Quiz Buzzer

[landy]

I think Maplin (or simmilar) still do 'hobby kits', you know the type build a remote door bell, pressure sensor for a bedroom alarm etc and a quiz system kit. Which can be connected together for as many inputs you want, add some relays and a analogue dimmer and a MD player with a hot start.

[Lion Tamer]

If you can do some basic software then this board will be your friend as it has 5 inputs and 8 outputs which are easy to program (I have used this board and controlled it from a program written in VB6 with no problems).

 

What's the difference between the two boards maplin sell? Is one already pre-assembled?

What did you use them for? Looks Very Interesting, Very tempted to buy

 

Yes one of the boards is pre-assembled but I would buy the kit as it is an easy build if your any good with a soldering iron.

 

In my previous Job I used 2 of the boards in a test jig that utilised all 10 of the digital inputs and 2 of the analogue inputs for data collection to the pc which then set the outputs on the boards in the correct state to feed back some information to the operator (the outputs were working in pairs to drive some bi-colour LEDs).

 

1 of these boards was also utilised by my colleague within the test department as a door/movement detection interface which was then firing of the corporate presentation to all the visitors etc.

[dwents]

A friend of mine used the buzz remotes for a play station as they are connected to a usb plug

bit of coding and power point etc and away he went.

 

I'd be inclined to use a mometry double pole switch one half of a switch sending 10v into a chanel on a analogue switch pack the other conected to say a kids electronic keyboard rip keyboard apart solder wires to a key so when the double pole switch is pressed it makes a noise on the keyboard and sends a full on signal to the switch pack

the rest is up to you.

[deranged-angel]

Hello

 

Im trying to Setup a quiz system. I want to have 3 push buttons to trigger a different "buzzer" sound on a laptop and for a corresponding light at the front of the stage to come on. Just like Britain's got Talent.

 

Anyone have any good ideas to do this? Had a few myself but wanted to see what you all thought.

 

Thanks

 

Bert

 

On the same kind of lines as "Liontamer", I'd recommend the "Arduino" board. Takes a little programming in C++ but there's an active and useful forum available to help if you get stuck. It has analogue and digital inputs and outputs and 3 lots of PWM control. I've used it before and it's the sort of thing that comes in really handy for other things you might do in the future. £20 it was. Also, if you do that, I'd recommend you get some solderless breadboards as they're very useful for trying things out to see if they work.

HTH

 

Emma.

[TomHoward]

Remember that if you feed 10v (or a 9v battery) into the input on an analogue dimmer then that channel will operate.

That has to be the neatest solution by far, frankly it's brilliant. You could use a hardware buzzer too.

 

Personally my first reaction would have been to use QLab with a midi box (like the MIDI Solutions F8) to trigger, with a MIDI output to the lighting desk for the light and a an audio output straight out the computer.

 

You may well not be able to solder onto the internal organs of a USB keyboard, as usually they tend to be plastic sheets with conductive printing on them - in the past I've set off down this route and ended up using the PCBs out of butchered USB gamepads instead - these can make useful contacts for triggering cues on software.

[bigbert]

Sorted my problem. :)

Was playing my Wii and had a lightbulb moment.

After some coding in VB I managed to successfully make the A button on the remote trigger a powerpoint slide to display the "X" and play a wave sound.

As the Wii Controller Works over bluetooth this meant I never had to run cables to the judges table.

 

Thanks for all the Idea, Very Helpful