touch.² Daktronics’ pre-meet checklist ends with a test race that is started with the horn start and finished with all of the pushbuttons and touchpads, which checks every lane input before competition.²

The button is also used as a test probe. The console’s lane test screen (menu 5, then 2) shows each lane’s inputs, and Daktronics’ systems check has a technician plug a pushbutton into each touchpad and button connection in turn: the LCD shows TP, B1, B2, or B3 for the jack under test when the wiring is good.³¹⁰

Design and connection¶

The button is a momentary switch potted into a sealed hand-held housing on a cord that ends in a dual banana plug; Daktronics describes its buttons as potted, non-repairable assemblies.⁸ The plug follows the convention used across Daktronics deck cabling: its ground tab has to seat against the black socket, or the timing system reads nothing from that lane.¹¹

Where the button plugs in depends on the installation. An on-deck system runs a cable harness along the deck with a lane module at each lane, and the module carries the touchpad jack and the button jacks; an in-deck system terminates each lane’s wiring at a deck plate set into the pool deck, with jacks labeled TP, B1, B2, and B3 for the pad and the three buttons, alongside the lane’s speaker and start connections.¹¹³

Cross-compatibility with Colorado Time Systems¶

Daktronics states that its pushbuttons and Colorado Time Systems pushbuttons are cross-compatible, so either maker’s button can be used on either maker’s lane wiring; the company’s knowledge-base answer is simply “Yes; they are cross compatible.”⁷ The claim is Daktronics’ own. Colorado Time Systems publishes no position on it, neither confirming the interchange nor warning against other makers’ buttons.

Independent sources speak to the connector itself, though not to the claim of interchangeability. Colorado Time Systems describes its own backup button as ending in a dual banana plug, the same connector Daktronics specifies.¹²¹¹ The double banana plug is an industry-standard part on 0.75 in (19.05 mm) centres, and by long convention a tab on one pole marks ground, which is what Daktronics depends on when it warns that the tab must seat against the black socket.¹³ A third manufacturer’s manual places the two makers in the same electrical class: International Sports Timing tells installers that its own equipment, Colorado and Daktronics all take a normally-open connection, while Omega takes a normally-closed one.¹⁴ The independent vendor Superior Swim Timing works on the same assumption, selling buttons and adapters on the basis that anything terminating in a banana plug will mate with either maker’s harness.¹⁵ Neither manufacturer, though, publishes the actual spacing of its own plug, so the mechanical fit rests on inference from the standard rather than on a published figure.

An interchangeable button still does not guarantee an interchangeable time. The Colorado Time Systems System 5 and System 6 subtract a fixed 0.15 s from button times in hardware, an allowance for the delay between a swimmer’s touch and the timer’s thumb that Daktronics, Omega and Superior Swim Timing equipment does not make. The console applies that correction, so the same button can yield a different recorded time depending on what it is plugged into.¹⁶

Care and maintenance¶

The banana plug and the jacks it mates with are the maintenance points, because pool water corrodes the contacts. At setup, Daktronics has the male pins of every deck-cabling banana connector coated with a small amount of silicone from the maintenance kit before plugging in.² After every event the deck plates or lane modules are cleaned with a .22 caliber brass or fiber bristle brush and refilled with fresh silicone lubricant; Daktronics sells the lubricant as LU-1002 and a complete maintenance kit as 0A-1240-0003.¹⁷

The button itself is not serviced. Daktronics lists its potted pushbuttons, along with its touchpads and lane modules, as non-repairable items with no repair-and-return option; a failed button is replaced with a new one.⁸

Specifications¶


Type	Manual momentary backup timing button, potted housing
Connector	Dual banana plug (ground tab aligns with the black jack)
Connection points	Lane module button jacks (on-deck) or deck plate B1/B2/B3 jacks (in-deck)
Buttons per lane	1, 2, or 3, read independently of the touchpad
Controller	OmniSport 2000 timing console (up to 10 lanes)
Printout labels	B1-B3 per button; B or BK backup time; asterisk on pad/backup discrepancy
Interchangeability	Daktronics states its buttons and Colorado Time Systems buttons interchange; CTS publishes no position
Serviceability	Non-repairable (potted); replaced rather than repaired
Maintenance kit	`0A-1240-0003` (brush and LU-1002 silicone lubricant)

Part numbers and accessories¶

0A-1240-0003, maintenance kit containing a cleaning brush and LU-1002 silicone lubricant for the deck plates and lane modules the button plugs into.¹⁷

Daktronics does not publish a part number for the button itself, which is supplied as a component of the company’s deck-cabling systems.⁸

References¶

Daktronics, Touchpad support (ten lanes timed by OmniSport, each with a pair of touchpads and up to three backup buttons). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Daktronics, OmniSport 2000 Swimming Quick Reference (ED-13584, Rev 8, 19 August 2013) (printout labels, backups printing, arming delay, pre-meet test race, silicone at setup, track-mode starts). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Daktronics, How to perform an Aquatics Systems Check (KB DD3536111) (test mode via menu 5-2; a button in each touchpad/button connection shows TP, B1, B2, B3 on the console LCD). ↩ ↩² ↩³
World Aquatics, Competition Regulations, 15.16.1.3 (Semi-Automatic Officiating Equipment stopped by timekeepers pressing a button). ↩
USA Swimming, 2025 Rulebook, 102.23 Timing Rules (system types, button counts, and resolution of disagreeing times). ↩ ↩²
NCAA, 2025-26 and 2026-27 Swimming and Diving Rules Book, 1-4-4 Automatic Judging and Timing Equipment (semiautomatic device definition) and the equipment priority levels. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Daktronics, Are Daktronics and Colorado Timing System push buttons cross compatible? (KB DD2017009) (“Yes; they are cross compatible”). ↩ ↩²
Daktronics, Can touchpads, push buttons, or lane modules be reconditioned or repaired? (KB DD2416737) (potted push buttons are non-repairable; replace with new). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴
Daktronics, OmniSport 2000 Pro Swimming Software Installation & Operation Manual (DD3109473) (gathers touchpad, button, relay-exchange, and start-reaction times). ↩
Daktronics, How to test a Daktronics Lane Module (KB 000009528) (a standard push button plugged into the lane module jacks verifies each input on the console LCD). ↩
Daktronics, T-7000 Series Touchpads Installation & Maintenance Manual (DD1953274) (lane module and deck plate connections; ground-tab rule for dual banana plugs). ↩ ↩² ↩³
Colorado Time Systems, Test Meter Instructions (F696 Rev. 0205) (the CTS backup button terminates in a dual banana plug; deck-plate receptacle names). ↩
Wikipedia, Banana connector (double plugs on 0.75 in / 19.05 mm centres; the tab on one pole conventionally marks ground). ↩
International Sports Timing, SWIMSTART Operating Instructions (rev. 06/30/2005), §1.4 (IST, Colorado and Daktronics normally open; Omega normally closed), hosted by dealer Rec Supply. ↩
Superior Swim Timing, Buttons and cables (adapters offered for Colorado Time Systems, Daktronics, and any other banana-plug system). ↩
Cliff Reyda, More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Timing at Swim Meets (Pacific Swimming, 23 February 2018), the author’s own interpretation, not USA Swimming policy. ↩
Daktronics, How do I maintain or clean a pool’s OmniSport 2000 and timing system? (KB DD2425415) (brush cleaning and silicone lubricant for deck plates and lane modules; LU-1002; maintenance kit 0A-1240-0003). ↩ ↩²

Last updated July 29, 2026.