VR Western Victoria: Call Out System

I had a few wins this weekend.

I have been working on a CALL OUT system using an arduino. Bascially, instead of counting the laps why not have a sensor connected to an Arduino and then call out what station is coming up next.

So, I ordered one of those DFPlayer modules and after cutting up some code and getting my Current Sensor Transformer working with the arduino, I was at a point where I could solder up the DFPlayer to a piece of protoboard.

The first issue was that the DFPlayer didnt have a peaceful time in transit as can be seen in the photo. After straighting out the legs I was able to revive it.

With the sensor working, the code basically counts everytime there is a detection and increments a internal counter then calls the DFplayer to play the mp3 files stored on there. I had recoded some audio files using the iphone - just place names, like Murtoa, Horsham.

The possibliites of this on a layout are endless e.g. one could use this to model the sounds of birds and wildlife, or a Gregorian chant coming from a Catholic church, or an argument between parents coming from a house, or the noise of music and dancing coming out from a pub, or the playful laughs of children from a school etc...

I run a train trying to mimic some distance travelled on the main western line in Victoria - namely between Ararat and Dimboola which used to be important railway places where crew change used to happen

So the setup looks like this:

I was able to get the system working however there were a few issues when I took it out to the "real" world - the shed where the trains run.

First, I was not able to get the 5v signal on the output of the Block Occupancy Detector (BOD) (drop to 0v when there is a detection). After trouble-shooting the issue I found that the wire connected to the A0 input on the Arduino was not sitting in properly - so will need to solder this connection sometime in the near future. The second issue I had was that there was no audio coming out of the speaker - the issue here was due to bad solder joints.

So, now I have this BOD deployed in the shed, I needed another one for testing inside near my computer didnt I? So I had to build another one - after spending about 2 hours this morning, I was able to get one constructed - luckly I had a spare Current Transformer laying round. That's the second win for the weekend.

The other success I had was with the inoperable 12v DC PSU that died back in Oct last year. I put it away so I could have a closer look at it at a later time. Well I did buy a replacement one but at $30 I thought I'd see if I can fix this and use it as a spare. I think it has 5amp capacity. I think you can see what the problem was if you examine the photo carefully.