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So, one problem I don't like about N scale, is that to get reasonable sized sensors for things like location, you don't have as many options. I wanted a way to put a notification sensor to tell me when a train passes a location. Use IR or Hall, right? Well, they are big and clunky really. I did find a Youtube of a guy who did something clever. He put an IR and Photodiode into a tiny package to fit in between the tracks. Well, that would work for me, so I tried the same thing, and it works.
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Tags: crossing gate, detection, electronics, sensor

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So, a while back, I found a guy on Ebay in China who made n scale traffic signals for road traffic. The assemblies themselves are very nice, and everything I have purchased so far just works.

https://www.ebay.com/usr/wehonest_us

So, I decided to control them with a micro so I could make it act like a US traffic intersection. The video included shows the results. Works like a charm. For this, I used an Adafruit Raspberry Pi Pico in the feather form factor, and created a ...

Tags: electronics, microcontroller, traffic lights

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'N' Scale Related , General (as off-topic as you want)

So I gotta say, I love the WS Just Plug led system. The lamps themselves look very nice to scale, and are very easy to use. Overall, the system is a solution to making a layout pop. However, it has some downsides. The controllers are pretty big, require a big power supply, and need to be manually interacted with to turn them on and off. What if you could turn them on and off just using your wifi network at home? That's what I decided to do.

I put together a feather form factor daughter ...

Tags: electronics, led, scenery

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General (as off-topic as you want)