Hi, I was wondering if someone could help me with the design of the following circuit.

I did electronics about 7 years ago, and cant remember a thing about any components etc. so would appreciate all help!

Timing Circuit...

Loop 1
2min, 3min, 4min, 5min

Loop 2
30sec, 1min

I would like to be able to select 1 time from Loop 1 & 1 time from Loop 2. The buzzer is to sound after both loop 1 & loop 2, then repeat until turned off... or settings are changed.

Thanks for any help!

Tom

 

Hi,

after reading this a few times,
i started to wonder if the poster was referring to Mark/Space time periods,
but now i'm not so sure ...

Ive read it a few more times,
but it didn't help.

Tom,
could you describe your request in a different way please.

John

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interface.JPG

This would be the interface sorta thing...

So when you select whatever you want on the dials it does this...

Silence for time 1
Buzzer (for 1 second constant)
Silence for time 2
Buzzer (for 1 second constant)

& it would loop until switched off.

It's basically a boxing round timer that I want to train with, so I can train for 2,3,4 or 5minute rounds with either a 30second or 1minute rest period.

Thanks for any help, hope this explains myself a bit better.

 

hi Tom,
We follow your explanation.
You could program a small PIC micro-controller to give these 'spar then 'rest' timed periods.

You say you cant remember your previous electronics knowledge, that, as you would expect is going to be a big problem.

A long shot would be, do you have a laptop computer,? it would be possible to program it to give the required timed intervals and a buzzer type tone.??

__________________
Eric
"Good enough is Perfect"

PIC tutorials:
Gramo's: www.digital-diy.net/
Bill's: www.blueroomelectronics.com/

 

Eric,

Brilliant. That to my mind is the answer.
A small program for a PC or laptop.
A bell or buzzer sound is already one of the available choices in the 'sounds'

Maybe someone here could put together such a program.
Then Tom could download it.

John

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hi,
If he is interested, I would knock up a program in VB5..

__________________
Eric
"Good enough is Perfect"

PIC tutorials:
Gramo's: www.digital-diy.net/
Bill's: www.blueroomelectronics.com/

 

Hi,

I wondered if there might be an easier way,
and it crossed my mind that most players have a 'Repeat' setting.
So i have made a nice song for Tom, it consists of nothing for two minutes,
then a bell sound, then nothing for thirty seconds, then another bell sound.

This could be put to play on 'Repeat' to suit his first option.
Other similar songs could be made for the 3, 4, and 5 minute options.

If this is acceptable, a proper bell sound could be inserted instead of that
that rather feeble one that i found,
and the rest of the options for 1 min breaks.

This workaround relies on setting the player to 'repeat'
Its a wav file sent as a zip, i wanted to put it as an MP3,
but ive been unable to see how to get WMP to do that.

John

Attached Files

Loop_2mins_bell_30secs_bell.zip (435.8 KB, 145 views)

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Well stuff will probably start coming back to me...

Is this quite a hard circuit to rig up??

I dont own a laptop so the thought this would be a cheaper option.

I can probably be cheeky and go to the local college and ask for some help!

Tom

 

Hi Tom,

No laptop eh, well i'm sure that a suitable circuit could be found instead.

If you asked at the local tech, you never know they might make it for you.

If not don't worry, a few different time intervals selected by a couple of
rotary switches should not be a difficult circuit, but difficulty is subjective
you might be happy with soldering together a bunch of wires and a few relays
with a few components to ring a bell, or sound a buzzer.

Or you might want to make monostables using solid state components,
or you might want to get into PIC's and programming.

Whichever way you want to go, you will need a bell or a buzzer and some sort
of box or carrying case for it.
Some little buzzers can be quite loud for their size, and dont seem to use
much out of the battery.

To my mind, getting the box, the batteries, the buzzer and the two rotary
selectors sorted out, and trying the buzzer to see that its Ok for what you
want,
is more of a problem than sorting out a circuit.

I think a small relay to operate the buzzer, and some discrete transistor
circuitry for the timing and to work the relay.
Batteries?
Whatever seems reasonable to you, so long as it works the buzzer alright
for a reasonable life ... not just when its new.

You say you've done some electronics work in the past,
would you be alright soldering stuff together, maybe on a bit of vero-board ?
Can you read diagrams Ok ?
If so, you shouldn't have a problem, some of these guys are pretty smart.

Regards, John

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some timing circuits to contemplate
just build one for the 30sec-1min and one for the 1-4 min

http://www.zen22142.zen.co.uk/Circui...ing/timing.htm

 

Ah ha...

555's remember them!

I'm sure I could wire up something like this on some board, so would I need.

6 separate 555 circuits for each time...

ie.
"SPAR"
120 sec = 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 x 555
180 sec = 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 x 555
240 sec = 2 resistors (10M Ohm) , 1 capacitor (22microfarad), 1 x 555 (actual time 242 seconds....)
300 sec = 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 x 555
"REST"
30 sec = 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 x 555
60 sec = 2 resistors, 1 capacitor, 1 x 555

2 Dials for the front interface...

Now how would I do the switching, and make the circuit repeat & go to a buzzer?!

Any suggestions on the resistors and capacitors i should use for each time? I've made a suggestion there... people might know the exact values to get each time though!

Thanks,

Tom

 

hi Tom,
You dont need all those 555's.

example: say you have a 555 astable, running a 30sec time period,

Use the output of the 555 to drive say a 4017 counter/decoder [it will have an High output for every 30sec input pulse.
So 30,60,90..... upto 10 outputs.. 300sec.

The output of the 4017, when it goes low,[a buzzzer sounds for say 1sec, end of spar time] and it triggers a 555 set as a monostableselectable for 30sec or 60sec.
When the mono times out the buzzer sounds again for say 2sec, end of rest period..... and so on.

You will also need a switch to enable/stop the counters and buzzer.

Do you follow.?

EDIT: the select 'spar' time switch selects the 4017 output.

__________________
Eric
"Good enough is Perfect"

PIC tutorials:
Gramo's: www.digital-diy.net/
Bill's: www.blueroomelectronics.com/

 

do you have a diagram of this??

im getting a bit confused now!

 

hi Tom,
I dont have a diagram on the PC, I would be able to knock up a block diagram some time today, would that suffice.?

Before we have done with the project you will be totally confused, but don't let that put you off...

It will shake out the stuff you learned 7 years ago.

EDIT:
Added a draft block diagram, would you be able to build this circuit if you had a complete diagram.?

Attached Images

SparRest1.jpg (45.3 KB, 3 views)

__________________
Eric
"Good enough is Perfect"

PIC tutorials:
Gramo's: www.digital-diy.net/
Bill's: www.blueroomelectronics.com/

 

Hi,

If it helps ...
The 556 is a 14 pin with two 555's in it,
and the 558 has four in it.

But sometimes its easier to have one chip for each job.

John

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