New project

Projects General Guidance
1

Ok i need some help with my next/1st real project. My brother has a traffic light(pictured below) that has been modified to plug into the wall. It has two light blubs that saty on all the time. Well the idea I have is to control it with an ardunio. Make it work as it really would if still in use on the street. So i know how to code it thats easy. However i am trying to figure out the hardware part. I was thinking of going with an optoisolator. My questions are...

  1. Is this the best way to do it?
    2)How would i wire it up? Im thinking 2 optos one for each bulb but i am not totally sure how it would work.
  2. what do I exactly need to buy? (brand names/ part numbers)
  3. since it is coming from ac power at 120 volts is there a special opto i need?

here are some pictutres for a better understanding

also i am thinking the red and green are power and white is ground what do you guys think?

the traffic light ^

the wires coming fro the ac plug

the 1sr 2 wires going to the 1st blub

any other ideas and comments would be great!

2

Clearly you are a beginner and playing about with mains is not recommended for beginners. It is potentially dangerous. But in keeping with the Darwin Awards let me tell you that what you need is a SSR (solid state relay) These are opto isolated and can be directly connected to the arduino.

also i am thinking the red and green are power and white is ground

If you have to ask this then you are really not ready to play with mains.

3

I know i am a beginner however i would really like to try this out. Ofcource before hand i wann do a ton of research starting with this and prototype some stuff before even touching that. thanks anyway.

4

bump....

5

Maybe you could hack it and replace the light bulbs with lower-voltage ones like 12V car lights or even LEDs.

Joe

6

hmm...thats a pretty good idea will look into that thanks!