MFR Rednet help

[JarinArenos]

(think I screwed up the location before when I tried to ask previously)

I need some help with the Programmable Rednet Controller. I generally understand how it works, at least at a basic level, and have used it successfully for some simple 2-3 circuit applications. This one is stumping me, however. I'm trying to require a signal of a certain length on input (standing still on a hidden pressure plate) before sending an output signal (secret door), but I can't figure out how to make a delay circuit that requires an input signal actually stay on for a certain time. Any suggestions?

 

[casilleroatr]

I don't know for sure if this will work, but why not make it so that standing on the pressure plate does two initial things. First, create a constant output for as long as it is stood on and feed that into an And gate, while also sending a one shot pulse through a delay of x length leading to the same and gate. adjust x to the length you want to stand on the plate.

 

[JarinArenos]

Ooh, nice. Hadn't thought of combining One-shot-pulse with delay. That might do the trick. I'll give it a shot. Thanks!

 

[JarinArenos]

Okay, no dice. It doesn't seem to want to process the two signals simultaneously. Here's the specific setup attempted:
(Currently configured to two colors to see if that made a difference, but they're attached to the same pressure plate, and red/black acts the same as just black on both inputs)

Circuit 1: One-Shot Pulse, I=I/O R(Black), O=VARS 1
Circuit 2: Delay, I=I/O R(Red), D=CNST 112, O=VARS 2
Circuit 3: AND (2-Input), I0=VARS1, I1=VARS2, O0=VARS3

Circuit 4 and 5 are pulse lengthener and inverter because the door is a drawbridge needing a positive signal to stay "closed". These are working... mostly. Unrelated oddities mentioned later.

The current activity is that if you stand on the plate for the delay period... nothing happens. To open the door, you have to stand on the plate, then trigger the plate AGAIN, after the delay period has passed. It apparently will not accept two circuit inputs from the same signal, even if split between two colors. Also, just stepping on the plate (trigger one-shot delay) and then back on (for second AND signal) and waiting out the delay does NOT work. The plate has to be triggered so that the second impulse overlaps the end of the delay fairly closely.


Also, putting a button on a third color and using a Passthrough to try and output on VARS3 (for a button to open the door from the inside, added on Circuit 6) doesn't do anything at all. Which is... weird.

 

[draeath]

In the PRC have you tried copying the input to two variables, then base the rest of your logic off those variables?

 

[JarinArenos]

That would be making circuits 1 and 2 into passthroughs, right?

Edit: Think I'm gonna need a circuit board upgrade or two...

 

[JarinArenos]

In the PRC have you tried copying the input to two variables, then base the rest of your logic off those variables?

That did the trick! Weird that it can read to the variables and then use those, but not use the inputs themselves. Ah well. Thanks!

 

[Antice]

That did the trick! Weird that it can read to the variables and then use those, but not use the inputs themselves. Ah well. Thanks!

could have done it cheaper by using a redstone repeater as a way of splitting the two signals before rednet cabling them into the PRC. I do miss the redpower circuits for things like these. the PLU is a bit too much magic box sometimes. also it is a tad costly when all your needs are for a pair of simple logic gates.

 

[JarinArenos]

I know what you mean. It's weird to have this big complicated doohicky when all you want is a timer circuit... Still, better than nothing. I've seriously been missing redpower, and this at least fills a functional gap.

 

[draeath]

I love the PRC. While they looked neat, I never did like having complicated RP gates and wiring all over my power room ceiling

Yes, it's a bit overkill when you only need one component, but they are incredibly easy to expand upon and modify in-place. Couple that with the memory card functionality and rednet meter? I'm in love with it.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I need to build a reasonably long delay. When the input signal turns on, I want it to wait maybe 30 seconds and then turn on an output, but for that output to be AND with the input. It's to recharge a Redstone Energy Cell. When a gate detects "Can store energy", I want to wait, and then turn the engines on until the "Can store energy" signal stops.

I tried Input->Delay Const 255->Var 0 and then Var 0->Delay Const 255->Var 1 etc. and then passing Var 3 AND Input->Output but that doesn't work. The output just comes on at the same time as the input. Any ideas?

 

[casilleroatr]

I need to build a reasonably long delay. When the input signal turns on, I want it to wait maybe 30 seconds and then turn on an output, but for that output to be AND with the input. It's to recharge a Redstone Energy Cell. When a gate detects "Can store energy", I want to wait, and then turn the engines on until the "Can store energy" signal stops.

I tried Input->Delay Const 255->Var 0 and then Var 0->Delay Const 255->Var 1 etc. and then passing Var 3 AND Input->Output but that doesn't work. The output just comes on at the same time as the input. Any ideas?

I think the schmitt trigger may solve your problem. It acts like a delay when you switch on but not when you switch off. A good test to get the hang of it is to make a trigger circuit and use a lever to turn a piston on and off. Doing that will probably help you more than my crummy explanation and I am pretty sure it will solve your problem.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I think the schmitt trigger may solve your problem. It acts like a delay when you switch on but not when you switch off.

A Schmitt trigger is usually an analog to digital converter - if I had a redstone signal strength proportional to the cell charge level then it would be perfect. Or is an MFR Schmitt trigger different from a real life one?

 

[casilleroatr]

I think it is different yeah (although I am not really clear about the real life one). I did a test setup like this - key:
c = cable
l = lever
p = piston
RC = rednet controller

lccRCccp

The input was obviously the lever and the output controlled the piston .The other variable I used was a constant defining the input delay. When I switched the input on, the output didn't switch on until the delay had elapsed. When I switched the input off the output switched off immediately.

I hope that is a bit clearer.

 

[PhilHibbs]

When I switched the input on, the output didn't switch on until the delay had elapsed. When I switched the input off the output switched off immediately.

Yeah that's what I want, but I can't see how I'd get the delay above 12.5 seconds. Maybe a Pulse Lengthener somewhere in the chain. I'll try it tonight.

 

[Antice]

Yeah that's what I want, but I can't see how I'd get the delay above 12.5 seconds. Maybe a Pulse Lengthener somewhere in the chain. I'll try it tonight.

you do it by chaining delays. output to input,
the best bet you have for doing this is to chain 3 ten sec delays into an RS-NOR latch, the cell full signal is then used to simply reset the latch.
you have to use the internal variables for chaining the delays tho, otherwise it won't work properly. the PRC won't accept an output -> input cycle that has a 0 delay on it. if you want some fancy lights counting up to engine start, you could use the output -> input loop method with a lamp and a single vanilla repeater in it to prevent the 0 tick delay issue. (or a bud switch next to the lamp, thus using the lamp->bud connection as a 1 tick delay device while looking cool)

 

[PhilHibbs]

Schmitt Trigger is doing what I want, and the 12.5 second delay is fine for now. Not sure why he called it a Schmitt Trigger because that isn't what one of those is supposed to be, but hey. Maybe it will be an issue if we get REC charge level signals from comparators at some stage.

 

[Hydra]

A Schmitt trigger is usually an analog to digital converter

Not really. It's a more advance version of a comparator. A comparater gives a on/off digital signal when the analog level is above a certain level. If the signal is jittery, so is the output. A schmitt trigger 'solves' this by having an upper/lower bound where the signal has to go through to 'flip'. An ADC simply translates an analog voltage into a digital n-bits signal.

The Schmitt trigger in the PRC, although also making outputs less 'noisy', works rather differently from the RL counterpart. But hey, this is minecraft.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Not really. It's a more advance version of a comparator... The Schmitt trigger in the PRC, although also making outputs less 'noisy', works rather differently from the RL counterpart. But hey, this is minecraft.

I get it. If we do get redstone signal strength signals from energy storage devices, though, I'd like to see a "Schmitt Trigger (Analog)" function to use them. That would be awesome. I guess you could emulate that with a couple of compare functions feeding into an RS latch.