Garden Railroad Electronics
Inexpensive Sound Boards
LED Lights
Solar Charging
Introduction
This workshop is designed to give an overview
of a number of simple electronic devices and circuits that can be used in
garden railways.
All of the topics have been covered in great
detail in articles that ran on LSOL over the last year. (search for BODNAR
under
Objectives:
Examine lighting
options using inexpensive LEDs and powering them with solar charged batteries
Provide an
overview of inexpensive sound boards for garden railway applications
Allow time for
discussion and questions
LED Lights
Why use LEDs for
lighting?
Reasonable cost
Very low power
requirements
Much longer life
than incandescent bulbs
Do not generate
much, if any, heat
Dollar Store LED Lights
Dollar Store LED Lights
Where to find
them
Dollar Tree
(www.dollartree.com
for locations)
eBay
search for laptop LED light
Dollar Store LED Lights
Twist off metal cover
Solder Red (+) wire to upper contact
Solder Black (-) wire to lower contact
DONE!
Dollar Store LED Lights
Preparation of
LEDs Original Method
Cut off
Gently cut into
insulation
Remove 1 piece
Dollar Store LED Lights
Preparation of
LEDs
Separate two
bundles of wire
Red wires are
negative
Gold are positive
Dollar Store LED Lights
Preparation of
LEDs
Dip ends in hot
solder to tin
Test with 9 volt
battery
Dollar Store LED Lights
Use in buildings
The mount
provides an ideal way to direct light to windows
Just clip to
strips of wood glued behind windows and doors
Dollar Store LED Lights
The mount can be
modified to give a small spotlight type fixture
Cut off the
bottom half of the clip
Glue, nail or
screw in place
Direct as needed
Dollar Store LED Lights
Individual LEDs
Other LED sources
batteryspace.com
White - 50
for $19.95
Red - 50
for $9.95
Amber - 50
for $15.95
eBay
Radio Shack (very
expensive: $0.60 - $5.00+)
Current limiting
resistors MUST be used
300 to 1000 ohms
depending on the LED and voltage
470 ohm is a good
value for most LEDs if voltage is 12 or less
Current limiting
resistors MUST be used
Wire in series
with one lead and power
Longer LED lead
to positive
Lead by notch in
LED to negative
Powering options
Batteries
Simplest option
Must recharge
frequently or replace
Track power
Only works when
trains are running
Requires
regulation circuitry to protect LEDs from damage
Solar Powering LED Lights
Advantages
Charge batteries
whenever the sun shines
Automatically
turns lights on at dusk and off at dawn
Solar Powering LED Lights
Sources of solar
panels
Harbor Freight
VW dealers
eBay
Electronic supply
houses (All Electronics, Electronics Goldmine, etc)
Circuit to
automatically charge batteries and turn lights on at dusk
Solar Powering LED Lights
Choosing
Batteries for LED Lighting
NiCads are the
best choice as they can provide as many as 1000 charge / discharge cycles (3
plus years)
NiMh have greater capacity but fewer (roughly ½ as many)
charge / discharge cycles
Solar Powering LED Lights
Using track
power for
charging
Sound Boards
Devices you can use when you dont need a full sound
system
Sound boards - Synthesized
Four train
sound boards
These simple
circuits can be purchased for under $10.00 and can be put together in a matter
of a few minutes
The sounds that
they generate can be used in trains and trackside applications
These sounds are
synthesized, not samples of the actual sound
Sound boards - Synthesized
4 Train Sound
Board 1
Best price found at Marlin P. Jones: http://mpja.com/
Whistle (3 times)
Crossing
Click Clack (12 times)
All 3 + Chug
Sound boards - Synthesized
4 Train Sound
Board 2
http://xtronics.com/
#EM-105
Whistle
Crossing
Click Clack
Chuff
One brief sound
per button push
Sound boards Digital Recorders
These boards
record sounds onto solid state recording chips
Similar to what
happens when a computer or MP3 player records sound
The device
samples the sound thousands of times each second and store a digital
representation of the sound
Sound boards Digital Recorders
The entire
article upon which this presentation is based is available for download from:
http://www.LargeScaleOnline.com/library/free/article_373.html
Sound boards Digital Recorders
The quality of
their audio output is determined by:
Microphone
quality and recording circuitry
The size and
quality of the speaker and amplifier
Sample rate
The number of
bits used to record one sample (usually 8 or 16 the higher the better)
Sound boards Digital Recorders
Dog bone voice
recorder
20 second voice
recorder
120 second voice
recorder
TrainSetElectronics.com
devices
Sound boards Digital Recorders
Dog bone voice
recorder
PetEdge.com
10 second message
Can easily add
An external speaker
Amplifier
A reed or other switch
External power
Sound boards Digital Recorders
20 second voice
recorder
- http://electronics123.com/ item DA63
20 second message
Can easily add
An external speaker
Amplifier
A reed or other switch
External power
Sound boards Digital Recorders
120 second voice
recorder
120 second
message(s)
Any combination
of messages to 120 second total each played sequentially
Can easily add
An external speaker
Amplifier
A reed or other switch
External power
Sound boards Digital Recorders
TrainSetElectronics.com
devices
A number of sound
boards designed for use in HO, O and G
scale trains
Similar to other
boards in construction and sound quality
USE ONLY AS TIME PERMITS
Regulated power supplies
Discuss the need for regulated power in garden railway applications
Low voltage lighting and smoke generators
Sound boards and other electronic circuits
Track power needs to be conditioned first by a bridge rectifier to produce DC
with a consistent positive and negative polarity
Once that is done a voltage regulator can easily keep the voltage at a constant
value
Capacitors can be used to smooth out noise and interference
Heat sinks are necessary to dissipate heat
Questions ? ? ?