132 replies to this topic

[the_burrito_master]

I know you're dutch but here's a small english lesson, Less woudl be something not countable like less water. Fewer would be for something countable like knex parts or in this case Amps these laws of Grammar do not apply to gumps supply of knex cause they are innumerable.

anyway, here's why I'm here.

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I have to get another transistor for the red sides still but hey this gives you an idea.

That should be a link to a video, but idk if it will work.

[floris2burn]

It says I can't watch it because of the privacy settings. Maybe it's only allowed for friends or something?

[coastergeekrtc]

I just wanted to point out another option for micro-controllers, Picaxe. Personally I like them better than the Arduino boards because I can make my own custom bare-minimum PCB vs. having to incorporate the Arduino PCB into my builds. But if I ever want to have the Picaxe on it's own PCB I can select a few options, including prototyping, servos, and motor control.

I typically use the prototyping board to test my circuits. Once I know they work then I transfer them over to one board and cut out all the waste.

[Maxlaam]

I just ordered 800 leds. 200 Green, 200 Red, 200 Yellow and 200 Orange.

Planning on making a strip of leds about 10 cm long. The strip contains 12 leds in a row in 2 layers (24 in total). It uses 4 channels. The whole idea is to make multiple strips with different colours which can be snapped together. I will test it out with 2 or 3 strips first before making more as I am worried the strips further away from the power-supply will be less bright. (Each strip is about 80 mA, so I can hook up about 12 of them to a 1A power-supply.) Depending on how significant the brightness I will choose to continue or drop this project. I might also switch to 6 channels.
The patterns will be repeating.

[Maxlaam]

Sadly the lights haven't arrived yet. But I did buy my THIRD Arduino! I decided to go with the newest version, the UNO. I also bought a power supply for it. After I bought the Arduino I went to the electronics store and spent a good 30 or 45 minutes talking about Arduinos and finalizing the schematics I had drawn.

Here are some pictures:


The UNO comes in a neat box and also comes with a set of stickers. This is also the first board to be supplied with a warranty notice. 1 year warranty. So if you are afraid you will destroy your board the first time you use it, fear no more!


This is the relay board I made that plugs directly into the UNO. It allows me to control 4 independent relays. (Motors or lights perhaps?)

Total costs: 70 euro's

[Maxlaam]

Found this in the mail today:


Decided to work on what I had in mind right away.

This LED bar as of now has a 4 channel running light program powered by Arduino and a custom relayboard.



The back:

Yes that is a CUMload of hot glue there

This allows me to connect multiple boards together so I can choose what order the colours are in or how long I want it to be (of course there is a limit somewhere.


Video:


The orange (Very bright) LED's are just a test. They seemed to be too bright compared to the rest so I won't make any more of those.

[A.S.C.]

Where do you get these?

[Maxlaam]

Build it myself?

[Millcreek47]

Damn Max. These are cool. Can you program them? Or are they timers or what?

I'm doing this in electronics class right now.

[lazor 22]

Man, soldering 10awg wire onto a Deans connector is hard.

[LaMbChOpZ]

I know this will sound probably dumb, but couldn't you always separate the power source from the orange LED's to have a power adjuster thing so that way they're all the same brightness or is that just too hard to put together? Or you could always take the long way and just have 2 power sources, one for Orange, and one for the rest. Orange is less powerful than "the rests" power source, but that would just be a pain.

[Maxlaam]

The power is linked through through all the LED bars. It would be possible but a bit more work as I would need to make separate connectors to "skip" the orange parts. I just won't make any more orange pieces as it is hard to tell the difference between red and orange.

[TheSUCKCrew]

Hey guys, I just wanted to show you guys what I've been doing with my arduino.
So my father came to me: "Hey Bart, would it be possible to make an automatic station for the model-trains with the arduino?
He told me that there are systems for that available on the internet, but those cost €25 for every rail your station has, and since we have a 9-rail station it would be pretty expansive.

So yeah, I wrote a program for it:

// this are the sensors that check if there is a train on the track
const int Si1 = 1;
const int Si2 = 2;
const int Si3 = 3;
const int Si4 = 4;
// this are the outputs that make the switches switch the way you want them to
const int So1 = 5;
const int So2 = 6;
const int So3 = 7;
const int So4 = 8;
// this are the lights that allow you to check if there is a train on the track
const int Lo1 = 13;
const int Lo2 = 12;
const int Lo3 = 24;
const int Lo4 = 25;
// this are the values that program if the input is high or low
int val1 = 0;
int val2 = 0;
int val3 = 0;
int val4 = 0;
// this are the settings that are used for the blinking led that shows what track is open
int ledState = LOW;
long previousMillis = 0;
long interval = 1000;
void setup(){
// here you program if the pin is an input or output
pinMode(Si1, INPUT);
pinMode(Si2, INPUT);
pinMode(Si3, INPUT);
pinMode(Si4, INPUT);
pinMode(So1, OUTPUT);
pinMode(So2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(So3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(So4, OUTPUT);
}
void loop(){
// here you program the the value's are equal to the sensors that check if there is a train on the track
val1 = digitalRead(Si1);
val2 = digitalRead(Si2);
val3 = digitalRead(Si3);
val4 = digitalRead(Si4);

// this is a code for the blinkingleds
unsigned long currentMillis = millis();

// here you make an if/else statement, if there is a train on the track, it will turn the control-light from that track on and then it will ask the same thing to the next track.
if(val1 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(So1, LOW);
digitalWrite(Lo1, HIGH);
if(val2 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(So2, LOW);
if(val3 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(So3, LOW);
if(val4 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(So4, LOW);
}
// if there is no train on the track, the outputpin gets activated so the switches will turn the good way, and it also turns the other output-pins that might still be activated off.
else{
digitalWrite(So4, HIGH);
// the controllight also gets turned on for a blinking-effect
digitalWrite(Lo4, HIGH);
}

}
else{
digitalWrite(So3, HIGH);
digitalWrite(So4, LOW);
digitalWrite(Lo3, HIGH);
}


}
else{
digitalWrite(So2, HIGH);
digitalWrite(So3, LOW);
digitalWrite(So4, LOW);
digitalWrite(Lo2, HIGH);
}


}
else{
digitalWrite(So1, HIGH);
digitalWrite(So2, LOW);
digitalWrite(So3, LOW);
digitalWrite(So4, LOW);
digitalWrite(Lo1, HIGH);

}
// the system waits for 0,5 sec now, this is to provide the led from the track where the switches are pointing at to stay on for a while
delay(500);

// here it turns the control-lights on/off if there is a/no train on the track.
if(val1 == HIGH){
}
else{
digitalWrite(Lo1, LOW);
}
if(val2 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(Lo2, HIGH);
}
else{
digitalWrite(Lo2, LOW);
}
if(val3 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(Lo3, HIGH);
}
else{
digitalWrite(Lo3, LOW);
}
if(val4 == HIGH){
digitalWrite(Lo4, HIGH);
}
else{
digitalWrite(Lo4, LOW);
}
// the system waits for 0,5 sec now, this is to provide the led from the track where the switches are pointing at to stay off for a while
delay(400);
}

[WardCoastez]

is that something you learn at school, because i am only 12 and that looks freakin complicated. (it looks cool i wanna learn it lol)

[TheSUCKCrew]

is that something you learn at school, because i am only 12 and that looks freakin complicated. (it looks cool i wanna learn it lol)

I wished they would teach me this at school...

Nope, maxlaam and floris2burn helped me a little, but you also have to just follow examples and try untill you get it to work.
As soon as you understand the basics, it's easy as pie:)

**

Okay guys, I've been working on a way to see if there is a train on the track, and my final solution is this:
I'll place an LDR (Light Dependent Resistors) on the end of the track, with one leg connected to Ground, and the other leg connected to pin1-4 and via a resistor (with a higher resistance than the LDR while illuminated) to 5V.

If there is no train on the track, the resistor gets illuminated, so it will let through the electricity from pin1-4 to ground, and since electricity want to choose the way with the less resistance, it doesn't choose to go from pin 1-4 via a resistor to 5V.
But if there is a train on the track, the LDR will be in the shadow so it will have more resistance than the resistor.
And again, electricity wants to choose the way with the less resistance, so it chooses to go from the 1-4pin to the 5V.

Basicly, it senses if the LDR is in the shadow of a train or not.

[Sniggeh]

Something tells me you have too much time on your hands for programming...

[TheSUCKCrew]

Blinking Led-Sign? Cool.
Blinking Led-Sign not using delays but millis?
AWESOME!!!



Let me add on to this that I did not get any advice from Max or Floris to program this.

[floris2burn]

Now solder 2 more dimensions on it and you got a 3D cube.
Then let's start programming that!

And how's the station program going? I may not have helped with the blinking leds, but after spending hours on the station stuff, I want to see result

[TheSUCKCrew]

Now solder 2 more dimensions on it and you got a 3D cube.
Then let's start programming that!

And how's the station program going? I may not have helped with the blinking leds, but after spending hours on the station stuff, I want to see result

Already ordered most of the electronic stuff, I will make a test-setup soon.

With the "no help from floris", I kinda forgot to say that floris has been tutoring me a lot about arduino in general, he learned me all the basics, so thanks for that floris;)

[Maxlaam]

Already ordered most of the electronic stuff, I will make a test-setup soon.

With the "no help from floris", I kinda forgot to say that floris has been tutoring me a lot about arduino in general, he learned me all the basics, so thanks for that floris;)

I wouldn't say just the basics as you already surpassed my coding skills