If i had to write this for a chinese forum,
i would get the assistance of someone who could write Chinese.

I would be unlikely to be able to read it myself.
I wouldnt know if it made sense or not.

One of the things that are curious, is the interlocking arrangements of the switches.

As Mikebits has said,
couldn't the customer have a "do not disturb" sign, and flip it over for "clean" ?

Well, the customer could, if the card were regularly checked by the cleaners.
But this arrangement (i guess) is supposed to operate a radio sender, to inform the staff.

But Mikebits raises a good point,
namely that a card has only two sides,
so why have two switches with interlocks ...?

Maybe the original poster doesnt want two switches,
he wants to use switches with two positions, " ON - OFF - ON "
and maybe this got lost in the translation.

Why have two switches with interlocks ?
I think he only needs one switch per box.

If i am wrong, i assume he will soon say so.

*****************************

So, one switch ... yes ?

maybe.

*****************************

.............................

I am going to assume that this means an LED on each side, one for "Please Clean"
and the other for "Please do not disturb"

.............................

What else could it mean ?
Well it could mean that the status should be shown at the customers box,
and also at the cleaners room.

Yes, i think thats it.
Again, not obvious, but better than i could put it using Mandarin.

****************************

Initially i was thinking of one relay, but now i think two might be needed.
Also, the battery conservation ... Mikebits, that arrangement uses current all the time.

An arrangement where a cap charges, then stops taking current would only use leakage.
Such an arrangement could switch the already charged cap, to one of two relays.
The relay would only close for a short interval, but enough to send the info to
the staff.

As to the LED current, i think that could be minimised.
A small LED might light adequately on maybe 2000 ohms. Maybe even a higher resistance.
If the staff return the box to "OFF" then the battery might last a month or more.

I dunno that the box needs to send any signal for "OFF"

****************************

One more question, will the remote sender be using the same battery as the LEDs and relay(s) ?
Of course it will.
And will the remote sender have to send different signals for "CLEAN" or "OFF" or "DONT DISTURB"
No, only for "CLEAN" or "DONT DISTURB"

This has been re-written a few times.
I know it is untidy.

Cheers, John

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Hi John!

I have these same questions. Why two switches and not one switch with three positions?

Another question I have: why relays? Could not transistors be used and thereby save a lot of current?

If I understand the requirements correctly, they are:

• There is a switch in the room which the customer can set to "Please clean", "Clear", or "Do not disturb".
• Any time the switch is moved to "Please clean" or "Do not disturb", the corresponding LED is lit and the corresponding button on the remote control should be activated. There will be duplicate LEDs on both sides of the door, so that both the customer and the cleaners can see them.
• Any time the switch is moved to "Clear", any lit LEDs must be turned off and another button on the remote control will be activated.

Adrian, is this correct?


Torben

__________________
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.

 

[quote=john1;332534]If i had to write this for a chinese forum,
i would get the assistance of someone who could write Chinese.

I would be unlikely to be able to read it myself.
I wouldnt know if it made sense or not.

One of the things that are curious, is the interlocking arrangements of the switches.

As Mikebits has said,
couldn't the customer have a "do not disturb" sign, and flip it over for "clean" ?

Well, the customer could, if the card were regularly checked by the cleaners.
But this arrangement (i guess) is supposed to operate a radio sender, to inform the staff.

But Mikebits raises a good point,
namely that a card has only two sides,
so why have two switches with interlocks ...?

..........QUOTE]


Actually, it is ok to use a three ways toggle switch ("ON"-"OFF"-"ON")~
If such kind of switch is used, there is no need to make a interlocking switch.

but the difficulty is that there are only 6 pins on the switch (may be there is such switch with more pins). I don't know if each status have a pair of pins.
How to make a short pulse to activate the relay each time you turn the switch.

May be it's better to tell the actual condition.
PS: the original remote control set is control like that: Each time you press the button. The status of the reciever will hold and return to original status when you press the button on the remote control again.

Assume there is only one 3 ways toggle switch.

1. I am the customer now. I am having the bath and do not want any disturb. So i turn to do not disturb. then the LED on the control box and reciever lit up.

2. After i finished the bath. I turn the switch to middle, then the LED on both side will off.

In this procedure. How do you activate the relay for both actions? This is the difficulty.

The original remote control will use it's own battery which can last for over one month. The box will use another battery. Of course both of them can use the same battery.

Thank you for your suggestion

 

Yes , you are right.
But one thing should be reminded that the relay to activate the remote control must be a pulse for a second. Can't hold the activate status.

 

That's fine. Do you know the make and model of the actual remote controller you are using?


Torben

__________________
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.

 

Sorry, i don't have since nothing is written on it ><

But i think the button on it is used to give a pulse to make it "on" and make it "off" by pressing the button again. The button should not be hold.

What info. about the remote control you want? I will try my best to tell you

 

I suspect that the button works by either pulling a line high or low--I was hoping to figure out which. Then again, I'm not sure that it matters.

I will think about this some more over the next couple of hours and see what I can come up with.


Torben

__________________
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.

 

I admit, my circuit was somewhat crude as I stated earlier, but without knowing Adrian's background in circuits I attempted to keep it real simple, but I was not happy with it.

But Adrian rest assured, now that Torben is on the case you will have a solution. This guy sometimes goes as far as to build a prototype to make sure something works before he gives the circuit to ya. Your in good hands. Oh Adrian, dont forget to watch the eclipse over there in China on Friday

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Well, it's also hard to know how to approach it without being sure about the remote control itself. I like simple solutions like yours. The devil of it is that there's often that one requirement which makes the simple solution impractical. :/

I'm taking a swing at the problem but that's no guarantee of anything. Any help you can give me will be much appreciated! Your circuit is giving me ideas too.

Thanks for the kind words, but I do this as much for my own education as for anything else. There are guys on this board who could just look at the problem and scratch a complete solution out on a napkin for you. I love the chance to try to solve problems and a forum like this is a perfect place to get to try without having to charge money for something I feel I'm not qualified to charge money for.

An eclipse? Solar or lunar? I'd love a good solar eclipse. Lunars are cool too but I haven't stood in a good solar eclipse since I was too young to understand what was happening. Either way I wish I could be in China on Friday to see it (and I've always wanted to go to China).


Torben

__________________
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.

 

China is really nice. The geology there is spectacular. I was fortunate to go on the Great Wall. Magnificent.
Anyways the Eclipse is solar, suppose to occur at 7:08 a.m. to 7:10 a.m. ET.

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What kind of information you want? I try my best to figure it out~

This is a Solar eclipse~ I will watch it surely~^^
I have never seen this before~

 

Wow, it is even on Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_e...August_1,_2008

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OK, what I'd really like to know is what the lines are you were going to connect to in the remote control. I assume that you have it apart, and were just going to solder wires straight to the traces leading to the switch contacts?

Do you know what voltages those lines have on them? For example, when you press the button, does a +V line connect to ground?

Do you have any photos of the opened remote control, showing the circuit clearly?

I hope that the weather is good for it. See if you can borrow some welding goggles or a welding mask from someone. It should be beautiful.


Torben

__________________
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.

 

I would assume active low, but then again I wonder if some use that row column scan method. Been awhile since I have looked at a remote.

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I'm also guessing active low, but it's hard to say for sure.

Now that I come to think of it, San Diego is also a beautiful place to visit. Jade plants as big as trees, great weather, etc.


Torben

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Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.