traffic signal/motion detector

[hotrodjoe]

hi. i own a r/y/g traffic signal. and i have a project that i wanna do, but need some advice on where to start. my mother parks her car in the garage everynight. i want my light to display red. as she enters the garage i want to put 1 motion detector at the begining of the garage to turn the light from red to green as soon as the drivers side fr wheel passes in front of the sensor. then i am goin to put another motion sensor at the front of the garage so when her drivers side front wheel passes that one the light will go from green back to red. our garage is tight and shes older. also i feel this would be a cool project to do. i guess i kinda would like it to work like an exact change lane on a toll road. minus the change and toll lol

thanks

is it possible to hook up a motion detector to a traffic signal? and if so how?

 

[vne147]

hi. i own a r/y/g traffic signal. and i have a project that i wanna do, but need some advice on where to start. my mother parks her car in the garage everynight. i want my light to display red. as she enters the garage i want to put 1 motion detector at the begining of the garage to turn the light from red to green as soon as the drivers side fr wheel passes in front of the sensor. then i am goin to put another motion sensor at the front of the garage so when her drivers side front wheel passes that one the light will go from green back to red. our garage is tight and shes older. also i feel this would be a cool project to do. i guess i kinda would like it to work like an exact change lane on a toll road. minus the change and toll lol

thanks

is it possible to hook up a motion detector to a traffic signal? and if so how?

I would reccomend a slightly different approach. If I were doing this project I would use one or more distance sensors like the one shown here:

IR distance sensor w/cable (10cm-80cm) [GP2Y0A21YK0F] - $13.00 : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits

It can sense distances up to ~ 3 ft. The voltage output is proportional to the distance measured by the sensor. You could create several comparator circuits to turn on the different lights at different distances.

You might need to use two sensors for your purposes. One would be facing sideways at the entrance to the garage. When the car passes in front of it the measured distance will decrease. That could turn on the green light. Then, you could have a second sensor at the back wall of the garage near the traffic light. It would turn on the yellow light when the car was ~3ft to the sensor and then red when less than say 1ft or however close you need to get the car to bea ble to close the garage door.

There is also the old reliable and economical solution of hanging a tennis ball on a string. The string's length should be made so that the tennis ball just touches the windshield when the car is pulled in enough. It even works during power outages!