Traffic Light Control Box

Here's a shot of the innards of the traffic control box I made to control part of my collection. The Econolite 12-8-8, the CGE ped and the Eaglelux are all hooked up to this controller. I used a Arduino programmable controller instead of using discrete digital logic to control the lights like my first controller which needed to be rewired to change the sequence of lights and the timing. To reprogram this one all I need to do is hook up my laptop to it and load a new program.

Click here for a video of this thing running. The Econolite 12-8-8 is the main street signal and features the classic flashing green advance left turn. The CGE is for the main street ped movement and the Eaglelux is for the side street movement. I programmed in a custom sequence for the Eagle to simulate a old EM controller which tended to dark out briefly between indications.

The Arduino isn't designed to switch AC directly so I needed to install a relay board which does the actual switching. The rest of the stuff inside are fuses for the lights, a 12v power supply for the Arduino, terminal blocks for all the connections, and a cooling fan.

Oh and in case you're wondering here's how it looks with the door closed.