I am quite a newbie in the electronics world. You will find me listed in the contributors section in the DC book linked here because of some edits I suggested way back in 2005, but I studied electronics for about a week and then quit back then. I'm back at it and further in today.
I'm trying to design a simple (though not to me) design for my kids for Christmas and would love your help in making sure I'm not making any stupid mistakes. My kids love Thomas the train and have a bit of track that they are always making elaborate designs with. I was hoping to make them a stop light for the tracks for Christmas.
The idea for the design is that there would be a main on/off switch (probably a slider) that would turn the system on. On the north/south sides, it would show a green light. On the east/west sides, a red one. When they press a momentary button, they would flip: north/south would now be red and east/west would now be green. When they press it a second time, it would revert back to the initial state.
I am diving into all the books and tutorials I can find and have learned about resistors, capacitors and transistors, but that's about it. I'm not fully comfortable creating circuits with all those present quite yet. However, I have come up with a design that seems to work in Yenka. I've attached a screenshot of it. Please look it over and correct any mistakes I've made. I found the basic idea for the 4013 side of the design on the web and added my own idea for the transistors to the LEDs.
I'm trying to keep costs down and the design as simple as possible. I'm not quite sure I know exactly why it works in the simulator and that frightens me. =) Please correct, guide, point, chastise, make fun of, lead or congratulate me on any aspect. I'm trying to learn any and everything I can.
Thanks, all! I'll be sure to keep you all updated as the project progresses.
I'm trying to design a simple (though not to me) design for my kids for Christmas and would love your help in making sure I'm not making any stupid mistakes. My kids love Thomas the train and have a bit of track that they are always making elaborate designs with. I was hoping to make them a stop light for the tracks for Christmas.
The idea for the design is that there would be a main on/off switch (probably a slider) that would turn the system on. On the north/south sides, it would show a green light. On the east/west sides, a red one. When they press a momentary button, they would flip: north/south would now be red and east/west would now be green. When they press it a second time, it would revert back to the initial state.
I am diving into all the books and tutorials I can find and have learned about resistors, capacitors and transistors, but that's about it. I'm not fully comfortable creating circuits with all those present quite yet. However, I have come up with a design that seems to work in Yenka. I've attached a screenshot of it. Please look it over and correct any mistakes I've made. I found the basic idea for the 4013 side of the design on the web and added my own idea for the transistors to the LEDs.
I'm trying to keep costs down and the design as simple as possible. I'm not quite sure I know exactly why it works in the simulator and that frightens me. =) Please correct, guide, point, chastise, make fun of, lead or congratulate me on any aspect. I'm trying to learn any and everything I can.
Thanks, all! I'll be sure to keep you all updated as the project progresses.
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