Colorado Time Systems Standard Touchpad

The Standard touchpad is a swimming touch panel made by Colorado Time Systems (CTS). It hangs at a lane end, and a swimmer’s touch closes an internal switch that stops that lane’s clock on the timing console. Standard was the plainer of the two surfaces CTS offered on a common touchpad body, the other being the AquaGrip touchpad; CTS lists the Standard pad as discontinued and now sells the AquaGrip surface alone.¹² A single user guide, F147, still covers both pads.³

Role in the timing system¶

The touchpads overview covers how automatic touchpad timing developed and the World Aquatics requirements that apply to any touch panel. A Standard pad reaches the console the same way every CTS pad does, through a cable harness or an in-deck plate, and the console measures the elapsed time and drives the scoreboard.³⁴

Design and construction¶

The Standard pad’s face carries CTS’s textured non-skid finish, which the company describes as gentle on hands and feet. It does not have the ultra-fine slip-resistant texture of US Patent 5,702,799, which is what defines the AquaGrip line.⁵⁶ CTS presented the two as alternative finishes available on most of its touchpads rather than as separate products.⁵

The rest of the pad is common to both surfaces. It is all-plastic throughout and runs about 0.30 in (0.76 cm) thick, stiffened by a quarter-inch backbone; its connectors are molded as single pieces and its finish resists corrosion.⁵⁴ Sealed switching runs across the whole front, with a second switch along the top edge on gutter-hung models, which CTS describes as leaving the face active throughout with no dead spots.⁵ F147 identifies the sensing element as a tape switch, the top-edge run of which sits on the pad’s right-angle corner; the manual notes that a switch dented or shifted by rough handling can sometimes be worked back into shape by hand.³

Pneumatic operation and sensitivity¶

The Standard pad is air-filled, and how hard it is to trigger depends on how much air is inside. CTS puts a typical competition setting at around 25 psi (172 kPa), and because that pressure works against the area being pressed, a fingertip sets the pad off more readily than an open palm.³ Operators trim sensitivity out of the water with a needle and a vacuum pump while watching a test meter. The AquaGrip touchpad article covers that procedure and its failure modes in full, since it is identical for both pads, and the touchpads overview covers the governing-body sensitivity rule the design answers.³⁷

Models and dimensions¶

Standard part numbers are the AquaGrip numbers without the G: a gutter-hung pad is TP- plus its size, and a flat-wall pad adds F. CTS published nine sizes, in metric widths for international-style pools and imperial widths for American ones.¹²

Size	Part number	Weight
188.5 × 90 cm	TP-188.5 / TP-188.5F	47 lb (21.3 kg)
190 × 90 cm	TP-190 / TP-190F	49 lb (22.2 kg)
195 × 90 cm	TP-195 / TP-195F	49 lb (22.2 kg)
240 × 90 cm	TP-240 / TP-240F	66 lb (30 kg)
60 × 22 in (152.4 × 55.9 cm)	TP-60	28 lb (12.7 kg)
60 × 24 in (152.4 × 61.0 cm)	TP-60F	33 lb (15 kg)
78 × 22 in (198.1 × 55.9 cm)	TP-78	35 lb (15.9 kg)
78 × 24 in (198.1 × 61.0 cm)	TP-78F	40 lb (18.1 kg)
96 × 22 in (243.8 × 55.9 cm)	TP-96	45 lb (20.4 kg)

The imperial pads differ in depth by mounting type: 22 in for the gutter-hung version and 24 in for the flat-wall one. The 96-inch pad was sold gutter-hung only, with no flat-wall counterpart, and custom widths were available between the catalogued sizes.¹⁴ CTS recommended the 60-inch pad for lanes 66–84 in wide and the 78-inch pad for lanes 84–96 in.²

The Standard line also included a 190 cm pad, TP-190 and TP-190F, which has no equivalent in the AquaGrip range: the AquaGrip datasheet lists 188.5, 195 and 240 cm, with nothing between the first two.⁵² CTS’s current catalogue does not carry that size at all, and instead lists a 90-inch Standard gutter-hung pad, TP-90, that neither product page includes.⁸ The larger metric pads meet the World Aquatics minimum panel size given in the touchpads overview, and CTS’s own facility guidance labels the 195 cm and 240 cm sizes by that standard.⁴⁷

Mounting¶

Gutter-hung pads rest over the pool’s gutter and are held by brackets sized to the gutter profile, in polycarbonate with Velcro facing, which need no holes in the deck and no tools to fit.³⁴ Flat-wall pads instead carry a stainless-steel bracket at each end and bolt to the deck on expansion anchors.³ Either version can stay in the water for a whole meet, which saves re-measuring the course, though F147 advises taking the pads out when a shared pool returns to general swimming.³⁴ The AquaGrip touchpad article gives the step-by-step for both methods; they do not vary by surface.

Connection to the timer¶

Each pad ends in a 10-foot cable with a molded connector and a dual banana plug, which goes either into a cable-harness pod or into a lane’s deck plate.⁵³ Deck power is under 5 VDC and is electronically isolated at the timer.⁵ A harness or deck-plate connection in good order registers between 4.5 and 5 V on the TPM-D test meter; a lower reading points to a dirty connector or a fault further back.³ The plug itself corrodes if neglected and can be cleaned or replaced, CTS part R-025-045.³

Care and maintenance¶

CTS treats a touchpad as electronic equipment whose working life depends on routine cleaning, and warns that a puncture anywhere in the front lets water in and ends the pad’s life.³ The AquaGrip touchpad article sets out the cleaning routine, the storage range of 50–110 °F, and the caddies CTS sells.

One of the manual’s cautions does not apply to these pads. The 2026 revision of F147 warns that sunlight can both warp a pad and lift its AquaGrip surface, where the 2014 revision of the same manual warned only about warping; the peeling risk belongs to the AquaGrip treatment, not to the plain non-skid finish.³⁹

Compared with the AquaGrip touchpad¶

The two pads are the same panel with different finishes. Body, backbone, sealed full-face and top-edge switching, air-filled operation, 10-foot cable, dual banana plug, mounting hardware and maintenance routine are common to both, and F147 documents them once.³⁵ The patent behind the AquaGrip texture treats it as a surface laid over a touchpad that already exists, describing the unit underneath as any of those known in the field and naming CTS’s own as an example.⁶

The Standard surface is the older of the two. Swimming World reported in May 1998 that CTS had announced a US patent for the AquaGrip pads, granted that December, so the plain surface is what the company sold before then.¹⁰⁶ The manual agrees: F147 was titled simply for touchpads in its 2014 revision and names both pads only in the 2026 one.³⁹ That patent expired in January 2015, twenty years after it was filed.⁶

Which sizes came with which surface has shifted, and the sources disagree about the range. The 2011 and 2015 catalogues offer AquaGrip in the imperial sizes only and give the metric pads no AquaGrip variant, where CTS’s current AquaGrip page lists metric ones throughout.¹¹⁵ The current catalogue still sets the two surfaces side by side, Standard as TP-60F, TP-78F, TP-90 and TP-96, and names no surface at all against the metric pads, which does not match the discontinued notice on the product page.⁸¹ A facility retiring worn Standard pads buys the AquaGrip version of the same size, with the G added, wherever one exists.⁵

Specifications¶

Construction	All-plastic, non-corrosive finish; quarter-inch backbone; connectors molded as single pieces
Thickness	About 0.30 in (0.76 cm)
Switches	Internally sealed tape switch, full active face; top-edge switch on gutter models
Surface	Textured non-skid, without the AquaGrip patented texture
Sizes	60–96 in / 188.5–240 cm wide; 22 in (gutter) or 24 in / 90 cm high
Weight	28 lb (12.7 kg) to 66 lb (30 kg), by model
Activation	Air-filled pad; typical competition activation about 25 psi (172 kPa) internal
Cable	10 ft, molded connector, dual banana plug (replacement plug R-025-045)
Deck power	Under 5 VDC, electronically isolated at the timer; harness/plate 4.5–5 V
Mounting	Gutter-hung (bracket on the gutter profile, no tools) or flat-wall (stainless brackets, deck anchors)
Storage	50–110 °F; out of direct sunlight
Status	Discontinued; succeeded by the AquaGrip touchpad

Part numbers and accessories¶

• TP-…, gutter-hung Standard pads (TP-60, TP-78, TP-96, TP-188.5, TP-190, TP-195, TP-240).
• TP-…F, flat-wall Standard pads (TP-60F, TP-78F, TP-188.5F, TP-190F, TP-195F, TP-240F).
• TPM-D, touchpad test meter (it also checks the scoreboard, deck plates, pushbuttons and cable harness).
• VP-2, vacuum pump for adjusting pad air.
• CAD-TP-P, touchpad caddy (holds up to ten pads).
• R-025-045, replacement dual banana plug.

See also¶

• Colorado Time Systems AquaGrip Touchpad: the current pad that replaced it, and the fuller treatment of the shared design
• Touchpads: the touchpad overview
• Colorado Time Systems Multizone Pads: the third CTS pad name, a training panel announced in 2008 and apparently never built
• T-7000 series touchpad and Seiko AQUA Touch Plate: the conductive-plate and Seiko panels from other manufacturers
• Gen7 Serial Timer: the timing console the pads report to
• Colorado Time Systems: the manufacturer
• Equipment: the equipment reference

References¶

Footnotes¶

1. Colorado Time Systems, Standard Touchpads (marked discontinued). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Colorado Time Systems, Standard Touchpads (older product page; full size, part-number and weight table). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

3. Colorado Time Systems, Standard and AquaGrip Touchpads User Guide (F147) (Rev. 202604). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵

4. Colorado Time Systems, Architectural Guidelines: A Guide for Designing Competitive Aquatic Facilities (touchpad sizes, thickness, and bracket types). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Colorado Time Systems, AquaGrip Touchpads datasheet. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

6. US Patent 5,702,799, Slip resistant texture for wet skin contact surfaces (assignee Colorado Time Systems; filed 1995, granted 1997). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. World Aquatics, Facilities Rules 2021–2025, FR 2.3 Automatic Officiating Equipment for Swimming (touch panels: FR 2.3.4). ↩ ↩²

8. Colorado Time Systems, Aquatic Catalog, touchpad part-number table. ↩ ↩²

9. Colorado Time Systems, Touchpads User Guide (F147, Rev. 201407, July 2014), the earlier edition of the same manual. ↩ ↩²

10. Swimming World, May 1998, Swim Biz (CTS announces a US patent for the AquaGrip touchpads). ↩

11. Colorado Time Systems, Complete Timing, Scoring, Training and Display Solutions (2011 and 2015 editions), touchpad ordering tables. ↩