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Reed switches to serial port??

H

holdit

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi
Iam automating my son's model railway iam using a pc parrel controlle
8 relay to control points

Now i want to plot the location of the trains on the track eg: ree
switches to rs232 then to a Vb program (i ll make
But iam looking for any ideas how? i saw a post someone using
keyboard and a soilnoid and logging key strokes (if i put a ree
switch on the contacts of a key would that make a key stroke if ree
switch was closed?

Cheers if you have any idea
 
C

Chris

Jan 1, 1970
0
holdit said:
Hi
Iam automating my son's model railway iam using a pc parrel controlled
8 relay to control points.

Now i want to plot the location of the trains on the track eg: reed
switches to rs232 then to a Vb program (i ll make)
But iam looking for any ideas how? i saw a post someone using a
keyboard and a soilnoid and logging key strokes (if i put a reed
switch on the contacts of a key would that make a key stroke if reed
switch was closed??

Cheers if you have any ideas

Hi, Holdit. You might not know that there are 5 input pins on the
Standard Parallel Port (SPP), too. Look at some of the links on Jan
Axelson's Lakeview Research Parallel Port Central page:

http://www.lvr.com/parport.htm

If there aren't enough inputs to do the job, I'd suggest sticking with
the parallel port and using a shift register ICs.

You will need an external +5V power supply (I would guess you've
already got one to drive the relays), and the reed switches can switch
to GND. If you can spare one of the outputs, you can make that high,
then use that voltage for the pullup resistors.

Good luck
Chris
 
S

Si Ballenger

Jan 1, 1970
0
On Sat, 17 Dec 2005 18:00:22 -0600,
Hi
Iam automating my son's model railway iam using a pc parrel controlled
8 relay to control points.

Now i want to plot the location of the trains on the track eg: reed
switches to rs232 then to a Vb program (i ll make)
But iam looking for any ideas how? i saw a post someone using a
keyboard and a soilnoid and logging key strokes (if i put a reed
switch on the contacts of a key would that make a key stroke if reed
switch was closed??

Cheers if you have any ideas

If you are already working with the parallel port, then my page
below might be of interest. You could monitor any number of reed
switches using a setup like this using the parallel port input
lines.

http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/status.htm
 
H

holdit

Jan 1, 1970
0
H

Thanks for reply
Si Ballenger cool site very good idea
i think i might need to get another port setup

Iam still thinking about hacking a keyboard and use reed switch o
photocells and use a key logger in vb6 to log keys then do somethin
like flash when switch activated etc.
it looks like iam going to need about 30 switches at moment I though
about using photocells out of old mice dont know it that will work
need to test some out Cheaper if they are good to use and then won
need to use magnets :)

anyway thanks again
any more ideas?? :?
 
S

Sjouke Burry

Jan 1, 1970
0
holdit said:
Hi

Thanks for replys
Si Ballenger cool site very good idea.
i think i might need to get another port setup

Iam still thinking about hacking a keyboard and use reed switch or
photocells and use a key logger in vb6 to log keys then do something
like flash when switch activated etc..
it looks like iam going to need about 30 switches at moment I thought
about using photocells out of old mice dont know it that will work i
need to test some out Cheaper if they are good to use and then wont
need to use magnets :)

anyway thanks again
any more ideas?? :?:
For input as response keys in an experiment I just put some
miniature reed relais iside the keyboeard. That way there is no
galvanic connection to the keyboard,and it does not matter
how the keybord matrix is scanned.
 
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