industrial controls are fun to utilize in a develop since they’re just so — well, industrial. They’re chunky as well as developed to take a beating, both from the operating atmosphere as well as the users. They’re frequently power guzzlers, though, so understanding exactly how to convert an industrial sign for microcontroller utilize may be a handy skill to have.

Having decided that an Allen-Bradley cluster sign dealt with the aesthetic of his project, a Halloween prop of some sort, [Glen] set about dissecting the controls. industrial signs usually make that a simple task to ensure that they can be configured for different voltages in the field, as well as it turned out that the simplest approach to replacing the power-hungry incandescent bulbs with LEDs was to develop a small PCB to in shape inside the four-color lens.

The uniquely shaped board ended up being as well little for even series resistors for the LEDs, so a separate driver board was likewise fabbed. The driver board is set as much as enable a single 5-volt supply as well as logic levels of 3.3-volt or 5-volt, making the sign compatible with just about anything. The completed product lends a suitably sinister look to the prop.

If you’re not familiar with the programmable logic controllers such an sign would be utilized with in the field, then perhaps you should try running Pong on a PLC for a bit background.