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Or you can do much the same using an LM317 and a couple of resistors, and if one of those is a variable resistor you can tweak the voltage easily. Doing it this way, you can solder the the resistors ( carefully!) directly to the legs of the LM317 and don't even need a piece of pcb/veroboard!
It's actually the capacitors that are expensive, the regulators themselves are very reasonably priced. From what I have read I need a 10uf 25v cap and a 1uf 10v cap for 12v to 5v, but no idea what I would need for a 2s pack? I am not an electronics guru as you have probably guessed by now, lol I can buy bulk packs of caps cheap, but I just don't need the range that's offered and it seems a waste to buy stuff I will probably never use
I do like the idea of using resistors on the other one though, I do have packs and packs of those, lol
I was never planning on using a board, just carefully soldered direct to the regulator.
Capacitor voltage doesn't much matter in this kind of application, as long as its rated above the actual likely voltage of the circuit. The downside is that the higher the voltage the physically bigger they tend to be. Personally I'd stick with the LM317 for this job. No doubt electronic purists might quibble!
Rather than making your own, it's probably cheaper (and easier) to buy a buck converter module like this one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155366512858
This has variable outputs but you can get them with dedicated 5v (and 3.3v) output.
A bit more searching and you can probably track down even cheaper versions, especially if you're prepared to get them from China
If you email me, I will stick a Micron one in the post..
If you are averse to soldering, I can even solder wires on it for you.
Phil.P
Many thanks for the offer Phil.
I managed to pick up some like Rik mentioned, I got them from eBay for £1.80 each and are very easy to tune to the required voltage. What did surprise me was that once set, you can put any voltage in and still get the set voltage out, I thought it might change if I added another 3.7v battery, but it remained within 0.2v tolerance no matter what I tried, and I tried from 8.2v up to 25v.
Well I managed to fit everything into my tiny little HUGHIE, speaker in the firebox and all electrics in the boiler, with 2 flickering LEDs in the firebox which has an open door to see red and yellow flickering in the firebox as it goes by, not that you can see it in this video.
I know it's a single track which just repeats after 40 seconds, but for me, for the cost of it, I am more than happy
That seems fine Steve. I couldn't detect the join at 40 seconds.
To be fair, I don't think it finished the first loop, but the looping time is slightly noticeable, but enough that I am happy to live with, especially if was a full train clattering around. I just press and hold the bind button for more than one second and it loops.
Just have to work out how to do a diesel start and then loop a running diesel at the end of it? I have the files made up, just no idea how to do the task yet.
That seems fine Steve. I couldn't detect the join at 40 seconds.
To be fair, I don't think it finished the first loop, but the looping time is slightly noticeable, but enough that I am happy to live with, especially if was a full train clattering around. I just press and hold the bind button for more than one second and it loops.
Just have to work out how to do a diesel start and then loop a running diesel at the end of it? I have the files made up, just no idea how to do the task yet.
I've not tried it myself with this module but a few years ago I used a similar MP3 player for the sounds on my Ford(ish) railbus. I have to manually switch from one track to the next using the outputs from the Deltang receiver to trigger the Next and Previous track inputs on the player (Pins 9 and 11 on the DF player).
By arranging the tracks on the SD card carefully you can go from:
silence
Start up to tickover
Tickover to accelerate and running
Deceleration to tickover
Tickover to run down and silence
Each track lasts for 20 minutes - so saves having to loop the track
There's more about it on my blog (ignore the bit about having to invert the output from the Rx, that was before David changed the outputs to provide 0v triggers for soundcards).
By arranging the tracks on the SD card carefully you can go from:
silence
Start up to tickover
Tickover to accelerate and running
Deceleration to tickover
Tickover to run down and silence
Each track lasts for 20 minutes - so saves having to loop the track
Rik
Well I have created the appropriate files as you suggested, that part is fine.
I am however really struggling to get the files to play in the correct order. I have numbers them, copied them to the card in the right order, recreated the files in the right time order, but alas it still plays them in the order I would like.
Well I have created the appropriate files as you suggested, that part is fine.
I am however really struggling to get the files to play in the correct order. I have numbers them, copied them to the card in the right order, recreated the files in the right time order, but alas it still plays them in the order I would like.
Any thoughts anyone?
Hmmmm ....
Not sure why you're having problems. Did you drag and drop each file one at a time in the correct order on to the SD card? That was the only way I could feel certain they would be played in sequence. It seems that numbering them makes no difference to how they are played despite what it says in the blurb.
Well I have created the appropriate files as you suggested, that part is fine.
I am however really struggling to get the files to play in the correct order. I have numbers them, copied them to the card in the right order, recreated the files in the right time order, but alas it still plays them in the order I would like.
Any thoughts anyone?
Hmmmm ....
Not sure why you're having problems. Did you drag and drop each file one at a time in the correct order on to the SD card? That was the only way I could feel certain they would be played in sequence. It seems that numbering them makes no difference to how they are played despite what it says in the blurb.
Rik
I indeed copied them singularly, even making sure that it was at least the next minute before copying the next so the time stamps were minutes apart and not just seconds, but alas, it still does it's own thing?
By arranging the tracks on the SD card carefully you can go from:
silence
Start up to tickover
Tickover to accelerate and running
Deceleration to tickover
Tickover to run down and silence
Each track lasts for 20 minutes - so saves having to loop the track
Rik
Well I have created the appropriate files as you suggested, that part is fine.
I am however really struggling to get the files to play in the correct order. I have numbers them, copied them to the card in the right order, recreated the files in the right time order, but alas it still plays them in the order I would like.
Any thoughts anyone?
Maybe try adding a letter in front of each file eg asong, bsong, csong and see if that works.
Maybe try adding a letter in front of each file eg asong, bsong, csong and see if that works.
Not had a chance to play with mine as yet but the DF Robot website about the DF player clearly says
NOTE: The order you copy the mp3 into micro SD card will affect the order mp3 played , which means play(1) function will play the first mp3 copied into micro SD card.
I think this is irrespective of what the files are called
I'm 98% certain that I solved the problem of file order by copying each file one at a time on to the card.
Silly question to someone with your knowledge and experience of IT, but have you tried formatting the SD card before copying the files on to it?
Maybe try adding a letter in front of each file eg asong, bsong, csong and see if that works.
Not had a chance to play with mine as yet but the DF Robot website about the DF player clearly says
NOTE: The order you copy the mp3 into micro SD card will affect the order mp3 played , which means play(1) function will play the first mp3 copied into micro SD card.
I think this is irrespective of what the files are called
I'm 98% certain that I solved the problem of file order by copying each file one at a time on to the card.
Silly question to someone with your knowledge and experience of IT, but have you tried formatting the SD card before copying the files on to it?
Rik
I have indeed tried that, as I say, I even waited for the minute to pass, just to make sure, tried 3 different cards, all the same and the same track is the one that it plays in the wrong place, very very strange.
Hi Steve
I've browsed a few forums and the only suggestion I can make is that it seems some cheaper cloned DF Players behave differently to genuine DF Players. Might be worth investing in a DF Player from a reliable source to see if you get the same problem.
Hi Steve
I've browsed a few forums and the only suggestion I can make is that it seems some cheaper cloned DF Players behave differently to genuine DF Players. Might be worth investing in a DF Player from a reliable source to see if you get the same problem.
Rik
Well after lots of faffing around, it appears that either the next button plays the previous track, or on these DF Players you have to load the files on in reverse order. Either which way, it's now working, thank you so much for everyone's input
