Hello,
Needing advice on how to reconfigure a Yacker Tracker...a sound detection device that changes a traffic light display from green to yellow to red indicating that the room is too loud. We've bought two for our library and have blown through them. We must have a loud kids play area. There is a lot of circuitry in the Yacker Tracker. I hate to throw another one away. At this point I would love to be able to either use the LEDs that came with it to light up remotely or switch it out with something that we can install in the box itself that would allow staff to turn off and on the light sequentially from green to yellow or to red to show that the room is getting too loud. It would be really cool if we could have it make a beep sound at each level change. This would help staff announce to the room that we need to quiet down to make the light green again. Public libraries have changed and are not the tombs of silence they used to be; however, we are getting so loud we can't hear the patrons who are asking for help due to the number of kids playing loudly. Thank you!

 

Welcome to AAC!
Doesn't sound too difficult a DIY project if you have some experience in circuit-building.
You could do it with an electret mic, an LM324 amplifier stage, an envelope detector, an LM3914/5, some LEDs and a buzzer.

 

Welcome to AAC!
Doesn't sound too difficult a DIY project if you have some experience in circuit-building.
You could do it with an electret mic, an LM324 amplifier stage, an envelope detector, an LM3914/5, some LEDs and a buzzer.

Thank you! I will give those ideas a try. I have no circuit-bldg experience, but I'll see if our MakerSpace technicians can assist