PS-1300 Electronic Start Sound Generator

The PS-1300 is a discontinued electronic starting device for competitive swimming made by Seiko Time Creation Inc. of Tokyo. It generated the start tone and an alarm tone electronically and sent a start signal to the printing timer, and Seiko certified it as conforming to World Aquatics rules and as Japan Swimming Federation Class AA and Class A.¹ It replaced the larger PS-1200 and was in turn replaced by the PS-1400, which repeats every specification Seiko published for this unit.² This article is a starting point; the start-systems overview covers the shared background that applies to every starter.

Naming and product line¶

The Japanese name is 電子式スタート音発生装置, “electronic start sound generator”. The same naming split between Seiko’s Japanese and English material that affects the PS-1400 applies here, and the PS-1400 article sets it out.

The PS-1300 is the middle of three generations of Seiko’s swimming start sound generator: the PS-1200, then this unit, then the PS-1400.

Seiko publishes no production dates for it. Its discontinued-product listing gives the model, a description and a specification table, but no 製造時期 (manufacturing period) and no repair-support end date. Some of Seiko’s discontinued listings do carry both: the PT-7000 printing timer, of the previous generation, prints 1998年～2010年 and a support end of April 2017. Others carry neither, including the PT-8000 timer that ran alongside this unit.¹³⁴

The dates can still be bracketed from archived copies of Seiko’s own product index. The PS-1200 was the listed generator in a snapshot of 8 June 2013, and the PS-1300 had replaced it by the next surviving snapshot, of 20 October 2014, so the changeover falls somewhere in that gap.⁵⁶ At the other end, the PS-1300 was still listed as the current generator on 10 February 2026, and by the snapshot of 10 May 2026 the PS-1400 had taken its place.⁷⁸ On that evidence it had a service life of roughly twelve years.

The replacement was part of a wider refresh rather than a single product change: the same pair of snapshots shows the PT-8000 printing timer giving way to the PT-9000 at the same time.⁷⁸

Readers searching for the model number should note that Ono Sokki also sells an unrelated “PS-1300”, a three-channel sensor amplifier, which dominates search results.⁹

Design and hardware¶

The main unit measures 264 W × 203 H × 390 D mm excluding protrusions and weighs about 14.5 kg. It runs from a small sealed lead-acid battery of DC 12 V and 17 Ah, so it needs no mains connection on the deck.¹

The starter’s pistol is aluminium, 210 W × 40 H × 145 D mm, weighing about 410 g without its batteries and cable, and runs on two AA cells.¹ Those are the same figures Seiko publishes for the pistol of the current PS-1400, for the PS-78 pistol of its portable Electronic Starting System, and for the pistol of its athletics PS-200 start signal generator, which suggests a common pistol body across the company’s starting equipment.²¹⁰ Seiko does not give the PS-1300 pistol a part number of its own.

Operation¶

Seiko describes the operating principle in the same sentence it has used for all three generations: the unit generates the start signal sound and an alarm sound electronically and at the same time sends the start signal to the printing timer; because no propellant is involved there are no misfires and no smoke, unlike a powder pistol; and the start sound can be selected from two types.¹

Audio¶

A speaker expansion box, the SPE-1300, holds the generator in a wheeled cabinet with four speakers, two to each side. Seiko states that sounding from three directions gives maximum volume across more than 270 degrees, counting the generator’s own front-facing speaker as the third; that description is written around the PS-1400, and Seiko publishes no speaker specification for the PS-1300 itself.¹¹¹

Despite sharing the number, the expansion box was not introduced alongside the PS-1300. It is absent from an archived copy of Seiko’s swimming product index of 13 August 2022 and present by 22 February 2024, so it arrived near the end of the PS-1300’s service life rather than at the start of it.¹²¹³ Its product page is now written around the PS-1400 and treats this unit as the secondary case, noting only that it can also be used with the PS-1300.¹¹

Seiko’s two sources disagree over which generator the loaded weight refers to. The website gives the cart as about 35 kg, or about 50 kg 「PS-1300本体搭載時」, with the PS-1300 mounted; the December 2025 catalogue prints the same sentence with the PS-1400 in place of the PS-1300.¹¹¹⁴ The figures are the same either way.

Seiko publishes no output wattage, sound pressure level, impedance or speaker-output count for the PS-1300.

Compared with the PS-1200 and the PS-1400¶

The two transitions are of very different sizes.

Replacing the PS-1200 shrank the equipment substantially. The older generator was about 380 W × 700 H × 380 D mm and weighed about 30 kg on a DC 12 V 20 Ah battery; the PS-1300 is about 14.5 kg on a 17 Ah battery, and its 203 mm height turns a floor-standing box into one that can be carried.¹⁵¹

The PS-1400 repeats every figure the PS-1300 listing gives. The main unit’s battery type, dimensions and weight and the pistol’s power, material, dimensions and weight match exactly, as do the description text and the certification line.¹² Seiko does not say what changed inside.

Seiko does publish three things for the PS-1400 that it never published for this unit: a separate starter box of 183 W × 62 H × 150 D mm weighing about 1.3 kg, a splash-proof cover, and a note that the strobe sits on top of the pistol where it is easy to see.¹⁶¹⁴ Whether those are new to the PS-1400 or simply undocumented on the older listing cannot be settled from the sources. The battery figure differs in the same way: the PS-1300 page gives DC 12 V 17 Ah where the PS-1400 page gives only DC 12 V, with the 17 Ah appearing instead in Seiko’s swimming catalogue.¹²¹⁴

One detail does separate the two listings, and it dates them. The PS-1300 page carries 世界水泳連盟（World Aquatics）ルール適合 and （公財）日本水泳連盟, while the archived PS-1200 page carries the older 国際水泳連盟（FINA）ルール適合 and （財）日本水泳連盟, wording that predates both World Aquatics’ rename and the Japan Swimming Federation’s change of corporate status.¹¹⁵

Specifications¶

Main unit:

Part number	PS-1300
Power	Small sealed lead-acid battery, DC 12 V, 17 Ah
Dimensions	264 W × 203 H × 390 D mm (excluding protrusions)
Weight	Approx. 14.5 kg
Start sounds	Two, selectable
Certifications	World Aquatics rules; Japan Swimming Federation Class AA and Class A

Pistol:

Power	DC 3 V (2 × AA dry cells)
Material	Aluminium
Dimensions	210 W × 40 H × 145 D mm
Weight	Approx. 410 g (excluding cells and cable)

Seiko publishes no output wattage, sound pressure level, speaker-output count, connector type, operating temperature range or battery runtime for this unit, and no instruction manual for it. Its manual index lists documents for only two swimming products, the SB-5010 scoreboard and the SB-5020 controller.¹⁷

See also¶

• PS-1200 Electronic Start Sound Generator: the larger predecessor
• PS-1400 Electronic Start Sound Generator: the current successor
• Seiko Electronic Starting System: the portable cross-sport starter from the same manufacturer
• Start systems: the start-system overview and governing-body requirements
• Seiko: the manufacturer
• Equipment: the wider equipment reference

References¶

Footnotes¶

1. Seiko Time Creation, PS-1300 (discontinued-product listing, with the specification table and certification lines). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

2. Seiko Time Creation, 電子式スタート音発生装置 PS-1400 (its 電源 row gives DC 12 V with no Ah rating). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Seiko Time Creation, PT-7000 (製造時期 1998年～2010年, support end April 2017). ↩

4. Seiko Time Creation, PT-8000 (discontinued listing with no manufacturing period or support-end date). ↩

5. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 8 June 2013 snapshot (last snapshot listing the PS-1200). ↩

6. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 20 October 2014 snapshot (first snapshot listing the PS-1300). ↩

7. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 10 February 2026 snapshot (PS-1300 and PT-8000 still listed). ↩ ↩²

8. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 10 May 2026 snapshot (PS-1400 and PT-9000 in their place). ↩ ↩²

9. Ono Sokki, 3-channel sensor amplifier PS-1300 (an unrelated product sharing the model number). ↩

10. Seiko Time Creation, Track and Field Systems Catalogue, pp. 8 and 26 (PS-200 and PS-110 pistol specifications). ↩

11. Seiko Time Creation, スピーカー拡張ボックス SPE-1300, stating PS-1300でも使用可能です. ↩ ↩² ↩³

12. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 13 August 2022 snapshot (PS-1300 listed, no SPE-1300 entry). ↩

13. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 22 February 2024 snapshot (SPE-1300 present). ↩

14. Seiko Time Creation, Swimming Systems Catalogue (December 2025), p. 6 (PS-1400 battery given as DC 12 V 17 Ah). ↩ ↩² ↩³

15. Internet Archive, Seiko swimming products index, 18 April 2009 snapshot (PS-1200 specifications and the FINA-era certification wording). ↩ ↩²

16. Seiko Time Creation, Electronic Starting System PS-1400 (English page, giving the starter box dimensions and the strobe position). ↩

17. Seiko Time Creation, manual index (the data behind the 取扱説明書 download page; its swimming category holds only SB-5010 and SB-5020). ↩