Cheapie Systems

TrafficNeXt 2 Traffic Light Control System

Version 2.6.1

Installation and Operation Manual

Introduction

You Will Need

• A 3-way or 4-way road intersection
• Traffic lights
• An LCD
• 5 digilines buttons
• A TrafficNeXt SoC Slave unit or digilines player detector (one for each minor street approach)
• A blank Luacontroller
• Digilines distributors (one for each pole)
• Digilines, digimese, and streetsmod poles
• (Optional) Additional digilines buttons, distributors, poles, and lights for pedestrian crossings

Installation

First, build a 3x3 panel of digimese. Place the 5 digilines buttons on this panel in a + shape. Set all of them to the "button" channel. As for messages, the left one should send the message "left", the top one "up", the right one "right", the bottom one "down", and the center one "enter". These are also the functions of the buttons, and you may place a sign reminding yourself of this if desired.

Next, connect an LCD. It can be placed on the digimese panel (recommended), or off to the side connected via digilines or poles. It must be set to channel "lcd".

Now, it's time to focus on the road. In each location where a pole is desired, dig to 2 meters below road level. In the hole, place a digilines distributor, then any node (such as concrete or steel block) on top. Connect the distributors together with digilines, then build the poles however desired on top.

On each pole, place traffic lights as desired. Lights facing the major street should be on channel "main", and those on the side street on channel "side". If you would like to use permissive left turn signaling (protected is not supported), those should be on channel "mainlt" for the major street and "sidelt" on the minor street.

At this point, either place a digilines player detector under each minor street approach anywhere from 1-10m (4m recommended) behind the stop line and set the channel to "detector" and the radius to the distance to the stop line, or place a TrafficNeXt SoC slave unit approximately 6 meters from the stop line.

If crosswalk(s) are desired, place digilines buttons and traffic lights on poles in appropriate locations for the crosswalk(s). The crosswalk(s) crossing the major street (if present) is considered the "main" crosswalk, and should have the lights on channel "mainped" and the buttons should have channel "pedbutton" and message "main". Any crosswalks crossing the minor streets are "side" crosswalks and should have lights on channel "sideped" and buttons on channel "pedbutton" and message "main".

Finally, connect the distributors, slave units, digimese panel, and a Luacontroller together with digilines, and program the Luacontroller. There will be a brief delay while internal data is set up, and then text should appear on the LCD.

Configuration

Upon first programming the Luacontroller or entering the menu, the following will be displayed:

Priv Lvl: U
Exit Menu

"Priv Lvl" is the current privilege level that you are logged in at. "U" (User) is the lower level, and can exit the menu and view version information. "A" (Admin) is the higher level, and can edit parameters, including changing the password.

The next line or two of text ("Exit Menu" in this example) is the currently selected item. In this case, pressing Enter would exit the menu system. The left and right buttons change which item is selected, and for items with editable values, the up and down buttons change the value. In that case, the current value is also shown below the item name.

The items are as follows:

• "Exit Menu" - Press Enter to exit the menu
• "Enter Passcode" - Input the correct passcode (default 0) and press Enter to switch to privilege level A. An incorrect passcode will result in exiting the menu.
• "About:" - Displays version and author information for the software. Press up or down to see additional information.

• "Log Out" - Press Enter to switch to privilege level U.
• "All Red A Time" - Sets the length of time (in approximate seconds) between sending the main RED signal and the side GREEN signal.
• "All Red B Time" - Sets the length of time (in approximate seconds) between sending the side RED signal and the main GREEN signal.
• "Side Green Time" - Sets the length of time (in approximate seconds) between sending the side GREEN signal and the side RED signal.
• "Extra Green Per Car" - If digiline detectors are used, this many seconds are added to the side green time for each player that is within range of the detector when the cycle starts. This has no effect if the older TrafficNeXt SoC slave units are used instead.
• "Main Crosswalk Present" - Enable this if there are any crosswalks crossing the main street.
• "Main LPI Length" - If a main crosswalk is present, this controls how long pedestrians are given to cross before cars on the side street are allowed to move. This can often help pedestrians get ahead of turning vehicles. A setting of 0 disables this function.
• "Side Crosswalk Present" - Enable this if there are any crosswalks crossing the side street.
• "Side Cross Time" - Sets how long pedestrians are given to cross the side street.
• "Auto Ped" - If this is enabled (requires a crosswalk on the main street), pedestrians are given a walk interval every time the light changes to the side street, whether a button was pressed or not.
• "Ped Warn Time" - Sets the length of time between sending "WARN" and "RED" to the pedestrian signals.
• "Perm Left Turn" - If emabled, sends signals to channels "mainlt" and "sidelt" for NRCC-style permissive left turn signaling.
• "Minimum Main Green Time" - Sets the length of time (in approximate seconds) that cars will be ignored and pedestrians will be queued after sending the main GREEN signal or ending a side pedestrian crossing interval.
• "Set Passcode" - Sets the passcode used to access privilege level A.
• "Phase Lock Mode" - "Normal" causes the traffic lights to run normally, and the other choices lock them to a certain state.
• "Menu Timeout" - After this length of time (in seconds) with no buttons pressed, the menu will automatically exit.
• "FLASHRED Command Supported" - Indicates whether the FLASHRED command should be used. Enabling this unlocks additional phase lock modes and menu mode flash types.
• "Menu Mode Flash Type" - If the FLASHRED command is enabled, this can be used to select whether the lights will flash red or yellow while in the menu. If it is not, this will display "Requires FLASHRED".
• "View Log" - Shows the event log. Entries start at 1 (most recent) and count upwards. Higher numbers are older entries. Use up/down to navigate through them. If you are using a recent enough version of mesecons, a timestamp (in MM/DD HH:MM format) will be shown as well. If the log is empty, "Log Empty" will be displayed instead. The types of events are as follows:
  • "Firmware Loaded" - The Luacontroller was programmed. If this was unexpected, the code may have been tampered with.
  • "Defaults Loaded" - The settings were reset to the defaults.
  • "Entered Menu" - The menu was entered.
  • "Exited Menu" - The menu was exited by selecting "Exit Menu".
  • "Inactivity Timeout" - The menu was exited because no buttons were pressed for too long.
  • "Failed Login" - An incorrect passcode was supplied."
  • "Successful Login" - The correct passcode was supplied, and privilege level A was entered.
  • "Logged Out" - Privilege level A was exited by choosing "Log Out".
  • "Log Overflowed" - The log was automatically cleared because there were more than 100 entries.
• "Clear Log" - Removes all entries from the log.
• "Runtime Diagnostic Display" - If enabled, information about the current state is displayed while the controller is in run mode. If not, if will only show the version and whether it is busy or not.
• "Press Enter to reset ALL settings to defaults" - Exactly what it says. Pressing enter at this screen will reset all settings (including the passcode) to the defaults. This also clears the log and then logs a "Defaults Loaded" event.

Operation

While not in the menu, a screen similar to one of the following will be displayed.

Diagnostic Mode Off:

TrafficNeXt
2.6.1
Ready
Press Up to
Enter Menu

The first two lines are the firmware version, the third is either "Busy" if the controller is sending the timed signals or "Ready" if it is not, and the final two lines, when present, indicate that the menu may be entered at this time by pressing the up button.

Diagnostic Mode On:

Idle
M:G S:R
MT:FY ST:R
MP:R SP:R
D:U Q:

The first line indicates whether the controller is running (sending the timed sequence of signals), idle (paused waiting for a vehicle or pedestrian to be detected), or in phase lock mode. If it is running, this will also show if it is servicing a car, pedestrian (side crosswalk), or both (car and main crosswalk pedestrian). The menu may be entered while this is "Idle" by pressing the up button.

The second, third, and fourth lines show the last signals sent to each channel of lights. These should be roughly similar to the actual state of the lights. M = main, S = side, MT = main left turn, ST = side left turn, MP = main pedestrian, SP = side pedestrian, O = off, R = red, G = green, FY = flash yellow, FR = flash red

NOTE: The "MP:" entry on the fourth line will only appear if "Main Crosswalk Present" is set to "Yes", and the "SP:" entry will only appear if "Side Crosswalk Present" is set to "Yes". Similarly, the third line will be blank if protected left turn is disabled.

The fourth line shows whether the controller is listening for events from the detector ("D:U") or not ("D:L"), or if the detector is disabled due to being in phase lock mode ("D:X"). It also shows a "Q:" followed by the pedestrian queue status - nothing if no entries, "M" for main crosswalk, "S" for side crosswalk, or "MS" for both. In phase lock mode, the pedestrian queue will show "Q:NA".

Aside from the up button, pedestrian buttons, and vehicle detector (when allowed), no controls are available in this mode.

Written by cheapie. Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved. This file is offered as-is, without any warranty.