Hi All,

Im getting an old CGE traffic light 12-8-8 section thats been converted to LED running on 120 volts. This is in canada with 120v and 60 hz at standard household power inside. When plugged in all three red,amber, and green lights turn on all together. Id like to have it so i can control each one individually, anyone know of any controllers for this kind of signal?

There are just... SO many ways to accomplish that. Timer relays, relays on timers, arduino plus opto-isolated triacs, SSRs and 555s, the list goes on. It all depends on how comfortable you are with electronics.

If you're asking about an off-the-shelf turn-key solution... I'm not sure such a thing exists, since you're going to need to rewire something if there's a single plug.

Try eBay  . I found this by searching "traffic light sequencer"  : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Traffic-Light-Controller-Sequencer-Noiseless-120V-240V-650W-per-channel-/254483232046

IMO if you're looking for a plug and play solution I would get one of the sequencer boards off eBay. I've used them before and they work pretty well if you just want the light to cycle.

A few of my signals are controlled with some more home made solutions, some use Arduino and SSRs and one uses a 555, a 4017 and some relays. Granted if you're not comfortable with electronics and working with 120v I would go with the plug and play boards off eBay.

Some of the more involved collectors run the own signal controller cabinets at home, either the newer NEMA TS1/TS2 based stuff or the old style electromechanical controllers.

Yes, just buy a sequencer, no reason to get fancy or reinvent the wheel.

The main issue with these is most of these omit the snubber capacitor, so if a lamp blows it can be bye bye triac. Not a worry with LEDs though.

Yes, just buy a sequencer, no reason to get fancy or reinvent the wheel.

The main issue with these is most of these omit the snubber capacitor, so if a lamp blows it can be bye bye triac. Not a worry with LEDs though.

The bye bye triac made me think of a bill wurtz clip  But why would it pop?

Yes, just buy a sequencer, no reason to get fancy or reinvent the wheel.

The main issue with these is most of these omit the snubber capacitor, so if a lamp blows it can be bye bye triac. Not a worry with LEDs though.

I dont think the snubber capacitor presence has anything to do with the triac blowing up with the bulb.
Snubber is needed to prevent overshoots on inductive loads. But I dont think there would be any except maybe some filters. But if the controller uses properly rated snubber-less triac types (they have mainly very low holding current, so remain ON really till the inductor current disappear so there remains no energy to cause the spike), there is usually no problem at all.

The triac blow with a blowing bulb for two reasons:
- The arc in the failing bulb causes a short circuit, with very high di/dt current rise rate, beyond what the triac is able to handle (there is rating for this listed in AbsMax and it is one of the most important parameter to observe - exceeding that and "bye bye triac" in few 10's of ms). Usually incandescents of few 10's of W are no problem, until they blow up. So to protect, you may need a series choke in the power circuit (could be common to a group of lamps that are not turned ON more than one at a time or even for the whole setup if that is not that big and the voltage drop is allowed; such choke then may mandate some snubber unless a snubber-less triacs are used; but the snubbers alone wont replace the need for the di/dt limitting choke)

- After the lamps fuse blows and interrupts the arc in the failing lamp, it creates a voltage overshoot in the system. This may then exceed the voltage rating of the triacs which are off at that time. To prevent this, a MOV or similar device is needed to clamp the voltage in the system.

Yes, just buy a sequencer, no reason to get fancy or reinvent the wheel.

Yeah, especially if you just want a standard cycle and it's your first/only signal. The only reason I went custom for a couple of my lights is to have custom sequences and the ability to program them myself on the fly. One light has the Ontario style fast flash advance green before going to the steady green and the other is programmed with a brief dark out between changes and a green+amber overlap to emulate a old electromechanical controller.