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Traffic light circut

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  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: sharon pa
  • 436 posts
Traffic light circut
Posted by gondola1988 on Saturday, April 12, 2014 9:32 AM

I'm in the making of a single lane tunnel and would like to have a signal set up to change from red - yellow and then green and the oppisite on the other side. Any help would be appreciated, and just to let everyone know I thought about the blow horn before entering sign. Jim.

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,483 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Saturday, April 12, 2014 12:23 PM

Is this for automobiles?

Walthers makes a traffic light system, with a controller and several different models of lights.  The lights sequence just as you describe.  I've got one controller and a total of 9 light faces (3 intersections, each with 3 lights) and the system works very well.  The models are HO scale.

The out-of-focus signal in the lower right is a two-face model on a post, while the hanging signal over the road in the center is a single-faced model.

Bakatronics also makes a couple of traffic light modules.  They come with LEDs, but they are quite large and they don't have traffic light housings like the Walthers ones do.

You can't use the Walthers lights with the Bakatronics controller, unfortunately.  I've tried.  One is common-anode, and the other is common-cathode.

I just checked the Walthers site.  Most of these are still in stock, but they will be discontinued.  So, if you want them, order now.  The good news is that they're all on sale.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Western, MA
  • 8,571 posts
Posted by richg1998 on Saturday, April 12, 2014 1:17 PM

gondola1988

I'm in the making of a single lane tunnel and would like to have a signal set up to change from red - yellow and then green and the oppisite on the other side. Any help would be appreciated, and just to let everyone know I thought about the blow horn before entering sign. Jim.

 

Obvious Man thinks this is for a train tunnel, one track, not one lane. But he has been wrong before.

Look at the below link.

http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/CircuitIndex.html

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Saturday, April 12, 2014 4:12 PM

 In a railroad situation this would require some sort of locked key station at either side, where if the light is green, the conductor cna unlock the box and set the signal on the other side red. This is easy enough to do with a couple of LEDs on each side and a toggle switch on each side, no real electronics needed. This is sort of a train on the branch signal, though I doubt this really would have been done for a tunnel. The meet points would be on opposite sides of the tunnels and access tot he singla track controlled with train orders, if if CTC was installed, then by ordinary CTC, there wouldn;t have been special signals just for the tunnel.

 FOr cars, the only thing I've ever seen on the road when there is a single lane tunnel is a stop sign at each side. There are several streets around here where the street burrows under the railroad and they are all set up that way.

                  --Randy

 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    November 2007
  • From: sharon pa
  • 436 posts
Posted by gondola1988 on Saturday, April 12, 2014 8:34 PM

Thanks , I'll check into Walthers and check out what they have to offer. Jim.

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Western, MA
  • 8,571 posts
Posted by richg1998 on Sunday, April 13, 2014 12:59 AM

The Anton Anderson Tunnel would be interesting to model. Single lane. Trains or motor vehicles.

 

Rich

 

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

  • Member since
    November 2013
  • 2 posts
Posted by MICHAEL HAUSER on Monday, April 14, 2014 5:09 AM

With a little bit of electronics, using an Arduino Uno as ISP, you will be able to build the circuit by yourself for a few bucks (less than $10 for sure!). All you need is a breadboard (for prototyping), a couple of 220 ohm resistors, a couple of LEDs (or you have them already in your traffic lights), an ATtiny45, and a 74HC595 shift register (you may use the Arduino itself for the circuit, but that is too expensive) See http://jcoder.me/blog/2012/09/22/attiny-meets-74hc595/ as entry point. The shift register has enough power to drive the LEDs, so no extra transistors needed ;-)

When you are satisfied, transfer the circuit to a perfboard, do a little soldering (it's a good idea to use IC sockets instead of soldering the two ICs directly on the board) - and voila, you can be proud of yourself (and learned a lot ;-)

All the best

mike

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