Custom Ampelmann Traffic Light - “Restoration” | [0038] 🚦
Published: Nov 10, 2019 | Last Modified: Feb 21, 2023
Back in August my wife and I visited several places in Europe, including Berlin, Germany. By far it was my favorite. In all the walking around we did there, we saw a lot of their pedestrian traffic lights with the Ampelmann figure. I really liked them… Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find a legitimate way to bring one home with me (😀), but in this video I show how I made custom Ampelmann inserts for a US pedestrian signal. It’s not the real thing, but it’s a fun homage to our trip.
The code for the ATTiny85 is the same (less one light) as I used for my standard traffic signal. Also, as with the standard traffic signal, the electronics are simple enough that it didn’t require a schematic. It’s just the ATTiny85 connected to a couple of SSRs (through a current limiting resistor).
Code can be found on GitHub.
SSRs I used: Omron G3VM-201AY1.
5v Power supply I used: CUI Inc. PSK-S5B-5-T.
Couple of notes:
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The Ampelmann symbol is copyrighted (🤦♂️) so I can’t share the files I used to cut the vinyl. Sorry.
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The original Ampelmann walked to the right. At some point it was changed to the left. On all the lights we saw on our trip, the Ampelmann was walking left. The Ampelmann company (who owns the copyright on the symbol) has the Ampelmann walking to the right on all the merch/logos/etc. I was going to follow the original and have the Ampelmann walking to the right but I kept forgetting to mirror the image before cutting the vinyl (I had to cut it a couple times due to mistakes in applying it). So, on my light the Ampelmann is walking to the left as we saw in Berlin.