hi I have thought of a interesting game for our summer fete. could any one please my best way to go about this my idea last didn't get off the ground because i don't anyone who could do it for me in the uk although Elec-Mech very kindly offered to do it at cost but he is in the USA.
anyway this years idea is a 2 foot circle divided into 36 equal segments and each having a light.
So when the player presses a button the bulbs/leds light up singly and rotate quite fast and the player as to press the button to stop the light on their chosen number 1 to 36.

 

Very doable.

I would use:

(2) 4017 decade counters
(2) 4022 octal counters
(1) 4081 quad AND gate
(1) 4093 quad Schmitt trigger NAND gate

 

scrivs,

As MrChips suggests, this is entirely doable in hardware (no programming needed), but the problem you had last time was making the circuit (modifying a stripboard and soldering). Can you solder a circuit or do you plan to do build this on a breadboard and use the breadboard for this event? The breadboard wouldn't be ideal, but it could work for a one time event.

Having put all of five seconds of thought into it, you can make it dirt simple using a CD4017, a 555, and a latching push button switch. Not an elegant solution, but simple. I can draw something up using this or MrChips suggestion, though I'll have to ask him to elaborate on the design.

On a somewhat related note, if I were to make a PCB of your last project and just ship that, would you be able to procure and solder the parts on? I can't promise anything, but I can look into it - perhaps the shipping just the bare PCB would be less expensive. I'm going to attempt to make a clear acrylic box and demo this for a Maker Faire in my area this spring to show off the microcontroller. I really think it's a neat project.

 

I vaguely remember the previous scrivs/elec_mech project and it seems a shame that it did not get completed. What was the component count and complexity of that design? I am tempted to say that I can make a PCB and solder the parts on at cost if it can be done in a couple of hours or so. How was the MCU programmed, is a programmer required and if so what sort?

 

It's not complex. I have a stripboard layout design done, so a custom PCB isn't necessarily needed unless it saves you more in terms of cost and/or labor (whichever is worth more to you). The uC is a PICAXE, so all that is needed is a USB to UART adapter with an inverter (PICAXE uses inverted signals), although scrivs may already have a programmer, in which case all that is needed is the hardware portion. I'm happy to assist in whatever way I can.

 

OK, I'm happy to work with strip board, let's see what Scrivs wants to do.

 

hi
First of all can I say I am amazed at the helpfulness of this forum especially considering I can't envisage giving anything back.
Anyway back to taking, it is really all down to cost. I have had a chat with the PTA ( showed them your you tube video elec-mech ) which they liked.
I am just trying to come up with good games of chance. (so any ideas would be welcome) I like ones where the kids can be competitive without running about everywhere.

 

scrivs,

As I understood it, you've already purchased most if not all of the parts for the code game, correct? If yes, this would be least expensive, so to speak, as the parts are already paid for and the design is complete and tested. You could contact sirch2 via private message, work out a price for his time, and mail him the parts. If you have not bought anything, then perhaps this new game would be worth looking today, although I suspect the parts cost and time to build will be about the same minus the need to program it.

Another thought - if you've purchased the programmer for the PICAXE, we could come up with a new design to do what you want with the 36 LED's. Hardware-wise it would only require a PICAXE and a few I/O expanders plus LED's and resistors. I can write the program and do the design. You could then modify the program later if you wish to perform differently - change speed, light up more than one LED at a time, blink all the LED's if a specific number is stopped on, etc.

sirch2,

The complete schematic and stripboard layout can be found on post 80 here.

 

Where in the UK are you? I'm in Waterlooville, just north of Portsmouth (Hampshire, England). I love doing projects than involve LEDs and flashy things... Personally I'd use a single microcontroller (PIC16F of some sort) and a handful of IRL520 FETs... That seems the simplest solution to me... oh, and obviously a great big red button of some sort... I mean, you HAVE to have a great big red button, right!?

 

hi,
You could consider driving the 36 medium power bright LED's directly with five serially connected TPIC6595 , 8 bit Serial Input Shift Registers.
A pulse gen and latch, say HEF4093
E
I am a few miles down the road from Matt, in Pompey.

 

Maybe we need a AAC-UK meet-up where you lads can plan this through over a pint or two. Have one on me.

 

scrivs,

As I understood it, you've already purchased most if not all of the parts for the code game, correct? If yes, this would be least expensive, so to speak, as the parts are already paid for and the design is complete and tested. You could contact sirch2 via private message, work out a price for his time, and mail him the parts. If you have not bought anything, then perhaps this new game would be worth looking today, although I suspect the parts cost and time to build will be about the same minus the need to program it.

Another thought - if you've purchased the programmer for the PICAXE, we could come up with a new design to do what you want with the 36 LED's. Hardware-wise it would only require a PICAXE and a few I/O expanders plus LED's and resistors. I can write the program and do the design. You could then modify the program later if you wish to perform differently - change speed, light up more than one LED at a time, blink all the LED's if a specific number is stopped on, etc.

sirch2,

The complete schematic and stripboard layout can be found on post 80 here.

I wasn't looking for anything for time, just to cover the costs of board and components, postage etc. That layout looks pretty straight forward and all the IO could be broken out to choc-block for easy hook up. I have a USB/UART (5V or 3.3V) and I'm sure I can sort out and inverter.

 

I am in Marple near Manchester.

 

I wasn't looking for anything for time, just to cover the costs of board and components, postage etc. That layout looks pretty straight forward and all the IO could be broken out to choc-block for easy hook up. I have a USB/UART (5V or 3.3V) and I'm sure I can sort out and inverter.

I didn't realize it (this was a many projects ago for me), but the design in post 80 includes the required inverter, just a simple 7414. So if you have a USB/UART adapter, you just need to connect GND, RX, and TX to program the PICAXE. Then you just need the PICAXE editor found here under the Downloads tab. The BOM is in post 68 of the previous thread or simply here. I tried to keep it simple and stick with just two sources, PICAXE and CPC Farnell, both located in the U.K. One thing is missing from the BOM - the 4-digit display from Adafruit. Sorry, I think the OP and myself already bought ourselves one so I didn't include it on the BOM at the time.

scrivs,

It looks like sirch2 is willing to build this (the electronics portion of the code game) if you pay for the materials and shipping. The remaining question is do you have any of the parts already or were they never bought? If the former, you can send them to sirch2, if not he can buy them directly, make the board, and ship it to you.

MrChips makes an excellent suggestion, perhaps all the members in the U.K. interested could have a meet-up? Up to you all of course, certainly lots of good ideas have been presented toward the 36 LED project. The code project uses a 74595, so I could easily modify the code/PICAXE to work with the high-powered version ericgibbs mentioned to make the 36 LED project if there is interest.

 

An AAC-UK meet-up was a nice idea but no cigar.
Matt is close to eric, on the south coast near Southampton.
sirch2 is in Preston, north of L'pool while scrivs in Marple, S.E. of Manchester.

 

oh incidentally if anyone has any ideas, need to be simple, competitive and interesting. A couple of years ago I did the buzz wire game which went down well.

 

I do have a ADAFRUIT 4-Digit 7- Segment Display

 

I do have a ADAFRUIT 4-Digit 7- Segment Display

So it sounds like you have the Adafruit display and nothing else for the Crack the Code project then? Sirch2 can order the parts directly but you'll probably want to mail him the Adafruit display so he can test everything.

So the question is, do you want to go ahead with the code project, focus on the LED project mentioned at the beginning of this thread, or do something else altogether?

 

yes I think I would like to focus on the code project.

 

I've sent you a message.