Setting a delay on an expression for a countdown

[TwilightLinkable]

Hello, I am a newbie when it comes to expression.  I have a piece of code I got from a YouTube video that looks like this:

st = 300;
t = st - time;
if (t>599.999) {
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(3,8);
} else
if (t>1) {
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(4,8)
} else {
t = 0
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(4,8);
}

But what I want to add is a way to add a delay to the start of the countdown, just like what this guy did with his video.  Electric - 5 Minute Countdown 

Also yes, I am using the same effect he is, he made a tutorial video on it, but the video does not include on how to delay the start of the coutndown while keeping the electric animation animating.  How would I do that?

If you need to, here's his Tutorial Video 

Thank you in advaice for your help.

[Dan Ebberts · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure if this is what you're asking for, but this example would delay the countdown for 3 seconds:

delay = 3;
st = 300;
t = time > delay ? st - (time-delay) : st;
if (t>599.999) {
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(3,8);
} else
if (t>1) {
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(4,8)
} else {
t = 0
c = timeToTimecode(t);
c = c.substring(4,8);
}

[TwilightLinkable]

That is EXACTLY what I am looking for, thank you so much.

[TwilightLinkable]

That is EXACTLY what I am looking for, thank you so much! However, I am having one small issue.  At the end of the video, the timer disappears at the 2 second mark, bsically the video goes black.  So what do I need to fix in the code to prevent that from happening and also, I would like to add to the code where the timer just sits at 0:00 all the way to the end of the comp because I am going to add 5 seconds to the end of it because I am using this timer for my streams and have a stinger transition when the countdown is finished.  

I have attached the file to this replay so you may take a look at it yourself, I am currently working with the blue comp version. Once I have everything I need, I am going to copy it over to the other colors and take it from there with Premiere Pro.  

[Dan Ebberts]

The expression should work fine as long as the comp is longer than the duration of the count plus the delay. So if your comp was 6 minutes long, the counter should reach 0:00 at 5 minutes and 3 seconds and hold that until the end of the comp.

[TwilightLinkable]

Got it, but the countdown is disappearing after the 0:02 mark in the comp.  Do I need to re do the comp to make it work?  

[Dan Ebberts]

I'm not sure, but the comp I'm looking at is only 5 minutes long, which is not long enough for a 5-minute countdown with a 3-second delay.

[TwilightLinkable]

I am making changes to the blue one or the one name Electric blue then will apply the changes to the rest.  I have uploaded an older version of the file, I am going to send the updated file to this one to show you what I mean.  But as I am writing this code, I thik I may need to readjust the expression to 303 at line 2 of the code st = 300;.

But the comp that you will see is the one I am working with for now and will apply the changes to the other comps once we've figured out what is needed to prevent the video from disappearing at 2 seconds to go and display 0:00 at the end of the video for the remainder of the 1 minute left of the video as I have changed the comp to 6 minutes as oppose to 5 minutes now.  (See updated attached file)

[TwilightLinkable]

Okay, I have figured the problem for the ending of the video and that was I had to make a new comp that already started out with the length I want before putting in the expression and adding the effects.  

I really appreciate the effort you have put forth in assisting me, thank you very much.