My 2 year old son’s room is done in a train theme. I build a cross buck for one wall complete with 12V lights. The problem is I want to make them flash in a wig-wag pattern. I went to my trusty local Radio Shack, but they said they had no circuit to do this, though they had the components to build one myself. This sounded fun to me, but my understanting of electronic circuitry is extremely limited. Anyone have a schematic or the knowledge to walk me through this operation? Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
Ron
I’m not sure exactly what you’re looking for. A wig-wag was a type of warning device for railroad crossings. See the info and pictures at:
http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/WIG_WAG_PAGE1c.htm
An HO scale model was written up by Woody Langely in Model Railroader, April 1992, page 82. It’s a very good article, as I remember. This, and many other articles are referenced in the index to magazine articles on Trains.com, using the search term “wig wag” If this is what you’re after, just find a few of these many articles.
If what you want is a circuit to alternately flash a set of two warning lights, then the circuits at:
http://www.awrr.com/awrrhome.html
may do the trick.
-Ed
“Wig-wag” usually refers to the motion of the lighted signal on the top of a crossing signal. Seems like you’re looking for a circuit to make two red lights flash alternately. Looking for this might be easier that looking for “wig-wag”.
Bob Boudreau
well just in case you want to flash the crossbuck
check this link out on the bottom of the page it has a high volt setup
http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/Flashers.html
hope it helps
Ken
I know “wig-wag” is used for swinging signals–the original use of the term as I understand it–but it is also used by police, fire departments, funeral homes, etc. to describe the alternately flasing lights on their cars and thus describes the alternately flasing lights of a crossing signal as well.
Thanks all for your input. I’ll see if I can’t piece something together here.
Ron
http://www.galls.com/style.html?assort=general_catalog&style=FS039&cat=2707
This is exactly what you want. It works on 12 V Just connect to lights and away you WIG
Yes! That’s it exactly! Thanks, Con, for your help.
Ron
Just go to your nearest auto parts store ( NAPA ) and ask for a three pronge alternating flasher. One prong for power and the other two connect to individual lights. Thatnthe cheap and easy way to do it.
John