MES circuits

[cteno4]

some interesting new circuits at Hobbysearch from MES coming. bit pricy and you can find a number of these out there, but im interested to hear the crossing warning tones to see if those are japanese style.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/search_e.asp?Typ1_c=104&scope=1&urikire=0&andor=0&scope2=0&sortID=0&SFlt_f=0&SFilter=Manufacturer&ItKey=MES+(Micro+Electronics+Service)

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

The regulator kits are vastly overpriced considering they appear to be built on prototyping perf board. You could buy all the components involved from Radio Shack for less than the asking price (nevermind shipping!), and the design is trivial (given on the back of every L7812 datasheet!).

 

The crossing sound effects boards, on the other hand, are probably worth the price, as they are non-trivial to design, and use custom PCBs…

Edited January 11, 2013 by CaptOblivious

[cteno4]

my feelings exactly. i bought the parts for a 4 light stop light circuit and i think it was $5 total to wire up on a proto board!

 

i was mostly interested in the sound as well. although the little digital playback boards are getting so darn cheap that if you can get a decent recording just use one of them! they all fire from just a momentary closure.

 

jeff

[KenS]

Yeah, US$10 for a 12V, 1A regulator kit is highway robbery. You can get one fully assembled from Sparkfun with twice the capacity for the same price. The crossing is a bit nicer, although the sound is a bit tinny (that could be the speaker though; they don't have it baffled properly). Note, however, that while it apparently works with either reed switches (including the TCS ones) or something that's probably a photocell, it doesn't come with either so it's not a complete system.

 

There's a video of it in action on their website:

 

http://www.mes-ekit.com/?pid=33887076

 

There's more than one sound per their website:

MPR: Common (JR) style

MPRA: "wind bell ceremony" per Google Translate (WTF?)

MPRB: Electronic sound used by some private railways

 

Edit: added comments on sound

Edited January 12, 2013 by KenS