To operate the railway crossing we need to detect if a train is nearing and also when it has passed by. Several detection methods are in use among model railway hobbyists: Rail current detection A reed switch on the track and a magnet under the rolling stock An optical sensor, via reflection or via beam […]
We can use a servo motor to operate the gate. Servo’s can be had in different sizes, strengths and qualities, like fitted with plastic or with metal gears. For our purpose a cheap SG90 type servo will do fine. They can be had for under €2,-, but even at that price we get quite some […]
It’s time for something new. The plan is to build an automatic model railway crossing. We’ll have some new challenges with this project: train detection, a gate that closes and opens with a servo and a fun way to tie it all together: state transitions. And o yes, there are blinking LEDs too … we […]
In the previous video we used analogWrite() to dim a LED (strip). We can make a fade effect when we gradually increase or decrease the analog output, step by step, with an interval time. A fade is nice for many applications … kitchen counter light, model railway overhead lighting (to gradually shift from night to […]
We have used analogRead() to measure the voltage on an analog input pin. Arduino also has the opposite function available: analogWrite(). This name is misleading though. The analog inputs are ‘real’ … the applied voltage is measured by a 10 bit A/D converter. But the Arduino does not have a D/A converter on board. An […]
Now that we know how to get rid of the delay(0 and use millis() in stead (see previous video 13) we can finalize our Automatic Day Night Light Cycle unit to have direct on screen feedback of cycle time adjustment by the user and to have the cycle stop, and the lights turn off, immediately […]
Our day / night light switching unit works fine, but for one thing: when we input a new cycle time via keyboard or via an analog input, we do not have any feedback on the monitor on what we are inputting. This is caused by the delay() instruction, which is easy to use, but which […]
