Mindstorms & GBC Trains ?

[doug72]

Are there any ?

I recived a Mindstorms set last Xmas and so far have not progressed very far !

Doug72

[dr_spock]

I've seen GBC 9V trains in the operated by Mindstorm RCX at AFOL conventions I've been to.  They are simple to wire up and work pretty well.  You can plug an AC adapter into the RCX brick and it'll run all day.

Which Mindstorm set did you get? 

 

[knotian]

Doug72

Take a look at Sioux.net. They use mindstorm in a big way. I have used Mindstorms with that ir link, but you can't control what you can't see. Sbrick is working on it also.

In my small attempt I used a color sensor to determine when a rr car was at a specific location and stopped, then I started a device for loading that car, set a switch to route the car to the dump site and then back on the main line until I stopped it at the loading location. Worked ok since the train didn't need any speed changes while traveling.

 

[Great Ball Pit]

There's been a few RCX trains in some of the older brickworld videos.  Looked like they used colored flags to control speed.  Some of them use more then one RCX.  One for the train, and one for the loading station.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Great Ball Pit

[JBrost]

I based my GBC train & stations on Steve Hassenplug's original setup (http://www.teamhassenplug.org/GBC/Train/) that was made back in the RCX days.  I use NXTs for mine.  One for the loading station & one for the unloading station.  I use 9v train track & a 9v train motor rather than the plastic track & PF motors so I don't have to fight with IR control of the train.  Each station controls 1/2 of the train track just like it is a motor (using a NXT to 9v converter cable and a 9v to train cable).  Two small pieces of electrical tape separate the two sections of track.  This allows me to run the two stations independently so the NXTs don't have to communicate with one another& there is no need for wires between the two stations.  The train car has a small bump on the side of it that contacts a touch sensor at each station so the train stops at the correct position.

It works pretty well if I do say so myself.  Over the course of a day as batteries wear down and the train motor heats up I usually have to adjust the power level for the train motor so it stops at the exact position necessary for the unloading station.  But I just made the power level configurable in-program from the NXT using the NXT buttons so I can easily adjust it on the fly.