Walk, Don't Walk

[Trickyhicky]

I have refurbed a Walk, Don't Walk sign from Paris.

At this stage, it switches on and off with both the Red and the Green men lighting up together. What I would like to do is fit a module that will cause the Red and Green Men to light up individually for random periods of time as if it was fitted to the street furniture originally. Does anyone have any ideas as to how this may be achieved?

All replies are welcome.

Phil

 

[telectrix]

timer and 2 relays. timer switches on, energises a N/O relay #1 to turn on red. timer off de-energises relay #1 so red goes off.

relay #2 N/C, de-energises, allowing feed to green.

 

[DPG]

I'd avoid relays to be honest- the clicking will drive you mad. You need a simple timer circuit, but one that has a degree of randomness. Something simple based on a 555 timer IC would probably do it.

Have a Google and see what you can find. Also look at opto coupled triac to do the switching. MOC3020 off the top of my head.

That's assuming these are mains lamps. Actually, if you fit 12V lamps you will avoid any safety hazards. Depends on your competence.

 

[Mike Johnson]

+1 for fitting 12V preferably LED's

 

[stevethesparks]

Look into the Arduino, very flexible. There are many available programme strings available of this sort which can be altered very easily.
If your programming skills are not too hot the use of "XOD" is excellent.

 

[DPG]

Yes definitely LEDs - good call

 

[DPG]

Look into the Arduino, very flexible. There are many available programme strings available of this sort which can be altered very easily.
If your programming skills are not too hot the use of "XOD" is excellent.

Might be a bit over the top. Having said that an ESP8266 or something similar would make it very easy to make changes and fine tune it. Depends if the OP wants to go down the software route I suppose.

 

[Trickyhicky]

He Guys @DPG , @stevethesparks @Mike Johnson & @telectrix, thanks for your replies, certainly a new thing for me to research, I enjoy looking into new (for me) techy stuff.
I have heard about Arduino's, but have never really gone further than that.
"Tonight Matthew, I'm mainly going to be Arduino."

 

[Trickyhicky]

Hey Guys, @DPG , @stevethesparks @Mike Johnson & @telectrix, thanks for your replies, certainly a new thing for me to research, I enjoy looking into new (for me) techy stuff.
To answer your query about volts they are running off domestic supply on a 13amp plug with a normal lamp switch at the moment. I thought it best keep it simple.
It has LED's already fitted, they look fairly large so I would imagine that they are industrial grade ones.
Also whilst testing it in the early stages I had it plugged in through an outdoor RCD as I didn't want to blow the house up.

I have heard about Arduino's on youtube a couple of times, I understand that they are akin to Raspberry Pi's, but have never really gone further than that.

"So tonight Matthew, I'm mainly going to be Arduino."

Thanks again guys and any other thoughts please let me know. If you are interested in it I will get a couple of photos. But I'll wait on that

Phil

 

[DPG]

Yeah post a picture, lets have a look.
There's an antiques place in town that often has traffic lights done in a similar manner.

 

[Trickyhicky]

Okay @DPG here we go, I have added them as URL's to Upload the image directly to the thread, any probs let me know.
If you have any ideas further to your previous comments I'd be interested, ie how you may think that the unit works and how the possible Arduino would be installed.
Walk, Don't Walk-Off
Walk, Don't Walk-On
W,DW Inside All
W,DW Inside Power to Choc Block
W,DW Inside Back Of Light Units

Phil

 

[DPG]

I like that. Looks well.

So, are those units running at 230VAC?

 

[Trickyhicky]

??????

 

[Trickyhicky]

Good Question!
Well Presented
Next.

I'm sorry I don't have a clue. Saw the sign, 10 euros on a street boot fair stall at 8 am in Paris and dragged it around for the next god knows how many hours. Weighs a ton.

 

[DPG]

Good Question!
Well Presented
Next.

I'm sorry I don't have a clue. Saw the sign, 10 euros on a street boot fair stall at 8 am in Paris and dragged it around for the next god knows how many hours. Weighs a ton.

Really? Bargain!

You've got it powered up in one of the photos. What voltage have you supplied it with?