Home Simulators Lets Talk About Them!

[dxdgenert]

So I am looking at heating my garage in the near future, but I was curious about something. Does anyone have one of those 220 volt infrared heaters? How well do they work? I was wondering if that would be a better solution since I have 220 in my garage and I don't really want to heat the entire garage if I don't need to. There are benefits to keeping the garage heated but its also an energy waste as my garage door faces prevailing winds in the winter.

From my limited understanding, the IR heaters provide a nice even heat by heating “things/objects”. Their main problem is that they take a long time to get things warm. Your up by Alexandria, correct? That’s even colder than me in the Cities. I’d look for a gas solution that you could fire up and get things heated quickly. Otherwise, set the IR to heat to 50 degrees and use a gas supplemental heater to get it up to 60.

[clevited]

So I am looking at heating my garage in the near future, but I was curious about something. Does anyone have one of those 220 volt infrared heaters? How well do they work? I was wondering if that would be a better solution since I have 220 in my garage and I don't really want to heat the entire garage if I don't need to. There are benefits to keeping the garage heated but its also an energy waste as my garage door faces prevailing winds in the winter.

From my limited understanding, the IR heaters provide a nice even heat by heating "things/objects". Their main problem is that they take a long time to get things warm. Your up by Alexandria, correct? That's even colder than me in the Cities. I'd look for a gas solution that you could fire up and get things heated quickly. Otherwise, set the IR to heat to 50 degrees and use a gas supplemental heater to get it up to 60.

 

Ok, so you don't think if I had it near me, It would heat up me and things in the general area enough to make a difference? No way a typical 220 infrared heater has enough power to heat up my entire garage. Its not fully insulated yet and is a double stall with 11 foot ceiling.

[radiman]

So I am looking at heating my garage in the near future, but I was curious about something. Does anyone have one of those 220 volt infrared heaters? How well do they work? I was wondering if that would be a better solution since I have 220 in my garage and I don't really want to heat the entire garage if I don't need to. There are benefits to keeping the garage heated but its also an energy waste as my garage door faces prevailing winds in the winter.

From my limited understanding, the IR heaters provide a nice even heat by heating "things/objects". Their main problem is that they take a long time to get things warm. Your up by Alexandria, correct? That's even colder than me in the Cities. I'd look for a gas solution that you could fire up and get things heated quickly. Otherwise, set the IR to heat to 50 degrees and use a gas supplemental heater to get it up to 60.

 

Ok, so you don't think if I had it near me, It would heat up me and things in the general area enough to make a difference? No way a typical 220 infrared heater has enough power to heat up my entire garage. Its not fully insulated yet and is a double stall with 11 foot ceiling.

 

What about a Nibco? Blasts hard enough to heat up a garage pretty quickly.

[clevited]

So I am looking at heating my garage in the near future, but I was curious about something. Does anyone have one of those 220 volt infrared heaters? How well do they work? I was wondering if that would be a better solution since I have 220 in my garage and I don't really want to heat the entire garage if I don't need to. There are benefits to keeping the garage heated but its also an energy waste as my garage door faces prevailing winds in the winter.

From my limited understanding, the IR heaters provide a nice even heat by heating "things/objects". Their main problem is that they take a long time to get things warm. Your up by Alexandria, correct? That's even colder than me in the Cities. I'd look for a gas solution that you could fire up and get things heated quickly. Otherwise, set the IR to heat to 50 degrees and use a gas supplemental heater to get it up to 60.

 

Ok, so you don't think if I had it near me, It would heat up me and things in the general area enough to make a difference? No way a typical 220 infrared heater has enough power to heat up my entire garage. Its not fully insulated yet and is a double stall with 11 foot ceiling.

 

What about a Nibco? Blasts hard enough to heat up a garage pretty quickly.

 

I currently have two big buddy heaters, they will heat the entire garage but not super fast. Nibco are too dangerous and stinky for my application. I was just wondering if infrared right next to me would be a better option to trying to heat my entire garage at all. Maybe a big overhead infrared heater would work, idk. I will probably end up putting in vented natural gas heater in the end.

[bradski]

I'm not sure if this has been addressed, i sealed up my garage well when I had my setup out there. My garage would stay in the 40's when it was 10-20 degree's outside. Just the other day It was 35ish outside and my garage was 60 degree's. Insulating the doors and sealing around them is the most important.

[pinhigh27]

does anyone have an irregular sized enclosure, like say you have a ceiling that slopes from 8 to 10 feet, obviously would want to hit at the 10 foot part but just curious if anyone has an enclosure with a sloped top surface. I'm sure it can be done with a little more work

[Stuart_G]

does anyone have an irregular sized enclosure, like say you have a ceiling that slopes from 8 to 10 feet, obviously would want to hit at the 10 foot part but just curious if anyone has an enclosure with a sloped top surface. I'm sure it can be done with a little more work

 

I'm working on one. I'm similar and have 8.5' at the wall and it slopes up to 10.5. I bought a standard 12'x9'x5' enclosure from Carl's knowing I wouldn't get the full 9' at the screen. Then got some low slope roof 1" EMT connectors from tarps.com to replace some of the square ones that came with the Carl's enclosure. Just in the process now of doing that - so can't tell you how it will turn out quite yet. But I think the only real concern is how the side wall screens will work out visually, I don't expect any functionality issues.

 

It would be nice if Carl's could do custom enclosures like that, and although they will do custom rectangular sizes, they will not do sloped.

[rcb1586]

does anyone have an irregular sized enclosure, like say you have a ceiling that slopes from 8 to 10 feet, obviously would want to hit at the 10 foot part but just curious if anyone has an enclosure with a sloped top surface. I'm sure it can be done with a little more work

Put the screen at the 8' part.

Swing under the 10' part.

I'm 5'9" and will hit the ceiling with anything more than a 7i in an 8' ceiling.

I bought this and fabricated my own frame. Hung a comforter behind screen to limit bounce back.

https://www.ebay.com...&frcectupt=true

 

 

[pinhigh27]

does anyone have an irregular sized enclosure, like say you have a ceiling that slopes from 8 to 10 feet, obviously would want to hit at the 10 foot part but just curious if anyone has an enclosure with a sloped top surface. I'm sure it can be done with a little more work

 

I'm working on one. I'm similar and have 8.5' at the wall and it slopes up to 10.5. I bought a standard 12'x9'x5' enclosure from Carl's knowing I wouldn't get the full 9' at the screen. Then got some low slope roof 1" EMT connectors from tarps.com to replace some of the square ones that came with the Carl's enclosure. Just in the process now of doing that - so can't tell you how it will turn out quite yet. But I think the only real concern is how the side wall screens will work out visually, I don't expect any functionality issues.

 

It would be nice if Carl's could do custom enclosures like that, and although they will do custom rectangular sizes, they will not do sloped.

 

How are you going to do the angle from the 8 foot end up? I did some trig and it looks like I'd need a 102 degree angle at that end and 78 degree angle at the 10 ft end if I want 10 ft depth. I saw they had 12 and 30 degree but don't think those would work for me.

[bradski]

does anyone have an irregular sized enclosure, like say you have a ceiling that slopes from 8 to 10 feet, obviously would want to hit at the 10 foot part but just curious if anyone has an enclosure with a sloped top surface. I'm sure it can be done with a little more work

 

I moved mine from my garage to a bedroom that is 13 ft long by 11ish ft wide. the ceiling vaults from around 8 ft to 10 ft in the center. I can hit thru hybrid if I want and could hit driver if I really tried. I'm only 5,11 so not really needing full 10ft with my driver.

[Stuart_G]

How are you going to do the angle from the 8 foot end up? I did some trig and it looks like I'd need a 102 degree angle at that end and 78 degree angle at the 10 ft end if I want 10 ft depth. I saw they had 12 and 30 degree but don't think those would work for me.

 

I'm going to just use the low pitch (12* pitch) fittings and see what that gets me. I wasn't really intending to follow the roof pitch exactly (5 in 12 so ~23*). The enclosure depth is only 5' - so even at the 8.5' height, it didn't interfere with the swing at all. The extra height for that first 5' of depth will really just help allow the projector to better fit the screen w/o having to drop it too severly down from the ceiling. I started with the projector dropped down to 8.5' but nailed it once already so pushed it back up to about 9.5'.

 

Now I will come out further than 5' eventually (better shank, sky-ball, and flop shot protection) but will only be using some generic netting for that so doubt I'll need a cross bar - so the lower pitch still shouldn't be a problem for me.

[Dcoop86]

Has anyone tried TrackMan indoors with the firmware update that uses the camera for “better club data”? Curious if anyone has seen better indoor performance with that.

[pinhigh27]

Is there any simulation software with reduced computer spec requirements vs the others? Seems like most require pretty decent video card.

[MountainGoat]

I don't know if someone has already mentioned this, but you guys might be interested in a Facebook group called the "Golf Simulator/Launch Monitor/Emerging Technologies Discussion Group".

[clevited]

Is there any simulation software with reduced computer spec requirements vs the others? Seems like most require pretty decent video card.

 

There are a couple at least for Skytrak. Check out their software offerings on website for requirements.

[Ac18]

Are there any suggestions for net/screen materials if the intent is to use SkyTrak to an iPad? I’ve seen many people comment on “alternative” items for the impact area: Memory foam toppers, comforters, moving blankets, tarps, canvas.

 

Anyone actually use any of the above materials with success? Looking for limited bounce back in a garage set up.

[howellhandmade]

Are there any suggestions for net/screen materials if the intent is to use SkyTrak to an iPad? I’ve seen many people comment on “alternative” items for the impact area: Memory foam toppers, comforters, moving blankets, tarps, canvas.

 

Anyone actually use any of the above materials with success? Looking for limited bounce back in a garage set up.

 

My daughter was a softball pitcher. I rigged up a big piece of carpet in the basement for her to pitch into. Went to a carpet store and bought a big remnant, probably 5 feet wide and 10 feet long. The top I secured with a 1X2 and strips of lath, sandwiching the edge of the carpet between the two and screwing together with drywall screws. I hung that from the joists with nylon rope, maybe 6-8” of swing at the top, about a foot from the wall. The bottom just lay on the floor and made a natural ball return. It worked great, she could throw as hard as she could into it and the ball would just thud and roll back.

 

At some point she stopped using it and I put a mat down and started hitting golf balls into the carpet. With SkyTrak and an iPad it’s just fine. Might help that she broke it in with a few thousand 60mph softballs. It could be wider, but I’m pretty close to it.

[Ac18]

Thanks Howell, interesting. How close are you to the carpet when hitting?

 

Ideally looking for something that could be secured directly to the wall in hitting against to absorb impact. Thinking a layered approach with a few different materials finalizing with a screen... interested if anyone has had luck with memory foam. Seems like it would work but hard to secure

[howellhandmade]

Thanks Howell, interesting. How close are you to the carpet when hitting?

 

Ideally looking for something that could be secured directly to the wall in hitting against to absorb impact. Thinking a layered approach with a few different materials finalizing with a screen... interested if anyone has had luck with memory foam. Seems like it would work but hard to secure

 

Ball position is about six feet from carpet. Carpet is hung about 9 inches from wall. What requires mounting flat to the wall, and how are you going to secure it without hanging it? Hanging the screen/backstop has advantages, not the least of which is acoustic isolation. Then there’s simplicity. I’m confused by your reference to a screen, thought you were just going to use an iPad.

[Ac18]

I was thinking about securing the memory foam to the wall and hanging the contact screen a few inches in front. The initial plan is to route SkyTrak to

iPad, but I likely would upgrade to a projector at some point

[howellhandmade]

I was thinking about securing the memory foam to the wall and hanging the contact screen a few inches in front. The initial plan is to route SkyTrak to

iPad, but I likely would upgrade to a projector at some point

 

Hmm. Memory foam is relatively heavy, not sure how you can secure it. If you use, say, screws it won’t be long before you center punch one. If you have a few inches to hang a screen I’d use the same few inches to hang something energy-absorbong right behind the screen. With carpet you can save the screen money until you have a projector. No point in putting wear and tear on a screen until you have a picture on it.

[rcb1586]

I was thinking about securing the memory foam to the wall and hanging the contact screen a few inches in front. The initial plan is to route SkyTrak to

iPad, but I likely would upgrade to a projector at some point

I just did an impact screen off ebay and a cheap white comforter hung behind it.

It limits the bounceback quite effectively.

I think the memory foam may be overkill.

[GT7212]

I’ve had about 30 people send messages for instructions on the DIY divot action mat. If anyone has completed the build, would love to hear feedback and see the finished product. Mine has been built for 18 months and holding up perfectly well after thousands of golf balls. Most importantly zero pain to any joints :)

[Godfather]

Who needs a formal living room? Best decision ever. If we ever move, house shopping will pretty much revolve around the golf room. Those with a tall ceiling basement setup probably have it best since playing is pretty loud. Being in the house is so nice, though.

[GT7212]

Very nice Godfather! I will definitely be moving my set up indoors after this upcoming move. For now the garage is performing the job quite well. Best part is I still have room for a home gym and parking the car

[Godfather]

Very nice Godfather! I will definitely be moving my set up indoors after this upcoming move. For now the garage is performing the job quite well. Best part is I still have room for a home gym and parking the car

I imagine being in the garage has the advantage for containing the sound and playing at night.

[Clambake]

Ideally looking for something that could be secured directly to the wall in hitting against to absorb impact. Thinking a layered approach with a few different materials finalizing with a screen... interested if anyone has had luck with memory foam. Seems like it would work but hard to secure

 

I don't feel any solution where you're mounting something directly to the wall is going to be effective unless you end up with something very thick and extremely durable, which sort of negates the desire to not hang a absorption blanket a foot from the wall. The solutions using suspended impact blankets (whatever that blanket might be made of) will take the force of impact and dissipate the energy across much of the blanket as it moves to absorb the impact, and the weight of the entire blanket helps bring the ball speed to a stop. Sort of like crash protection in a vehicle, where the energy is absorbed and controlled through a large area of the vehicle's structure to minimize injury.

 

A fixed solution mounted on the wall has to dissipate all that energy in one tiny little impact spot. The amount of absorption needed would likely need to be significant thick and/or heavy. It is also likely that repeated strikes in the same area would wear out that material's ability to absorb the significant energy, and suddenly you find yourself with wall damage.

[clevited]

Very nice Godfather! I will definitely be moving my set up indoors after this upcoming move. For now the garage is performing the job quite well. Best part is I still have room for a home gym and parking the car

I imagine being in the garage has the advantage for containing the sound and playing at night.

 

If you hit a lot of drivers you will go deaf lol.

[bradski]

Are there any suggestions for net/screen materials if the intent is to use SkyTrak to an iPad? I've seen many people comment on "alternative" items for the impact area: Memory foam toppers, comforters, moving blankets, tarps, canvas.

 

Anyone actually use any of the above materials with success? Looking for limited bounce back in a garage set up.

 

I would personally just buy a net and hang a white sheet behind it if you want. The net is a fraction of the price and will stop 99% of the balls. maybe a white blanket just in case a ball gets thru.

 

http://www.westcoastnetting.com/netting-products/sports/golf-barrier/impact.html

I have hit thousands of balls into the netting on here.

[RH2]

I just bought a Skytrak so next is the garage setup. Using an iPad on day 1. Was thinking about trying to hang an old 8x10 rug or a piece of Astro turf. It will be ugly, but figured it would stop the ball, absorb some sound, and might be a ball return also. I might be able to knock out the work this weekend. Any thoughts or advice?