audible signal that works on 18v track power

I use the Fastrack crossing wig wag lights with the bell dinging while the train is on the siding.

Thanks, can you give me the Lionel part number for that? Google is only giving me the fasttrack grade crossing.

thanks

Frank

If you can operate at 12V DC (vs. 18V AC), you have so many more options. 

So start with a 12V DC wall-wart and use the activator insulated-rail to pass 12V DC to the audio widget when occupied...or convert the 18V AC to 12V DC using a converter-module.  Both options are $2-3.  Once you have 12V DC, buzzers, alarms, sound-modules, whatever are more readily available and inexpensive than those that operate at 18V AC.

http://www.lionel.com/products...ith-flashers-6-12052

Stan, OK will one of these work:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d...J5HgL&ref=plSrch

AC to DC Converter

If I can get that to work what kind of 12v DC signal should I use?

thanks

Frank

That would work.  Being the cheap-skate I was thinking one of those eBay modules from Asia...

Perhaps first need to get the horse and cart in order.  What exactly is the purpose of the sound?  Is this a warning/alarm?  In which case just search on "12V buzzer" or "12V alarm" and for a few bucks you can get something that will knock your socks off and be annoying as all get out as used in car/burglar alarms!

But if you were thinking some kind of train-related sound like from a crossing signal it seems there are many sound-effect modules that can be selected with a suitable sound or maybe even one you can load yourself.  These would be in the, say, $20 and up range.

Or maybe even a radio or similar consumer audio device?  These would undoubtedly take DC voltage (rather than 18V AC) and converter modules are readily available for other DC voltages...for example 9V to activate some device that uses a 9V battery.

Thanks, I just am looking for an alarm or buzzer sound. I am blind and my wife is legally blind so we want an audible means of knowing when a siding is occupied so that we don't crash the trains into the end of track bumpers when pulling into sidings. EBay has lots of cheap DC buzzers from what I see.

thanks

Frank

Interesting idea though I don't know if I would want to hear that sounder continuously if the train is parked.  Also you might want to consider different sounds to distinguish different sidings.

Maybe consider a more sophisticated setup with a board that has pop-up plungers.  Pass your fingers over the board and raised plunger tells you occupied or unoccupied sidings.

Hi RRMan, what I planned to do is put a cutoff switch in line so that once the train is parked I can cut off the audible signal. However the plunger idea is intriguing. I don't know exactally what to search for though.

thanks

Frank

ChooChoo1972 posted:

Hi RRMan, what I planned to do is put a cutoff switch in line so that once the train is parked I can cut off the audible signal. However the plunger idea is intriguing. I don't know exactally what to search for though.

thanks

Frank

Actually having toggle lever switches would solve the problem.  Just line them up so that handles are UP/signal off/track occupied, and down/signal on/track UN-occupied (signal is silent with no cars present .)   You run your fingers along the handles feeling for up levers indicating occupied tracks.  If up, you can momentary flip it down to verify track was still occupied, in case those pesky O gauge M.O.W. workers moved cars out of the siding in the middle of the night.

Thanks, any idea where I can get witches like that. I really like that idea.

Frank

Which is better? An audible alert or a tactile alert? The robot shop has 3 volt DC 2mm diameter flat vibrating motors.

ChooChoo1972 posted:

Thanks, any idea where I can get witches like that. I really like that idea.

 

Frank

Might visit elctrical shop where they have unpackaged switches you could feel.  I am thinking of small toggle switches with a ball on handle end that would make it easy to move your fingers over, rather than bat handled or sharp edged handles that can hurt finger tips. Like these pictures

I'll start here by saying I may have some experience with making things accessible for people that are blind, that others that others may not have, since my mother is blind.  I'm going to kinda spit-ball some ideas of how I would go about this for her.  For this post, I'm not going to go into much detail on how to accomplish each idea, but I'm only going with things that I do know how to accomplish with fairly inexpensive parts.  

A simple buzzer or bell would be the easiest way to go, but for just a couple dollars you can also buy MP3 modules that could play back any sound or message you like.  For example you could have a recording that sounds a chime, then says "Warning, Siding three is occupied". 

Wether you use a buzzer or a recording, I would recommend setting it up so that the warning sounds automatically when a switch is thrown to lead into the siding.  This way there is nothing you have to do to get the warning.  You could also use several insulated rail sections (or other forms of detectors) on the siding to give various warnings or functions.  It would not be particularly difficult to have warnings of "train entering siding", "Train leaving siding", " Siding occupied", and "Siding empty".  In addition things could be set up to cut power to a siding when a train reaches the bumper, or with a bit more complexity and cost, have a beeping that speeds up as a train approaches a bumper, similar to back-up warnings on many late model cars.  

For tactile feedback, I'm afraid there's no cheap solution to build something like an Optacon that could tell you exactly what's going on, however there are some options to give basic information.  The simplest method I can think of would be a control panel, that instead of using indicator lights, instead uses servos with a pointer that faces one direction for on or occupied  and another direction for off or unoccupied.  I think the recorded voice message is probably more efficient than checking all the pointers, but such pointers might still be useful for other indicators.  

More details can be provided if wanted.  

JGL

Optacon? Wow now there is a flashback. I think I have one in the basement somewhere. Anyway, telling the state of the turnouts isn't going to be a problem since I am using all manual turnouts so we have to touch them anyway and there is tactile feedback as to their state by design.  The real issue that I need to work out is the end of track bumper issue. Meaning that I need to know when to stop the train to keep it from hitting the track bumpers on sidings. I can use an accessory activation track section at the end to activate something. I was thinking a buzzer and even found a few that work directly on AC and don't require the ac to dc converter. However I like the idea of the MP3 player. Do you know of a link to an mp3 player that can be activated remotely through a track contact?

thanks

Frank

I'm unaware of a ready made solution, however if you're up for the task you could combine a couple things that are out there with out too much work.  If cost is a factor there are ways to do this a lot less expensively, but that require more work.  

Going for least parts and least time to hook up, at a somewhat higher cost Here's what I'd use.  

From the big auction site:  TF Card U Disk MP3 Format Decoder Board Audio Decoding Module W/ Amplifier.  $1.33, free shipping from China

From the auction site:  a 3 watt speaker.  These range from $1.50 -$5.00 with the more expensive ones likely to produce better sound.  

JW&A (gunrunnerjohn) Train Presence Sensor from Hennings trains. Apx $20. 

5 volt power source.  There are a lot of options here.  A simple phone charger is probably the easiest for $5-$10.  The Train Presence Sensor could also be modified to be the power supply for a couple dollars in parts.  

A USB or Micro SD (tf) flash card:  used to store the audio file(s)  You can use a really small flash drive here that you can get for a dollar or two.  

The presence sensor is set up to activate when the train enters the last section of track, turning on its relay.  The relay contacts, in turn, switch power on and off to the MP3 player, which will always start at the begining of the first audio track when powered on.  

I can draw up the wiring set up if that would be helpful, or give a much better description of the setup.  

On the super east to do end, you could use just the train presence sensor and a 12VDC buzzer, using the sensor's on-board power to run the buzzer.

JGL

I'm combining most of that stuff into one module for adding sound to small stuff.

Sound module for small motorized units

I use the BY8001-16P module to piggy-back onto this board.

As JGL suggests, you probably won't find a plug-and-play MP3 solution that runs off O-gauge accessory or track voltage - say 14-18V AC.  Here's a variant to his approach that I built.  Less than $10 in out-of-pocket components and modules from eBay.  But it does require soldering, messing with small components/modules, etc. which I think is asking a bit much as you're blind.  

Anyway, I start with a rechargeable battery-powered MP3 player with built-in speaker...about $4 (free shipping) on eBay.  This has room-filling volume.  The MP3 sound is stored on a thumbnail sized 64MB microSD memory card...about $2 (free shipping) on eBay.

Open it up and you see the speaker, rechargeable battery, MP3 player electronics, and slot to insert the memory card.

I replaced the 3.7V Lithium rechargeable battery with a AC-to-DC voltage regulator set to 3.7V DC.  The regulator consists of a 25 cent bridge rectifier and a DC-to-DC module...about $1 on eBay (free shipping).

So you simply apply 14-18V AC voltage and it starts playing whatever MP3 file/sound is stored on the memory card.  I've messed with several of these MP3 players and they all have their "quirks" that make them easier/harder to use for our O-gauge applications.  For example, what's nice about this particular player is it always turns on at "max" volume.  Some players always start at mid-volume and require manually increasing the volume by repeated button presses every time you turn it on - a nuisance to say the least.  Or you will find a player that "remembers" the last volume setting between power cycling.

Note the use of a baffle around the speaker.  As discussed in various threads a baffle greatly enhances volume especially at low-frequencies.  You don't need anything fancy - that's a plastic vitamin bottle in the photo.

Here are some current listings showing the various components on eBay.

Dear Stan

Just amazing what you can come up with BRAVO!

JG and Stan, thanks for those mp3 player scenerios. I might try to do some experimenting on the bench and see if I can get something to work for a future upgrade. For now I want to minimize the points of failure.

GRJ, can you tell me more about how the 30100 Insulated Track Signal Driver

  works?

Can I assume it functions as a relay? Track power from an isolated rail closes the AC primary side to allow DC to pass through secondary side? Is it DPDT in configuration? I might start by using this to power a few DC sound generators. Essentially  I just need to find 3 or 4 DC sound devices that sound unique enough that I can recognize them.

thanks

Frank

I've attached the instructions to this post, let me know if you have any additional questions.

Here's an option which might apply since you said you have 2 sidings.  You can have both sections wired up to activate a single MP3 player.  In other words, two separate activation sections can be wired together (or "in parallel").  This way you only need one MP3 player and yet have warning sound/announcement from two (or more) sidings. 

Taking this a bit further, using the ITSD's relay contacts, you can have one ITSD turn on a speaker located close to one siding...and a separate ITSD turn on a speaker located close to the 2nd siding.  Again, this means only one MP3 player is required; the MP3 player would be continuously powered playing the sound over and over...but no sound is heard until a speaker is turned on by one or the other activation section.  In other words the ITSD makes the connections from player-to-speaker (vs. power-to-player).  Then you can hear the direction from where the sound is coming to know which siding is occupied.  The key point being with these MP3 players there are no moving parts so there's really no material wear-and-tear and negligible electrical power consumed until a speaker is attached.

And yet another option to the speaker-switching concept is to recognize that these MP3 players are capable of stereo playback with 100% separation between the "left" and "right" channels.  So you can have a continuously looping MP3 player with some sound like "Siding #1 is occupied" on the left channel and "Siding #2 is occupied" on the right channel.  The ITSD or equivalent relay device then turns on the speaker for the desired channel.  The low-cost MP3 players with integral single speaker as I showed above simply sum the left and right channels.  So to get the two independent sound tracks you plug in to the 1/8" stereo output jack (typically going to earbuds) and add a $1 stereo amplifier module (free shipping) from eBay and now you can drive two speakers with independent sounds.  OTOH, by the time you buy the stereo amp module, additional speaker, figure out the wiring, etc. you might be better off just building a complete 2nd MP3 player!

Stan, you're a real genius and I appreciate all of the thoughts. OK I think this may work for me:

One ITSD on each siding. Its relay contacts power a small speaker for each track mounted pretty much anywhere. The speaker will be connected to the 3.5 mm headphone out put of the MP3 player. One  each siding, cheap enough for player forour favorite auction site.  I can record the appropriate sound for each player "track xx is occupied" or get really creative and record some background station sounds with an announcement over it like "the train on track xx is boarding". Now here is the kicker. Instead of hiding the players under the table I can mount them at the control station. When I want to enter the siding I can press the play button on the player. It won't make any sound until the train gets to the activation section and then yippie it should tell me it is time to cut the throttle. Would that work? OK now for the nitty gritty. The ITSD's  instructions weren't too explanatory. There are obviously two solder-free terminals that go to the activation track that receives the 18v AC from the track when the train bridges the rails. I read that there are two relay contacts on there as well. Do those two contacts close when the AC track voltage terminals are energized? If so what type of connectors are on the relay side? Are they solderless and if not is there an optional connector that I can get to make the wiring easier? Also the documentation speakers about jumpers for a timer. Does the ITSD energize the relay contacts as long as power and grnd is applied to the track connection terminals or is it only for a period of time? Or is my understanding of the ITSD completely off?

thanks for all the help

Frank

Here's the signal driver board.  Wire the SENSE terminal to the insulated rail, the HOT terminal to the track power, and the GND terminal to the track common.

When the insulated rail section is occupied, there will be a connection between the COM#1 and NO#1 terminals.  When the insulated rail section is not occupied, there will be a connection between the COM#1 and NC#1 terminals.  As long as the insulated track is occupied, the COM#1 to NO#1 connection will persist.  When you leave the insulated rail section, the COM#1 to NC#1 connection will be made and persist until you again enter the insulated rail section.

All of the above connections are made on the large green screw terminal block as illustrated above, no soldering required.

If you have a need for another set of isolated relay connections, that's what J4 is provided for, it has another set of relay contacts that operate identically to the ones described above.

For you application, it sounds like you'd just use the SENSE, HOT, GND, COM#1, and NO#1 connections.  You would just wire one speaker lead into the COM#1 terminal and out the NO#1 terminal.

Since you're blind, I'm still not clear on if photos or videos are useful but going back to the title of the thread, it seems the discussion has gone full circle to simply finding an audible warning device powered by 18V AC track voltage.  So here's the DIY MP3 method I showed earlier with an MP3 file I created using a free online text-to-MP3 converters...so for those not familiar, you just type in text and it creates an MP3 file with a choice of male or female voices.  Attached is a 5-second "warning message" MP3 file which I loaded onto the microSD memory card.

Note that you do not need an ITSD.  The insulated-rail method has been used since day 1 to apply on/off track voltage to an accessory without an ITSD or the like.  In the video there's a short section of insulated rail if you can't make out the cut lines in the rail and track bed.  This MP3 player (and most/all that I've messed with) will repeat a sound over and over if it's the only one on the memory card.  Remove power and the sound stops instantly.  Re-apply power and it starts at the beginning of the sound file.

Stan and John, thanks for all the suggestions. Stand yes I can't see the diagrams (videos sometimes help) however with all the great circuit descriptions you guys have given me I can easily draw them in my head. John, thank you very much for the wiring description, it makes perfect sense now. Now off to the 'bay to find some nuggets to use.

thanks

Frank