DANGER: This project deals with mains voltages which, among other things, can KILL you DEAD. If you choose to replicate any portion of this project I am in no way responsible for any adverse consistences that may result.
So, I have this vapor tight light fixture that I’ve been wanting to make blink on and off, like a radio or cell phone tower signal light but was having a hard time coming up with a practical way to do it.
The main problem is that the light fixture runs off of 120 volts and I was not finding a practical cheep a way to control a mains voltage light. Sure I could use a DMX controller but that’s expensive and overkill. I found light socket flasher buttons (insert the “button” between the bulb and the socket and heat change makes the light blink) but those are old school, hard to find, wear out over time, and the flash rate is not customizable.
Of course I thought about using a microcontroller like my Arduino to control the light, but interfacing mains voltage devices with low voltage microcontrollers seems to be something a lot of people steer away from (the Arduino forums seem to be particularly against it). So, I was having difficulty finding circuit designs that would put me on the right path.
I finally came across this blog post which had a low voltage switching mains circuit; exactly what I was looking for.
Continue reading “Blinking Signal Light”

