pritch Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 I may be better off asking this on an electronics forum, but here goes anyway... I want to provide an override control for our houselights. I'm not bothered about dimming them, just simple on/off will do fine. My original idea was a simple rocker switch, with +10v from a regulator, and I'm still intending to go along with this if all other ideas are too involved! On reflection, it would be quite nice if we could have something where we could provide control from both our control position, and backstage/auditorium door/etc. I was contemplating momentary push-buttons in these locations, all feeding into some sort of nice, simple device that would turn them into latching buttons - one push turns it on, another push turns it off. I've looked into this. I've found circuits that involve flip-flops, but need extra stuff to debounce them, and to make sure they start up with a low output when power is connected. I've found circuits that involve an impractical number of relays. Surely there must be a nice, simple, single-package device that'll let me do this? I've come across the MAX16054, which seems to fit that description, but the usual suspects don't seem to stock it! Suggestions? Or shall I go back to my regulator and rocker switches? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boswell Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Simple diode 'OR' gate ?? pulling up to 10vthen if any of the positions has selected full on, the lights will be ON.It does mean that you could not switch them down from another position. Or another method for multiple positions is a standard 2 way light circuit with intermediate switches controling the 10v pull up.only requires 2 cores between positions. then the house lights could be forced ON or put back to normal control from any position If you add a pull down resistor then it becomes ON/OFF control from any position.The type of switches is up to you as it is low voltage and low current HTH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wol Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 If you want to debounce a switch, use a capacitor. Simple way! A bog standard flip flop with set and reset would work for your situation. Wire up the control switches in parallel, so whichever "on" or "off" button you press will trigger the flip flop to change. Can draw a schematic if I havent explained that clearly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.cam108 Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Use a comparator circuit. Just need a single comparator and a few resistors. If you want, I'll post up a circuit. Colin C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Use a comparator circuit.Nah, you don't need chips. Do it the old fashioned way... ...bypass one of the LEDs, run it all on +10v, take your feed to the dimmers from the collector arm without an LED in it and away you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Cheers all. That last one looks interesting, Brian. I take it that'll work with just the one push button for both on AND off? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Yep, momentary action push-buttons, all connected in parallel. If you use transistors with a high enough current rating then you can also feed multiple LEDs at each push button location to indicate when the houselights are on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Great. So (excuse me for being thick, but I want to get this straight in my head): +Vcc would be the steady +10v from my regulatorMost of the grounds would go back to the 0v side of my power supplyThe 'ground' on the diagram on the transistor I'd removed the LED from would go into the analogue control pin for the dimmer channel Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Revised circuit with more details... The output is the connection from D1. D1 is there to make sure the houselights are completely off when they are meant to be. To overcome the drop across D1 I've shown the power supply as 10.6v. If you're not too worried about the houselights needing to be full-on then you can drop the rail down to 10v and gain lamp life at the expense of brightness. I've shown multiple push buttons and multiple 'ON' leds. You can always breadboard it first to experiment. No need for any PCBs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pritch Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Brian, you're a gent. I shall indeed get the breadboard out, although actually installing everything will have to wait until I get a round tuit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinE Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 You dont need to do any of the previously mentioned tricks. You can buy so-called staircase relays from electrical wholesalers. They're just a relay that works like a latching push button. farnell pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benash Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 +1 for the relays that KevinE mentioned. They are cheap, simple, reliable and require a bare minimum of work to install. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Yellow Transit Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 These latching relays come in various coil voltages 12/24/240 and are packaged as din rail mounted 2 module ie the same size as a mcb and will do what you want pulse on/ pulse off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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