(Semi-)long monostable circuits

[Harcion]

Here is another of those Redstone-threads - please move it if it's not BTW enough for this subforum.

My question is: Is there a way to make a compact monostable circuit for (semi-)long times?

Say for example that I want a signal to stay on for 10-20 seconds. Using the ordinary monostable circuits with just repeaters I would need 25-50 repeaters since each one only delays at maximum 0.4 seconds.

I'm aware of
a) the bio-clocks by Battosay, which could be modified using an RS-NOR latch, and
b) the Dispenser 5-minute clocks posted in the off-topic section by Triskelli.

The problems with these, however, are that a) it's a random delay, and b) it's exactly 5 minutes, no less and no more, and it requires restocking the dispenser.

My own try at this involves a turntable, a BD counter and two RS-NOR latches. They are hooked up so that the input flips the first latch, which turns on the turntable as a pulse generator. The first pulse flips the second RS-NOR latch to change the output and the subsequent pulses do not change it. The pulses also go to the counter which is connected to both latches, so that after a set number of pulses the turntable shuts off and the output switches back.

The first problem with my setup is that it's 5x4x10 (or so, compactness is not my forte) which is still large, and then I didn't even count the space for the mechanical power generator which might be needed. A (possibly) bigger problem is that the output does not change the moment the input arrives, since the turntable needs time to activate and turn around.

Does anyone have any other ideas?

[Battosay]

Yeah, I would have done something similar, with turntables and BD counters, but if you're looking for more compact, the water clock is not random, you'll always get the same timing, +/- 2 seconds. For longer delays and something even more compact, use lava instead of water.

But i'm sure you can do something much more compact with turntables and BD counters though ;)

[Stormweaver]

As far as I can tell, the best way to do this would probably be to take a short monostable (one repeater) and have that trigger something that will stay on for a long period of time - likely a turntable on the highest setting. It wouldn't be tiny, but it'd be smaller. Another option would be an RS-latch thingy that resets itself after a set period of time - I imagine that's be a turntable again. The advantage of using turntables and similar is you can hook them up to a BD counter to multiply the delay up to 9 times if you need it.

...If I end up installing TMI or something today, I'll throw something together. You're never going to be able to get a long delay with anything approaching the size of compact monostables though.

[Battosay]

I managed to made it 6x4x5, but I doubt you can make it smaller :

Spoiler

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Turntable for the timing
Green is the Nor latch
Red the BD counter
Yellow the monostable circuit to reset the latch.
To start the process, just place a button on the green wool, where the axle is pointing (or the block next to it)
You need a sticky piston and not a BD placing redstone for the monostable here, otherwise the signal going to the BD will activate the redstone placed by it.


The BD is cycling through different non conductive blocks, there's other blocks you can use : stairs, half slabs, the boat is the most convenient, since it's not stackable.


The reset only happen when the red wool is placed.

I hope it's clear :p

[Harcion]

I managed to made it 6x4x5, but I doubt you can make it smaller :
-snip-
I hope it's clear :p

Thanks, it's pretty clear. :) I'll play around with it a little and think some more tomorrow.
I didn't think of the fact that you could (of course) use the counter as the output as well, might be that my own design becomes about the same size with that change...hmm.

The water/lava-suggestion was good too, I had forgotten about those. I'd really like it to have an exact timing, but I guess I can live with +-2 seconds.

[BigShinyToys]

not to dis battosay but a ring counter . ( Circle of blocks that gets pushed around by pistions is a very compact way to count . I`m going to use it on my next clock. look up piston ring counter on google . im not at my computer right now or i would put up some pics.

[Stormweaver]

not to dis battosay but a ring counter . ( Circle of blocks that gets pushed around by pistions is a very compact way to count . I`m going to use it on my next clock. look up piston ring counter on google . im not at my computer right now or i would put up some pics.

lol @ compact.

BDs are much more compact in general.

[Harcion]

Actually, using a similar technique I managed to shave off one block-length to make it 6x4x4:

Spoiler

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Spoiler

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Sorry about the dirt instead of nice clarifying colored wool. :/

I inverted the torches on the turntable and connected the BD counter directly by a wire on top of it so that it switches each time the "not torch"-side comes around. And I replaced the latch and monostable circuit by a BD-latch and a traditional repeater-monostable. (This is probably the only circuit I know by heart. :))

The input is at the button. The pulse makes the BD-latch switch between a redstone wire and a non-conductive block. Because of the way the monostable is setup, this turns power on or off to the gearbox beneath the turntable.

Btw, since the output is inverted in both our circuits, perhaps we ought to call it 7x4x4 or 7x4x5 instead, since you'd need a torch too to invert it. Not that it matters very much.

[Battosay]

Too much dirt, I can't see anything :/

[Harcion]

Ok, new try. I did some colour-coding.

Spoiler

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Green is the input.
Yellow is the monostable circuit.
The output is at the blue section or adjacent to the red wool placed by the BD.
The turntable block is black just because it looks nice.
The magenta block has to be there to avoid interference between the redstone wire from behind the second BD and the wire in the monostable circuit.

Does that help? It's a little hard to take pictures of.

[Battosay]

Yeah, that's better :)
Not sure what you're doing with the 2nd BD though ?

[Harcion]

That's the latch that activates or deactivates the turntable. It switches between a redstone wire and a non-conductive block.

[redeyedmonstar]

not that this really belongs here, as its vanilla, but i had a 40s clock i made using a dispenser pushing an entity over 2 runs of 8 slow sand onto to a pressure plate. i cant remember the timing i got for a single run, but obviously you can configure it a bit by changing the lengths.
much bigger to build that what you're talking about, but smaller than a redstone version in vanilla.

[Harcion]

not that this really belongs here, as its vanilla, but i had a 40s clock i made using a dispenser pushing an entity over 2 runs of 8 slow sand onto to a pressure plate. i cant remember the timing i got for a single run, but obviously you can configure it a bit by changing the lengths.
much bigger to build that what you're talking about, but smaller than a redstone version in vanilla.

Thanks for the input nevertheless, more ideas usually breed even more ideas. :) What I do not like about those kinds of designs is that you have to refill the dispenser and that the items are lost. Perhaps you could fix that using a hopper somehow, but then we're talking even more huge.

In other news, I ended up redesigning my item elevator to just use two ordinary monostables with 6-10 repeaters for simplicity...

[gftweek]

There is this circuit which loops around, so each repeater delays twice, which compacts things nicely, not as small or as long as using a BD or chained turntables, but fairly compact for pure redstone.