Don't worry about the flashers, the family comes before play time. I wish him well and hope he makes a full recovery.
Dear rtr12
I hope that the family is well now.
Dear All
I went out and purchase the Arduino cook book and Uno R3 started broad. Since the hobby is going into electronics more and more all the time I figured the now was a good time to start. This will be my first independent project after I learned how to use the Uno R3 board.
Once you get the Arduino working, here's what you need for the project board. $4.39 and free shipping. It loads with the mini-USB and is small enough to embed in rolling stock or locomotives.
In looking, here's one even cheaper with no cable, no big loss, $2.97
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Thanks for the kind words, he's home (yesterday afternoon) and doing better. May not be for long, but he is home where he wants to be. He refused further treatment (open heart surgery among other things). At 86, I would be doing the same thing he is. From my experience with others I have known, intervention like this at this age usually makes things worse and the end result is the same, possibly much sooner too.
Now I need to go order some of these latest gadgets just posted...
Here are the revised flasher drawings. I think 10k was satisfactory for the trim pot. That seemed pretty slow to me. If anyone wants it slower, they can use something larger.
If you order any trimmer pots, make double sure you check the number of turns needed for full scale. Some are 20 turns and some are 220 degrees (don't ask how I know that).
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Here is some Arduino code for the Knight Rider Flasher. 330 ohm resistors were used for the LEDs.
/* Knight Rider Flasher Operates LED's in Sequence as in the Knight Rider car in the TV Show
This example code is in the public domain. */
// Pin 13 has an LED connected on most Arduino boards.
// give it a name:
int redledA = 8;
int redledB = 9;
int redledC = 10;
int redledD = 11;
int redledE = 12;
int redledF = 13;
// the setup routine runs once when you press reset:
void setup() {
// initialize the digital pin as an output.
pinMode(redledA, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redledB, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redledC, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redledD, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redledE, OUTPUT);
pinMode(redledF, OUTPUT);
}
// the loop routine runs over and over again forever:
void loop() {
// Flash LED 1
digitalWrite(redledA, HIGH); // turn on red LED 1 (HIGH is voltage level)
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2 turn off other LED's by making voltage LOW
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(150); // redled 1 for 150 miliseconds (1000 miliseconds = 1 second)
// Flash LED 2
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, HIGH); // turn on red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 2 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 3
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, HIGH); // turn on red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 3 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 4
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, HIGH); // turn on red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 4 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 5
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, HIGH); // turn on red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 5 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 6
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, HIGH); // turn on red LED 6
delay(150); // redled 6 for 150 miliseconds
// Flash LED 5 - Reverse Direction
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, HIGH); // turn on red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 5 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 4
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, HIGH); // turn on red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 4 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 3
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, LOW); // turn off red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, HIGH); // turn on red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 3 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 2
digitalWrite(redledA, LOW); // turn off red LED 1
digitalWrite(redledB, HIGH); // turn on red LED 2
digitalWrite(redledC, LOW); // turn off red LED 3
digitalWrite(redledD, LOW); // turn off red LED 4
digitalWrite(redledE, LOW); // turn off red LED 5
digitalWrite(redledF, LOW); // turn off red LED 6
delay(75); // redled 2 for 75 miliseconds
// Flash LED 1 Go Back to Top - ReStart
}
HI rtr12
Sorry to hear about the father in law. I hope is is resting comfortably and in good spirits.
Dear rtr12
Thanks for the code. I just got the Arduino starter kit yesterday and I am going to start playing with it.
Dear John
Thanks for the information about the Arduino nano. I ordered one of them and I am waiting for it to arrive.
Thanks, I was just over there this morning, my wife is staying with him until Thursday when her sister relieves her. He is doing pretty good for his condition. The hospital got us in touch with Hospice and they are great, got all the stuff he needs, hospital bed, walker, oxygen, etc. They make it all very easy. They really are a lot of help during times like this.
Let me know if those Arduino projects work out for you. They are pretty basic. The Arduino is a lot easier than using all the IC's and component parts, at least for me anyway. There is a whole lot more you can do with the Arduino than what I have posted here.
Dear rtr12
My mother in law turned 65 last July 4th. Two weeks later she was not feeling well and three months later she had passed on of cancer. It is a tough time on the whole family. We were shocked because she was so young. We are still grieving over her passing. So I know how hard it can be on everyone. My mother in law lived in Europe and they did not has Hospice like they do here.
That was pretty fast and she was still pretty young at only 65, that would be much harder to deal with especially when it was so unexpected. Takes a long time to get over that, it's a big adjustment for everyone. Cancer can be bad too, I hope she didn't suffer with it. I am kind of surprised that Europe doesn't have something like Hospice? I thought they were way ahead of us in many things and that sure would have been one of them. Hospice is a great organization if you ever need them, I have been really impressed with them.
My father-in-law has had this condition for a few years now and he is much older, so this wasn't totally unexpected. Fortunately for him, (and the family) he has been getting around quite well up until they started trying to repair him recently. That has only made things worse.
Dear rtr12
In something Europe is ahead of us but not the whole of Europe. We were making arrangement for her to go to Hospice but there was a waiting list. I is still hard to believe that she is gone.
Kind of surprised about the waiting list too? Unfortunately it will just take a long time to make the adjustments of losing a loved one so suddenly. One has to do a lot of mental processing. My grandmother died at age 87 in 1976 and out of all my family members that are gone (including my parents), I still think about her the most.
One thing the Europeans are ahead of us on is passenger trains. I bet that would really be something to see over there. I have never been there, wanted to go when I was younger. I travelled a lot for work (4 state area around where we live), now that I'm retired I no longer want to travel since I don't have to.
I made that suggestion to slow down the eBay 555+4017 module for a traffic-light application. Aren't you using this for the Knight-Rider where the lights advance more quickly?
I suggest you apply power to the module as-is and see if the LEDs advance at a suitable speed for what your want. It appears that you have some speed adjustment with the on-board trimpot.
As for mods, for the Knight-Rider don't you want the lights sweeping back and forth? To get this effect you probably need to add some diodes after the 4017 as shown in the schematics earlier in this thread.
Dear Stan
Never mind I goofed. I am building a new Knight Rider circuit from scratch based on rtr12 design. I tried the Chinese part and did not like the way it looked and worked.
Dear rtr12
Was the February 15, 2015 9:40 PM posting of the design the final out come or was there a final revision? I already ordered the parts I was missing from Digikey. I realy want to get this project going. As Gunrunnerjohn stated "stop designing and start build it" more or less.
I believe it is with one exception. The only other change that was made (I think) was making the 500k ohm pot a 10k ohm pot per GRJ's later suggestions. I fiddles with that a little more and came up with the 10k ohm pot being a smaller range that is probably all that would be needed. The 500k ohm pot will work, it is just a bit larger range than is actually needed as GRJ pointed out. It was also all I had at the time. I will post the revised schematic here.
I believe the traffic signal schematic is correct with stan2004's suggestion of the opto- coupler relay added. I will post my current schematic of that one also just in case. Since Stan's post and the schematic revision I ordered some of the opto-couplers, but I have not tried them with this circuit and crossing gates yet.
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Originally Posted by nvocc5:
I am building a new Knight Rider circuit from scratch based on rtr12 design. I tried the Chinese part and did not like the way it looked and worked.
Whatever works for you, but out of curiosity what about how it looks and works don't you like.
In any event, not that anyone else on OGR has expressed interest but I see you can also buy an un-assembled kit. This makes it a lot easier to modify the circuit to perform the traffic-light or Knight-Rider circuits since you don't have to remove tiny surface-mount components...you just don't install them in the first place!
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Dear Stan
The original item for $1.27 just did not work correctly and I just gave up. I did see the other that you are suggesting. But I do not have the knowledge base you have. I will also value your expert knowledge and wisdom on this topic. I will give the new design a try and see what happens. Could you modify this design for traffic lights as well or do you suggest something else?
