Prostheta Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 ORIGINAL THREAD To bring you up to speed....i've decided against modifying the existing spoiler because adding new LED mountings would be a complete nightmare, and impractical as a project to say the least. Instead, i've gone and bought a replacement RS spoiler from ESP Design with brake lighting built into the unit already. The idea was to create a brake light which animated when activated, and faded when deactivated. The idea has changed slightly....why not have a constantly animated light strip?! The two animation ideas are: "Star Trek style" "KITT style" I'm open to feedback on both ideas, but I think I might go for KITT style because the logic circuitry will be way easier to build ;-) The hardware in the ESP Design spoiler looks like this: As you can see, the ESP spoiler comes with a moulded recess into which the light unit fits and is secured by screws from underneath. A wiring channel runs from the light recess through to the middle spoiler mounting leg. The light unit itself consists of a red transparent plastic lens with ten holes corresponding to ten 12v/5w 10mm white bulbs. The bulbs sockets are mounted to a simple PCB with the electrical connections being common parallel positive/negative (makes more sense than otherwise...heh). The PCB has two leadouts which are designed to connect to the positive/negative lines on your existing brake lighting. First modification to be made to the lighting unit, is to replace all of the 12v bulbs with 10x 10mm super brightness LEDs (N47AT). The printed circuit board will need modifying to allow for ten flyout leads, plus ten board-mounted series resistors so the LEDs don't burn out when lit ;-) R = (VS - VL) / IR = (12v - 2.5v) / 0.030AR = 316 ohms I'll settle for 390 ohms (0.6W metal film, Maplin order code M390R) which works out to give a current through the LED of about 24.4mA - well within the LEDs maximum forward current of 30mA.... Each LED will have a 390 ohm resistor soldered directly to it's anode leg as shown, and mounted straight to the PCB. This should require the least modification to the PCB tracks.... Hopefully I should have the PCB ready by mid-March as i've got to order the parts, but before I can do that I need to decide on the LED pattern and design the timing/logic circuitry.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sortedford Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 the kitt one looks miles better imo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike C Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 the kitt one looks miles better imo <{POST_SNAPBACK}> agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 25, 2005 Author Share Posted February 25, 2005 Thats what I thought. I'll abuse company time today and design the logic circuit and timer instead of working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rude_aero Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 you know there is led that are to fit straight on to the fitment of the old bulbs that way you dont have to put to much work on it i fitted these led in my parkinglights today and i was eay and came out really cool anyway thats was just a thought cool idea by the way !!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 you know there is led that are to fit straight on to the fitment of the old bulbs that way you dont have to put to much work on it i fitted these led in my parkinglights today and i was eay and came out really cool anyway thats was just a thought cool idea by the way !!!!!!!!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Awesome. I've got to consider the existing fit though - a bare hyperbright LED with soldered-on series resistor will work everytime. What kind of cost are these LEDs? Any links? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geordie_aaron Posted February 26, 2005 Share Posted February 26, 2005 gona look cock on m8!!!!! hope all cums thru for ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 26, 2005 Author Share Posted February 26, 2005 Shouldn't be difficult. Just going to have to design a circular series of shift registers with a power-on reset. Easy to mount the controller circuitry in the boot cavity near the lock or wiper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted February 27, 2005 Share Posted February 27, 2005 ...........NO!! You'll end up on 'Barry Boys' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted February 27, 2005 Author Share Posted February 27, 2005 "You fucked up your car"?Doubt it....it's a diesel and you don't start out more fucked than that mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 26, 2005 Author Share Posted March 26, 2005 UPDATE!!I've abused plenty of company time to design the logic circuit for the light, now I just need to design a simple driver array for the lighting as CMOS logic ICs haven't got the balls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cargy Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 I'm well out of touch with this stuff as I haven't done any since I was a kid. Maplins can supply the LEDs by mail order. I'm sure you'll find what you need in their Opto section. Maplin website I did something similar years ago on my (Don't laugh ) FS1E! Can't remember how exactly, but used a CMOS counter chip (May have been a 4011 or something), and the LEDs arranged in pairs as per your first idea. but it only had single pairs moving outwards. Back in those days the LEDs weren't that bright, and it eventually got water damaged and binned But I had immense pleasure when people used to ask about it. I'll be following this with great interest buddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 27, 2005 Author Share Posted March 27, 2005 (edited) Cheers Cargy :-)I've already got a shopping basket of gear ready to order from Maplin, but what with our wage packets being stripped close the last two months we're putting this on hold for a little while, giving me plenty of time to refine and add extra features to the design. I want the unit to operate as a full-time brake light, but with the option of a chasing cruise light. Sounds like it's time to pull out some OR gates and NPN trannies to drive the LEDs. As you can see, i've added a board mounted preset to vary the speed of the circuit. I'll be heat-shrinking the LEDs and mastic-sealing the light unit shut once it's been tested and is working, so no worries on that count. FS1E?!! Ning-ne-ning-ning-ning-BROP-BROP-BROP-BROOOOP!!! Edited March 27, 2005 by Prostheta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cargy Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 ....As you can see, i've added a board mounted preset to vary the speed of the circuit. I'll be heat-shrinking the LEDs and mastic-sealing the light unit shut once it's been tested and is working, so no worries on that count. FS1E?!! Ning-ne-ning-ning-ning-BROP-BROP-BROP-BROOOOP!!!<{POST_SNAPBACK}> They obviously heard one of those when they concieved the F1/frog thingy Yeah, saw that and nearly fell over when I saw that the 555 timers were still around in this day and age too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefkeckers Posted March 27, 2005 Share Posted March 27, 2005 ive heard about this Barry Boys stuff. What the hell is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now