HELP-Manual Stop Light for Children's Church

[Darin]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but have never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector. Now I am looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The second throw will send a signal to the IC board to move the indicator from where it is to the next color. Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red...... I will use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different IC chips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a 4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean. From there, the best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard it out.. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the parts, I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Roberts
www.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

 

[hamilton]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but have never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector. Now I am looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The second throw will send a signal to the IC board to move the indicator from where it is to the next color. Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red...... I will use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different IC chips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a 4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean. From there, the best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard it out. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the parts, I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Roberts
www.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

Very simple project for sure.

Will this be used by kids ?

If so, the push button will be pushed many times not just once per light
change.

Would a hold off of say 1-2 (5-10) seconds help in keeping for lights
from move Red, Green, Yellow,..... to quickly ?

I am sure that many people here can help you with all sorts of ways to
complete this.

To re-cap the hardware:

1 input switch

1 output buzzer

3 output lights ( via triac )

To re-cap the functions:

a) Push button (make contact)
b) Buzzer sounds
c) light changes one state R -> G -> Y -> R
d) Release button
e) Buzzer stops

hamilton

 

[George Herold]

Hello.  My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but have never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector.  Now I am looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed.  The second throw will send a signal to the IC  board to move the indicator from where it is to the next color.  Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red......  I will use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different IC chips are used, but I do have a few basics.  I looked at using a 4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean.  From there, thebest Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard it out.  I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy more..

Can you please assist me?  I am willing to build it, and buy the parts,I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Robertswww.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

Hi Darin, This sounds simple. Look up a MC14017 on digikey (or
somewhere) Once you've got the input debounced (the hardest part
perhaps) send the pulse train into the MC14017 you get three separated
signals out. Then you just need to reset the thing on the third
output. (I think just hooking Q3 to the reset will work.)

As for the power do you need big lights or would LEDs work too? If
you do want the big lights then maybe three relays would be better
than triac's. (At least that would be easier for me.)

George H.

 

[tm]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon
Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but have
never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have
made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector. Now I am
looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer
which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The second throw
will send a signal to the IC board to move the indicator from where it is
to the next color. Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red...... I will
use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different IC
chips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a 4011 NAND
gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean. From there, the
best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a
74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster
tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time
crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard
it out. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy
more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the parts, I
just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Robertswww.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

Hi Darin, This sounds simple. Look up a MC14017 on digikey (or
somewhere) Once you've got the input debounced (the hardest part
perhaps) send the pulse train into the MC14017 you get three separated
signals out. Then you just need to reset the thing on the third
output. (I think just hooking Q3 to the reset will work.)

As for the power do you need big lights or would LEDs work too? If
you do want the big lights then maybe three relays would be better
than triac's. (At least that would be easier for me.)

George H.
==================================================

Might be safer if you designed it to use leds and ran everything on 12 volts
DC. Especially if kids are involved.
Use a wall wart power supply and there won't be any certification issues,
hence no insurance problems.

 

[Joerg]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in
Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but
have never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far
I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random
selector. Now I am looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop
light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a
buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The
second throw will send a signal to the IC board to move the
indicator from where it is to the next color. Red (push) Green
(push) yellow (push) Red...... I will use a triac on each channel to
power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different
IC chips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a
4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean.
From there, the best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal
into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night
rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time
crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and
breadboard it out. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work,
and have to buy more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the
parts, I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Easiest would be to "cheat" and pull something similar off the web, like
this:

http://www.electronicdesignworks.co...ontroller/simple_traffic_light_controller.htm

In your case you'd wire up IC1 (which is a simple NE555) as a one-shot
instead of an oscillator. Meaning a push of a button results in a pulse
of pre-determined length. That de-bounces your push button so you no
longer have to worry about that. You'd also hang a buzzer on your
push-button for the sound effect. You probably also don't want to
combine and return to reset on an earlier count than they do.

Relays are best and safest. If you aren't too experienced my suggestion
is to stay away from triacs because with those you would not have a real
isolation between mains stuff and your low voltage circuit. Play it
safe, especially with kids aroudn how might decide to open things up
some day.

Attention: This circuit has a flaw, they forgot the flyback diodes
across the relays. I'd use a ULN2003, it has 7 relay driver transistors
plus 7 diodes built in and only costs about 30c in singles. Tie the COM
pin to your relay supply voltage:

http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/uln2003a.pdf

They also didn't handle the reset properly but you could just press the
button until you get to the desired start position.

 

[mike]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but have never really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector. Now I am looking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The second throw will send a signal to the IC board to move the indicator from where it is to the next color. Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red...... I will use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different IC chips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a 4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean. From there, the best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard it out. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the parts, I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Roberts
www.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

Why are you doing this?
If you want to learn how to wire hardware bits together, you're on the
right track.

If you want to make something for the kids...a RESULT,
buy an Arduino board or similar and do it in software.
You'll learn a useful skill.
You can make lots of different demos for the kids easily, once
you get set up. The stuff is available at Radio Shack, but it's
cheaper on EBAY.
You can even let the kids edit the software.
Everybody wins.

I'd bet you even have someone in the congregation who'd help
get you started.

Or, you could just write a simple computer program that simulates
the lights on the screen. Or use the parallel port to work the
switches/lights.
I'd bet you even have someone in the congregation who'd
donate a computer and teach you how to do it.

 

[Jasen Betts]

Hi Darin, This sounds simple. Look up a MC14017 on digikey (or
somewhere) Once you've got the input debounced (the hardest part
perhaps) send the pulse train into the MC14017 you get three separated
signals out. Then you just need to reset the thing on the third
output. (I think just hooking Q3 to the reset will work.)

As for the power do you need big lights or would LEDs work too? If
you do want the big lights then maybe three relays would be better
than triac's. (At least that would be easier for me.)

The MOC3010 datasheet has a good triac driver circuit

cheaper than a solid state relay, more reliable, (if not cheaper than)
a mechanical relay.

but yeah, low voltage LED is to be preferred if practical,
if connecting LEDs directly fo thr '4017 isn't bright enough

Having a 12V supply, with the '4017 driving darlinton transistors
driving perhaps 3 or 4 high-efficiency LEDs in series might be
enough.

 

[hamilton]

The MOC3010 datasheet has a good triac driver circuit

You still need the triac with this.

cheaper than a solid state relay, more reliable, (if not cheaper than)

A Solid state relay in an MOC3010, a triac and passive parts in one package.

May not be cheaper than the two parts but is more convenient.


hamilton

 

[[email protected]]

You asked the reason - Result. Fast, simple, RESULT. As a children's minister, I daily deal with kids on meds, family counsiling, web site maintainance, graphic design, music......... It always seems I come up with great theme ideas, just never sure how to get it done, and don't usually have thetime to study and develop another new skill. I know how to solder, I knowhow to run wire, so learning to build IC boards was not a huge stretch, aslong as someone gives me the schematic with pin outs. Conect A to B, Pin 2 to Pin 5..... I asked people in congragation, no one is in that field. So I turned to groups. I appreciate all the help.

This circuit is actually going to be done 2 times, once for the boys side, once for the girls side. If one group of kids starts to get out of control, I push the button, and light goes to yellow - at red, their side does notget to participate in games at end of service (time waiting for Adults to finish). Sort of a positive peer preasure thing. One stop light for each side.

 

[ehsjr]

You asked the reason - Result. Fast, simple, RESULT. As a children's minister, I daily deal with kids on meds, family counsiling, web site maintainance, graphic design, music......... It always seems I come up with great theme ideas, just never sure how to get it done, and don't usually have the time to study and develop another new skill. I know how to solder, I know how to run wire, so learning to build IC boards was not a huge stretch, as long as someone gives me the schematic with pin outs. Conect A to B, Pin 2 to Pin 5..... I asked people in congragation, no one is in that field. So I turned to groups. I appreciate all the help.

This circuit is actually going to be done 2 times, once for the boys side, once for the girls side. If one group of kids starts to get out of control, I push the button, and light goes to yellow - at red, their side does not get to participate in games at end of service (time waiting for Adults to finish). Sort of a positive peer preasure thing. One stop light for each side.

It would be more flexible, more reliable and a lot easier for you
to use 2 spdt toggle switches for each side, and a single on/off
switch (not shown) to turn Vin on or off. The circuit below will
work with either AC or DC.

Sw1
Vin ---o o---------redbulb------+
\ |
o---o o---yellowbulb---+
\ |
o----greenbulb----+
Sw2 |
Vin -----------------------------+

With the above, turning on yellow (sw2) turns off green, and
turning on red (sw1) turns off yellow (or green if you want
to go directly from green to red).

That way it gives you the flexibility to go from yellow back to
green or from red back to yellow (or green) if you want, and the
position of the toggles tells you what light is supposed to be on.
With the push button scheme you are stuck going in one direction
only, and an accidental push of the button would require cycling
through to get back to the correct color.

Ed

 

[George Herold]

It would be more flexible, more reliable and a lot easier for you
to use 2 spdt toggle switches for each side, and a single on/off
switch (not shown) to turn Vin on or off. The circuit below will
work with either AC or DC.

         Sw1
  Vin ---o  o---------redbulb------+
          \                        |
           o---o  o---yellowbulb---+
                \                  |
                 o----greenbulb----+
                Sw2                |
  Vin -----------------------------+

With the above, turning on yellow (sw2) turns off green, and
turning on red (sw1) turns off yellow (or green if you want
to go directly from green to red).

That way it gives you the flexibility to go from yellow back to
green or from red back to yellow (or green) if you want, and the
position of the toggles tells you what light is supposed to be on.
With the push button scheme you are stuck going in one direction
only, and an accidental push of the button would require cycling
through to get back to the correct color.

Ed

Or maybe just a multipole rotary switch.

George H.

 

[mike]

You asked the reason - Result. Fast, simple, RESULT. As a children's minister,

I daily deal with kids on meds, family counsiling, web site
maintainance, graphic design, music.........

It always seems I come up with great theme ideas, just never sure how
to get it done, and don't

usually have the time to study and develop another new skill. I know
how to solder,

I know how to run wire, so learning to build IC boards was not a huge
stretch, as long as someone

gives me the schematic with pin outs. Conect A to B, Pin 2 to Pin
5..... I asked people in congragation,

no one is in that field. So I turned to groups. I appreciate all the help.

This circuit is actually going to be done 2 times,

Sounds like a lot of work to replace two sets of colored paper dunce caps.

once for the boys side, once for the girls side.

Boys vs Girls???? This gets more interesting by the minute.

If one group of kids starts to get out of control, I push the button,
and light goes to yellow - at red,

their side does not get to participate in games at end of service (time
waiting for Adults to finish).

Sort of a positive peer preasure thing.

Sounds to me more like a stick than a carrot.

One stop light for each side.

 

[josephkk]

Hello. My name is Darin Roberts, I am the children's Pastor in Tarpon Springs Florida.

I have some experience in building ic projects from schematics, but havenever really learned how to create the schematic my self. So far I have made a 4 player quiz circuit, and a 32 channel random selector. Now I amlooking at wanting to build a manual advance stop light system.

I would like to push a button - dpst - having one throw go to a buzzer which will sound for as long as the button is pushed. The second throw will send a signal to the IC board to move the indicator from where it is to the next color. Red (push) Green (push) yellow (push) Red...... Iwill use a triac on each channel to power the A/C light in the Stop Light Unit.

As I said, I have a VERY small understanding of how and why different ICchips are used, but I do have a few basics. I looked at using a 4011 NAND gate to make sure the signal from the switch is clean. From there, the best Schematic I found was to feed the clean signal into a 74LS191n, to a 74std154n with a 74F112n (this was for a Night rider light or a dragster tree).

My church is on a limited budget and I am also on somewhat of a time crunch, so I have not had the resources to try to buy stuff and breadboard it out. I would hate to buy parts and not have it work, and have to buy more.

Can you please assist me? I am willing to build it, and buy the parts, I just need the schematic.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Darin Roberts
www.kidpreacher.org
727-809-0926

Some questions for you.

Is this a one way street? (how many signal faces?)
Will the signal be portable (stored away except on meeting days and times,
lots of permit issues here)?
Does the signal need to be reasonably "crash safe"?
Do you already have appropriate signing, striping, and pavement markings?

Sorry, but this dropped in no more than the first circle out from the
bulls eye of what i done for a living for the past ~20 years.

Think carefully about whether / how you wish to reply.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

You still need the triac with this.


A Solid state relay in an MOC3010, a triac and passive parts in one package.

May not be cheaper than the two parts but is more convenient.


hamilton

For anybody that cares the load switches in traffic signals all over the
US are solid state (triac and control electronics) for the past 20 years.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

You asked the reason - Result. Fast, simple, RESULT. As a children's minister, I daily deal with kids on meds, family counsiling, web site maintainance, graphic design, music......... It always seems I come up with great theme ideas, just never sure how to get it done, and don't usually have the time to study and develop another new skill. I know howto solder, I know how to run wire, so learning to build IC boards was not a huge stretch, as long as someone gives me the schematic with pin outs. Conect A to B, Pin 2 to Pin 5..... I asked people in congragation, no one is in that field. So I turned to groups. I appreciate all the help.

This circuit is actually going to be done 2 times, once for the boys side, once for the girls side. If one group of kids starts to get out ofcontrol, I push the button, and light goes to yellow - at red, their side does not get to participate in games at end of service (time waitingfor Adults to finish). Sort of a positive peer preasure thing. One stop light for each side.

Oh, not on a street; big difference. That answers many of my questions.

How big of an indication in inches do you need?
I am going to assume perfboard construction as that is what i would likely
do in this instance.
In general tell us more about what you want.

?-)