Sound controlled slot cars.

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello.

I am kind of new to arduino. Anyway I've started a project to control slot cars with sound, the more noise the faster they go. My first solution was to basically hook up it up like when you want a led light to react to sound. Anyway I seem to have some trouble with race tracks power source. When connected to the arduino through the breadboard it seems like I get the same effect as if you pushed the trigger all the way down, the cars just go full speed.

My guess is that I should try to find away to make the arduino to cut or disrupt the power when silent and close the circuit when there is sound. Anyone got any tips of a effective and not to hard way to do this? I'm thinking it might be similar to a dimmer or is that completely wrong?

Thanks for any help!

2

You will need a driver circuit controlled by the Arduino, which will receive power from the track power supply and provide power to the track. You could make the driver circuit yourself with a simple transistor circuit if you can cope with analog electronics, or use a motor driver shield if you want something off the shelf.

3

Thanks. After some testing I realized the problem wasn't in the arduino, but at the cord
going to the track itself. The + and - sides were touching, powering the car.

Changed my approach to something like this. Arduino-controlled slot car set - Why are my MOSFETs burning out? - Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Maybe you're right that it's easier to just get the motorshield.