Subject:
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Re: Grade Crossing Signal Thingy...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Tue, 28 Dec 2004 13:41:37 GMT
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Reply-To:
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cjmasi@*/nospam/nogarbageplease*rcn.com
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Viewed:
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2365 times
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Stefan Garcia wrote:
> > need more than a program, you'll need to make sensors of some sort, as
> > sensors that detect magnets are not on offer from LEGO. Chris Phillips made some
> > (reedswitch based, I think) sensors, and documented what he did. it requires
> > some surgery.
> >
> > Here's a post to get you started searching on how to construct magnetic sensors:
> > http://news.lugnet.com/org/ca/rtltoronto/?n=7337 (Chris's writeup)
>
>
> I know Lego doesn't make those sensors. The first post in that thread though is
> exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! I'm not too crazy about modding Lego
> so I'll go with the pure version.
Yeah, I am not too crazy about modding LEGO either, but there are some
mods that are fine by me. Chris's read switches are just such a mod. His
crossing gates are awesome, and the read switches that control them work
very well.
I just I created my first bit of automation for a train layout. I made
an automated trolley and you can see a test of my setup at
http://users.rcn.com/cjmasi/trolley.mov . I have some ideas for making
the trolley better, and one idea involves me buying some sensors from
Chris. I thought of making some for myself, but Chris does such a nice
job that I thought I should just get them from him.
By the way, Chris is a fellow NELUG memeber and a friend.
Chris
> > Once you have the sensors though, the program that you would need to create is
> > similar to that used to detect touch sensors as I understand it. you probably
> > will need debounce logic for best results, although maybe not. What you really
> > want is for the gate to stay up some seconds after the last time you saw a touch
> > (or magnet reed switch closure), and then go down, till the next time you see a
> > touch sensor.
> >
> > For bidirectional operation, you will need two sensors, one for each direction
> > of travel (so the gate has time to go down BEFORE the train hits the crossing!)
>
>
> Right, I'd think you'd need a lead time of around two baseplates or more, lest
> those poor minifigs wander across the tracks... :^)
>
>
> > Xposted to lugnet.robotics as there are a lot of resources there as well.
> >
> > Hope that helps.
>
>
> Thanks again!
>
> -Stefan-
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Grade Crossing Signal Thingy...
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| (...) I know Lego doesn't make those sensors. The first post in that thread though is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks! I'm not too crazy about modding Lego so I'll go with the pure version. (...) Right, I'd think you'd need a lead time of (...) (20 years ago, 16-Dec-04, to lugnet.trains)
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