Audio switch

[Colin Murphy]

Hi everyone

I am in need of a solution and im wondering if someone can help.

I own a family petting zoo an reciently we purchased a small train that brings children around the park to see the animals. We have just finished an indoor train station with a cafe. The train drives into the station after the driver presses a a remote which opens the door automatically. I want to have some audio start playing when the door starts to open saying something along the line "the train is now arriving at the station". When the door starts to open i have already set up a 240v to switch on a light. I have another 240v available to perhaps activate the audio.

I hope this explanation is sufficient. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Colin

 

[shrtrnd]

I'd use a relay. When the switch is tripped to turn on your light, the same switch can close the circuit to turn on the light, and close the circuit to start your audio.
A simpler way, would be to simply use the switch that turns on your light, to also supply power to the audio. I don' know your set-up.
One way or the other should do what you want. The reason I suggest the relay is that it will isolate whatever power you have going to the light, from the circuit that starts your audio.

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

As for how to make the audio play, a simple solution might be one of those tiny MP3 players you can get for a few bucks. Jam the Play button down, take out the rechargeable battery, and power it from a USB charger that powers up when the mains to the light comes on. That could also power up a radio or ghetto blaster to actually reproduce the sound, which would come through a stereo audio cable from the headphone socket of the MP3 player.

Check first that the MP3 player will play when it receives power through its charging connector if its battery is removed.

Alternatively, you could put the announcement on a CD and use a ghetto blaster with a CD player, with the Play button stuck down. Again, check that it will do what you want first.

These are just ideas for you to work from.

 

[(*steve*)]

I like the idea of a CD player with a single track CD. These days the capability of creating audio CDs is ubiquitous, and the difficulty factor is getting a remote signal to press the play button is pretty low.

If it were me doing this, I'd go and grab one of the many old CDROM drives I have gathering dust. Many of them have a play button and audio output. All they need is power!