Author Topic: Refinery Gas Flare completed  (Read 1829 times)

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carlso

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Refinery Gas Flare completed
« on: July 01, 2021, 10:52:42 PM »
I started this last November and was challenged to add sound. I can not turn down a challenge and here is my latest effort. May tweak the sound clip some:

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Be well,
Carl
Carl Sowell
El Paso, Texas

peteski

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2021, 11:13:34 PM »
That's really good Carl!
Now, give us more technical details.  :)
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carlso

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2021, 02:13:24 PM »

peteski,

thanks for the nice comment, very much appreciated.

first let me say that I first made this to be lights only so I had all the lights in flame and poles set to operate when power was turned on. Then a person sort of challenged me to make it more realistic with the sound of a very large burnoff starting up. If you have ever been around a refinery you will know that some times when a process unit "farts and falls by the wayside" the initial light up can sound like a jet engine. I could not resist the challenge so I went to work and this is what I came up with. There may have been easier ways to accomplish the desired result but I wasn't smart enough to figure it out.

1st - I wanted all of the pole lights to be on when layout is powered up, so I had to undo my 3v LED wiring for poles that I had already done. I added another 5 pole lights to the "new" area. I used conductive copper tape on the bottom of the scene for the 3v LED wires.

2nd - I wanted the flare lights and sound to turn on by command and run for a measured time, in this case 2 minutes before extinguishing. I bought an MSD Ignition 12v relay switch, wirelessly operated for that purpose. It controls, on demand, the buck downs on the scene, under the red brick building as well as the MP3 board with TH card. The Player board feeds a 4ohm 3w speaker buried under the small tank. The board manufacturer recommends the 4 ohm 3w speaker. Sounds pretty good although I may adjust sound level ? ?

Here are some images:
Main controller box


Schematic


Controllers on the scene hidden under structures (disregard the -12v)


Schematic


Thanks again for the comment, be well,
Carl
Carl Sowell
El Paso, Texas

Steveruger45

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2021, 02:21:09 PM »
Brilliant Carl.
Steve

carlso

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2021, 05:35:41 PM »

Thank you Steve!

Be well,
Carl
Carl Sowell
El Paso, Texas

peteski

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #5 on: July 04, 2021, 04:48:12 AM »
Thanks for the construction details Carl. That is quite a complex circuit!
I'm used to the technical electronic jargon and it took me a bit to figure out that "buck down"  is just a name you use for a type of a DC/DC step-down power supply. I never heard of "buck-downs" before.  Probably an inexpensive (but versatile) circuit board from eBay or Amazon.

I'm also curious what is the reason for those unusual (to me) voltages?  Why 10.4V and 9.2V?  Why not just use 12V instead of 10.4V and also skip the 10.4V to 9.2V buck-down (since that one just feeds 2 more buck-downs that reduce the voltages down to 2.9V and 8.8V)?  Those buck downs should be able to safely handle high input voltage (like 12 or 15V) and still be able to produce low output voltages.
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carlso

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2021, 09:54:48 PM »
peteski,

you are right, I guess the correct name is "buck converter step down". I just shortened it.

The outputs you see are because I was being extra cautious to not burn out any of the down stream components. As I get ready to install, I may kick them up a bit. And yes I probably didn't need one of them but not being electrically smart I went with "what it is".

Regards,
Carl
Carl Sowell
El Paso, Texas

peteski

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Re: Refinery Gas Flare completed
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2021, 11:54:56 PM »
peteski,

you are right, I guess the correct name is "buck converter step down". I just shortened it.

The outputs you see are because I was being extra cautious to not burn out any of the down stream components. As I get ready to install, I may kick them up a bit. And yes I probably didn't need one of them but not being electrically smart I went with "what it is".

Regards,
Carl

Thanks Carl, I was just curious.  The important thing is that the setup works (and quite well), and the only smoke being released is the cotton type.  :)
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