DIY Model Railway Colour Light Signals Controlled by JMRI

A step by step guide on how to setup the electronics for a 4 aspect colour light signal using an Ardunio and a PCA9685 servo driver board which we can then control using JRMI.

Once set up in JRMI they're ready to be used in automation as we saw before with the semaphore signals.

This would work for any number of aspects on your signals and can also include feathers and calling on lights.

Using this method we can also reduce the brightness of the LEDs and introduce realistic fading.

There are some limitations which I cover at the end.

This doesn't cover the physical construction of the signal, only the electronics, but once you've got the electronics setup then I'm sure they could either be fitted to a check plastic signal or you could 3D print something bespoke.

The main setup is the same as in the servo driver video which can be found here:    • Servo Motor Control for Model Railway...  

If you want to chain multiple PCA9685s together to give loads more pins then check this video out:    • Linking Multiple PCA9685 Servo Driver...  

Link to the sketch in GitHub: https://github.com/LittleWicketRailwa...

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(Full disclosure, as an Amazon Associate and Ebay partner I earn from qualifying purchases through these links and this helps to support the channel)

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Servo Driver Board (PCA9685):
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LEDs:
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Variable Voltage Power Supply:
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26AWG Servo Cable:
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00:00 Introduction
01:21 Step 1 - Connect LEDs to PCA9685
03:50 Step 2 - Modify and Upload Arduino Sketch
06:02 Step 3 - Create Signal in JMRI
11:11 Other Considerations