 | | "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Chris Phillips
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| | | As has already been reported by others, I built an automated railroad crossing for the NELUG train display at last weekend's Greenberg show. I wanted to take a moment to describe the "homebrew" sensor that I used to detect an approaching train so (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Eric Kingsley
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| | | | | (...) I might just add that while this was a bit over my head it work extremely well and the sensor itself was very small and unobtrusive. It was a non-LEGO solution but I loved it and recommend it. I think with some reworking it may even be (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Larry Pieniazek
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| | | | | | (...) Is there a photo that clearly shows the sensor in a fairly tight closeup so that it can be judged how obtrusive/invisible it is? I skimmed through many of the photos posted by you, Dave, and Tim but did not see one, although I may have missed (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Eric Joslin
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| | | | | | | (...) 1) take a section of straight track. 2) take a light gray 2x4 plate and place it so that it spans the 2-stud gap between two of the ties. 3) imagine a very thin silver piece lying on that. That's it. Most of the people I talked to about it (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Eric Kingsley
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| | | | | | (...) I know I didn't get a close up because my camera stinks for close ups. I think Chris may have gotten some but he hasn't uploaded his pic's just yet. If we don't have one now, we are having a meeting in a couple weeks and we will make sure to (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Chris Phillips
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| | | | | | (...) I just looked through my pictures and I was surprised to find that I don't have any that show the sensor. I will snap a few close-ups tonight... I also like the idea of doing a more formal write-up with pictures, schematics, and part sources. (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Chris Phillips
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| | | | | | (...) I took a few close-ups of the sensor last night, and uploaded them to BrickShelf. Check out: (URL) first picture is the sensor itself with a few "common" objects nearby for scale. The second picture is my reproduction of the exact setup that (...) (24 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Eric Kingsley
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| | | | | | (...) Chris, I was just wondering if there was a decline in performance in the enclosure as opposed to outside of it. The enclosure looks great! Eric Kingsley The New England LEGO Users Group (URL) (24 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Chris Phillips
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| | | | | | (...) No, there is no apparent decline in the sensitivity of the reed switch when it is encased in LEGO. In fact, the switch that I bought from Radio Shack was originally enclosed in a plastic housing, which I removed to reduce the bulk of the (...) (24 years ago, 7-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics, lugnet.org.us.nelug)
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| | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Steven Barile
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| | | | | Wonderful info! If I could be so bold... On the PNLTC web site we have articles that discuss various building and other techniques. This reed switch discussion and design review would make a great article (with some pics & schematics) for NELUG! (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Eric Kingsley
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| | | | | | (...) This is a great idea. I will talk to Chris about it and we can try and document it with pictures on the NELUG site. Eric Kingsley The New England LEGO Users Group (URL) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | reed switch w/2^n series resister —Steven Barile
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| | | | | Chris If I understand correctly you can add a series resister to each reed switch using the formula r=2^n*R. Where n is the number of each switch (1,2,3...) and R is some resistence value that is friendly to the RCX. This way you can add several (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —James Trobaugh
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| | | | | Chris, Another great little sensor for train detection, via Radio Shack, is the little photo sensors they sell. I put them inside of a 2x4 technic plate and then snap them face up on the track. This way they use the omni light from the room as the (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Steven Barile
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| | | | | | James, Are they directly wired to the RCX or is there a resister in series. BTW where is the web page on the electrical specs of the RCX and home brew sensors? I can't remember. SteveB (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —James Trobaugh
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| | | | | | | At this point I don't have the sensor hooked to an RCX due to the fact that Santa hasn't brought me one yet (hint hint Santa). I currently have the sensor hooked into a Crestron Control system ((URL) The sensor is hooked to a digital I/O port that (...) (24 years ago, 5-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —James Trobaugh
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| | | | | | | | Just a follow up to this topic now that I have an RCX of my own (thanks Santa...and my wife) I found that using the Radio Shack light sensors for detecting on coming trains to the crossing works great. No special wiring needed at all, I basicly (...) (23 years ago, 2-Jan-01, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Michael Gasperi
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| | | | | | "sebarile-MOBL" <steve.e.barile@intel.com> wrote in message news:G544x8.FnI@lugnet.com... (...) The web page you are looking for is: (URL) Gasperi (24 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Mario Ferrari
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| | | | Hi Chris, thanks for sharing this. I had the same positive results with reed sensors in my automated rail station. The station actually detects the incoming train through the well known light sensor + lamp method, but I wanted a way to distinguish (...) (24 years ago, 6-Dec-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Tony Hedglen
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| | | | (...) Hi everyone. My name is Tony Hedglen and I’m very interested in automated Lego railroads. I am a member of Michlug and we are one of the newer clubs. We have done one train show so far and we won second place. I read these posts on sensors and (...) (23 years ago, 31-May-01, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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| | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Jason J. Railton
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| | | | | (...) Hi Tony - I haven't had a Mindstorms for long, but I've already built an automated level crossing. The Mindstorms is based around the Lego 'RCX'. This is a large brick, about the size of the old 4.5V battery boxes, but with some very special (...) (23 years ago, 31-May-01, to lugnet.trains)
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| | | | | | Re: "No Contact" Homebrew Train Sensor for Mindstorms —Chris Phillips
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| | | | (...) Tony, If you search back through the .trains and .rcx newsgroups, you'll find a few scattered gems on the topic of RCX control of 9V trains. I'll summarize some of the basics for you here: The Mindstorms RCX microcontroller brick provides (...) (23 years ago, 31-May-01, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.robotics)
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