Lockout Buzzer System

[Ronmad]

I have to build a Lock out buzzer system for my high school's science bowl team and I am a real noob when it comes to electronics so please bear with me.

 

It consists of a main base, where the 12V power supply is connected first to a rocker switch, and then to a circuit reset mechanism. THat's what I've done so far. It then goes and does some crazy things that im not really too sure what to do with. I have a schematic for anyone that wants to help.

 

Schematic

 

I have crudely built the first buzzer and have wired how I think it's supposed to be, but im not really sure. Instead of having two huge 1/4 audio jacks like it tells me to, I used a 4 pin phone jack instead.

 

Everything is running on a 12V 3.33A current, and I tried using a buzzer and it didnt work. The relays im using are 4PDT and the switches are momentary N/O. Umm, that's about all I can say, can anyone please help me by describing how it's SUPPOSED to be wired? I would really really appreciate the help.

[dbuckley]

You have noted carefully the ring and sleeve annotations for the jacks you have replaced, their connecting while electrically sane is not obvious. Its also useful that the (normally closed) relay contacts in the student box by the number 9 are not marked as relay contacts as such.

 

Its quite a clever design, in that you can have an infinite number of student boxes.

[Ronmad]

Thanks mate, but can you tell me what I should do about the connectors?

[henny]

I made a buzzer system for a mate a few years ago.

 

it consisted of the following

 

6x Emergency Stop Palm switch such as link

each with a 3 pin male pannel mount XLR on it

 

theses then linked back to a box that had 6x female XLRs on it and a usb B connector.

within the box was basicley the board from a usb keybord, this was wired to the XLRs so that when button 1 was pressed it sent '1' as a key stroke to the pc ect.

 

on the pc I simply wrote a pice of flash that watched for the keystrokes and when a button was pressed played a diffrent buzzer noise for each button and displayed the name of the person on screen, the softwhere would lock in this position to prevent other buzzers, to reset you used the spacebar.

 

the names were stored in an external txt file for easy changing.

 

 

if you wanted to using this idea you could wright a whole quiz system , with the addtion of 3 buttons for the quiz master ( Right, Wrong , Next Question) you could include all the questions on screen, points for speed of answer,and on screen scoreing ect.

[Tomo]

Here's a thought:

 

Ask your teacher.

 

That way, you can show them the box you have built and they can point out where any mistakes have been made.

 

I spent a few days last year at a secondary school doing such faultfinding on the students' projects, and the most common problem I found was poor soldering.

 

No matter how you describe the design to us, we are NEVER going to be able to tell you which joints are bad or if you've wired something up incorrectly.

We simply don't have that information.

[Ronmad]

There we go, thank you mate..... POOR SOLDERING, there it was.

 

ok thanks guys for all the info, I will ask my teacher

 

 

Moderation: Query solved - OP happy, so topic closed

[Ronmad]

I'm building a lockout buzzer system for my school's science bowl team. I'm really a noob when it comes to electrical circuits, but I've learned a whole lot in the process of doing this. I only have one problem here, and that is how to wire the very last part of the circuit. I am using a 12V DC 4PDT relay in the main box and each student box, for connectors, im using 4-pin phone cables (to connect from each student box to the main box). When a person buzzes in, their box would light up, and a light would light up on the main box, and a piezo buzzer would sound. Here is the schematic.

 

Schematic

 

I need help at the very end, with closing the circuit.

the wiring diagram confuses me, and the big schematic on top confuses me further.

 

The part that I need help on is with connecting the piezo and the light to the very end, because the wiring diagram says I should put it through pin #20 (the 4th pin on my female jack thingy), and to the - part of the power supply. What I want to know is, how to wire that with several female phone jacks. Any help would be appreciated, as I am hopelessly stuck. I can describe the problem more specifically if needed.

[Sarah Q]

Wasn't this answered here before.... http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?showtopic=18507??

[Ronmad]

yes, yes it was, but a new problem kinda came up =/

[zonino]

it is perfectly acceptable to contribute to an older thread.

 

edit: or maybe it has been closed. sorry, my bad

[Ronmad]

but yeah, can anyone give any ideas on how to wire this?

[david.elsbury]

What about your teacher that helped you last time? It's quite difficult to give advice and to troubleshoot a circuit that you're not in front of...

[Tomo]

I'm sorry, but we can't help.

It is impossible to faultfind an unknown circuit without it in front of you.

 

If you pay for my flights, one night of accomodation and my standard callout charge, I'll come and show you how to fix it.

 

The numbers would scare you though, so you're better off asking your teacher.

[Brian]

Hi Ronald

 

I'm afraid I'm going to close this topic as this really isn't the kind of thing this forum is meant for. I'd suggest that you try to find someone in your school, maybe in the science department, who understands electrics and electronics to help you. It's always going to be easier if someone can see what you've built so far. Not many of our members here have got the gift of second sight (though they might think they have B-) ).