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Junior Controller with Sound?

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  • Member since
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Junior Controller with Sound?
Posted by tom462 on Wednesday, July 30, 2014 9:41 AM
Has anyone tried to connect the F1 or F2 outputs to a sound card? If so, what modifications to the circuit were needed? Thanks
  • Member since
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  • From: Norton, MA
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Posted by piercedan on Friday, August 1, 2014 5:38 AM

F1 and F2 from what controller?

What sound card?

Battery or track power?

DC or DCC?

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Posted by tom462 on Sunday, August 3, 2014 6:21 PM

Sorry, about the confusion.   I was referring to the outputs from the Junior controller in the last few issues of the magazine.

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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
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Posted by cacole on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 7:14 AM

tom462

... what modifications to the circuit were needed? Thanks

Have you tried contacting the author(s) of that article to see what they have to say?  Their contact information is not listed in the magazine, but Rene may be able to provide it.
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Posted by piercedan on Thursday, August 7, 2014 2:43 PM

Still vague.

I tied my sound card to a function so I could turn the whole sound card on  and off.

This can be done with a relay, or if the function output has a high current rating it can drive power directly to a sound card like the ones LGB has in the rolling stock (circus, coke, happy birthdat, etc.)

Of course you could be asking about how to activate the bell with F1 and whistle with F2, but you did not state what your you need.

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Posted by tom462 on Friday, August 8, 2014 1:36 PM

I'll try to sharpen up this vagueness.  Your last paragraph was right on target.  It would be nice to be able to directly connect the Junior Controller F1, and/or F2  to the Dallee bell and whistle sound card inputs.  I would like to know what modifications would be needed to the circuit to go from the output pin  5 on the left side and/or pins 11 and 12 on the right side of the MCU as shown in Figure 1 (Circuit Diagram) in the August Issue to activate the bell and whistle on the Dallee DCv3 sound card.   Would these modifications also work with the Phoenix P8 Sound board? Thanks for your help and patience.

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Posted by Rene Schweitzer on Tuesday, September 2, 2014 2:02 PM

FYI, I have emailed Mark Buccini, the author of that series, about this question.

Rene Schweitzer

Classic Toy Trains/Garden Railways/Model Railroader

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Posted by piercedan on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 6:23 AM

If all the electronics have a common power source, then just hooking the function output to the sound board input worked for me.  I did check with a volt meter to be sure common (ground) was 0 volts before doing this.

If not zero then one must use a relay or optical coupler..

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