Re: coin operated TeeVee

["Robert L. Bass" <robertlbass@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> I've been thinking of trying to make a coin operated tv to limit its
> use by the kids, or at least compell us to think about how much tv we
> watch.  I've got full spousal backing on this, so it occured to me that
> I could use an x10 controller hooked up to our pc to do this, with some
> sort of script that would let us put "time" in someone's tv account,
> etc.
>
> Just wondering if anyone has done this, or something like it, and if
> the minimal startup costs would be less than the cost of an
> off-the-shelf coinbox, about $80.

I built something similar to limit telephone usage on school nights.  A
callerID device from Rochelle with an RS232 serial port was connected to one
of my PCs.  A serial port connected relay board was wired to the phone
circuit.  While the Rochelle board reported the line "off hook" a timer
would increment.  2 minutes prior to cut-off there was a double-click on the
phone line.  Then the phone would go dead until the next morning.

You can do pretty much the same thing.  Wire a relay to short the video or
CATV input to the TV set after x-number of minutes hours.  If you've got a
PC-based HA system or at least have one PC that runs all the time it's
fairly easy to do.  A simple push-button can be wired to an I/O device.  The
kids would have to press the button to get the TV signal.  This will trigger
the timer.  The software I wrote for the purpose was simple enough but it
was written in THEOS BASIC which is neither PC nor Linux compatible so
you'll have to write your own version.

A somewhat less elegant but much simpler solution is to install a
programmable timer.  ELK Products and Altronix both make devices which can
do the job.  I sell both of these brands online in case you're interested.
The URL is in my sig.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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