Bates Motel comes alive...

Well, I wouldn't use LED's as it seems like over-kill, but I'm a spoil-sport - if the object of the project is to use LED's, then so be it. :-)

You have just two conditions:

1. Vacancy and Open;
2. No Vacancy and closed.

So you want two power rails to power LED's; when in condition 1 and one powered in condition 2. I assume that you're just going to manually switch between the two...?

You also have some comonality between the signs, so some LED's will always be on, so that's a third power rail. Let's assume you wire 8 LED's in series and they draw 20mA each, so you could run them from a

12V DC rail and put a 120 Ohm resistor in series. About right, you can always adjust it later.....

To flash the power rails use a flashing LED either in each string of 8 (expensive) or use one on the main power rail (#3) via a transistor to pulse all 3 rails.

I think you can probably figure out the main rail going to the switch and generating rails 1 and 2. Someone with an ascii art prog and a few minutes can probably draw it quicker than me. I have a cup of tea getting cold. :-)

Cheers.

Ken

You need the newsgroup next door for homework --->

Geo

Thank you Ken! I appreciate your help...

As homework problems go this is high on my list of ones that I would answer. Ken got there first, so I didn't. But the OP was:

• Upfront with the fact it was homework.

• Was asking for solutions to the part that had him stumped, not the whole thing.

• Explained the whole problem rather than just quoted a problem statement from a book.

• Had obviously put some thought into it already.

All in all, I think he'll be learning from our (well, Ken's) help rather than just cheating himself and his classmates.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Posting from Google?  See http://cfaj.freeshell.org/google/

Or put the resistors for one sign one direction and the other reverse; use the same current limiting resistors. Switch the supply polarity (DPDT switch) to change signs.

That would make my solution a bit tougher (anti-parallel LEDs or a bridge around them).

Center-off position on the DPDT switch. ;-)

--
  Keith

The movie had a definite fifties look and feel, so I'd perhaps skip the LEDs. You might shop around neon sign shops, I'm sure they still sell such signs.

Much of the brooding atmosphere comes the gothic architecture and isolation. At Universal Studios, the building sits high and alone, so it looks bleak and desolate.

I bought a postcard from the Bates Motel. "Dear Mom, found a really cheap place to stay, prices have been slashed repeatedly but I can see why. The shower curtain is in ribbons, and the floor is a bloody mess. Landlord promises to drag himself up and have a stab at the problem. Still, not worth getting cut up about..."

and so it went on in similar vein.

I want a doorbell that emits a sounds of chainsaws, blood curdling screams, electric shocks etc. and a door that oozes blood.

It is a step up from my usual post-it note stating that trick-or-treaters will be butchered and their organs sold on e-bay for beer money.

A push-button triggered voice recorder chip is probably the way to go. Or curse the expense, just get a boxing glove on one of those expendable arm thingies, a la Three Stooges.

Cheers.

Ken

I like the way you think but that would be more comedic than scary.

I thought of something involving projectile vomit but someone I know had a visit from the police after hosing down trick or treaters with ordinary water.

Thank you for all of the ideas.... I think Halloween will be much more fun this year!!! ;o)

If you want to see some projectile vomit, rent "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" and keep an eye out for Mr. Creosote. (they used something that looked very much like that lumpy orange salad dressing, whatever it's called.)

Cheers! Rich

Cheap MP3 player, amp, and moderate sized speakers either side of the door. Oozing blood is easy to do - but hard to reset for the next visitor.

"Oh dear officer, my radio controlled water-cannon seems to have suffered interference. I'll have to shield it better, sorry for any inconvenience it may have caused to the people it ripped the clothes off and threw into the street"

For you maybe, for your neighbourhood kids maybe not. ;->

If you're a tall skinny kid, you might make a bit of pocket money buying an Alien costume and hiring yourself out to parents.

"Oh Timmy! Somebody's calling for you!"

at which point you salivate battery acid on the porch and hand little Timmy a typed note saying

I HEAR THERE ARE KIDS WHO WON'T EAT THEIR BROCCOLI AROUND HERE. WOULD THAT BE YOU?

"And you didn't believe me when I said that monsters ate kids who don't eat their greens eh son?"

:-)