tomskillman Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 This year, I am going to put out a donation box to collect for a dog rescue group we foster for. We had a foster dog that didn't make it through a surgery on Nov. 1 and cost the group over $1000. I decided to give myself a challenge and thought I'd share my resulting solution with the group. I haven't yet put everything together but a benchtop proof of concept revealed that it is going to work.I want the action of putting a donation in the box to trigger a special thank you sequence. I will have this set up using a LOR trigger that immediately stops the playing sequence and plays the special thank you sequence.The challenge was how to detect a donation being inserted into the box. I thought about various detection mechanisms, but in the end, opted for a very cheap solution ($10.59 in parts from Radio Shack plus the box and unknown mounting supplies).Basically, I'll mount a photoresistor (or two) above the slot, and a bright clear LED below the slot. The beauty of this is that the LED can be powered by the LOR controller and the photoresistor provides the needed contact closure for the input. Here is my list of parts. I'll post pictures as I make progress.276-0005 10MM White LED $3.19276-1657 5 pk Photocells (Photoresistors) $3.19271-1106 5 pk 68 ohm Resistors $1.19276-0159 2 pk printed circuit board $2.19The components will be mounted to the circuit board for ease of mounting in the donation box.I'll post pictures and a basic schematic when finish the work.
The Pest Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 You could also have just done it with a wire activated switchlike this with just a wire attached that the coin/bill pushes then it springs backhttp://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2049718
jimswinder Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 tomskillman wrote: I want the action of putting a donation in the box to trigger a special thank you sequence. I will have this set up using a LOR trigger that immediately stops the playing sequence and plays the special thank you sequence. Hopefully you will get a ton of donations!!!!But if that happens you may never have a sequence that finishes.... :shock:
tomskillman Posted November 8, 2011 Author Posted November 8, 2011 Jim, Hopefully I have that problem of too many donations....if I do, I'll just make the thank you sequence a lot shorter...possibly just a quick recording saying thanks for the donation...jimswinder wrote: Hopefully you will get a ton of donations!!!!But if that happens you may never have a sequence that finishes.... :shock:
Geoff Harvey Posted November 8, 2011 Posted November 8, 2011 So as not to interrupt the main display, I use "Magic Toy" animation sequences to turn on additional flashing lights adjacent to the donation box. While these don't have sound, the children in particular love to be able to push the buttons (I have 2) to get additional lights.Just the way I do it.Geoff
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