A sneak peek at my next project……

[ph2t]

Pretty!

No need for an extra battery, these LED’s will run off the same power as the car.:shock:

ph2t.

[micro_Amps]

ph2t, how much current are you using to run these?
are they smd’s or standards?

[PandaBear]

They look like SMDs by their size…

C’mon uA, you gotta go one better… how about one
that “glows” between nothing and fullbright…
like an iMac LED? 🙂

[ph2t]

They are SMD’s, rated at 40mCd @ 20mA. They come in a pack of ten from Jaycar. I’m using the 1.2V -> 3V converter IC from one of my clone pcb’s to be able to drive these LED’s. With the newer 150mAh+ batts out there power drainage *shouldn’t* be a problem.

ph2t.

[SurfmyStrat]

looks awesome, is there gonna be a switch or is it when you drive forward they go on, or something else?

[ph2t]

No switch, it will run off the main supply. Hopefully there will be some electronics to control the lights when going fwd, rev, left, right, etc…..

[Impreza]

Quote:

smd’s or standards?

Sorry can someone explain the diff?

[ph2t]

SMD = Surface Mount Device, this is a really small version of the same thing. All of the electronics in the receiver of the Bit Char-g are SMD bar a few devices. SMD means you don’t need to drill holes through the board to solder on the other side, hence the phrase “surface mount”.

🙂

ph2t.

[Impreza]

Thanks for clearing that up ph2t:)

[barto_85]

they look really good ph2t. love black cars.

[micro_Amps]

Quote:

C’mon uA, you gotta go one better…

hehehe, Panda you are a stirrer. I do have another mod thread waiting in the wings tho. It will probably be posted tomorrow.

Quote:

Hopefully there will be some electronics to control the lights when going fwd, rev, left, right, etc…..

Ph2t, do you know that the booster Tx/Rx combo have a function that is not used. Just solder in a NPN transistor, a 100ohm resistor (both smd)and bobs your uncle, lights you can turn on and off. Oh and you need to put a switch or pushbutton on the Tx too.
Have a look here, the Germans really do have this stuff sussed.
1 extra Tx channel
:)uA

Edited by – micro_Amps on 22 May 2003 18:22:40

[ph2t]

Wow, didn’t know about that one. I was gonna hook it into the H-bridge on the motor circuit and drive the on/off functions from there.

Micro, what’s the pin layout of the bipolar trannies on the RX pcb? Is it just C-B-E with the Base being on the single side and the other two C & E pins on the other side?

ph2t.

[micro_Amps]

Not sure, they are the same as the smd transistors that are used in the H bridge, B9Ds I think, or you can use lm2502 fets too.
I will find some more info on this and I’ll post it.
:)uA

[ph2t]

I’m gonna rip ’em out of the H-bridge of one of my clone pcb’s and go from there.

*ph2t get’s ready to burn plastic*

lol.

[micro_Amps]

Ph2t, I cant find data sheets for the transistors on the net, but….
if you want to use H-bridge parts, use one of the NPN transistors Q4 or Q5 (or use steering transistors Q2 or Q3) the other ones are PNP and no good for this mod.
Q4 & 5 are the ones nearest the V+ terminal on the Rx pcb.
Upon looking a bit further it seems the pin designation is not simply C-B-E on the smd bipolars.
Orientated so that the single pin is on top, the base is bottom left, collector is bottom right, and emitter is top middle. Not 100% sure tho.
:)uA

[ph2t]

Thanks man. I brought a pcb into work (’cause I’m that sad, lol.) and will look at it today….I’ve got a LED flasher circuit that only needs two trannies and a few resistors and one cap. I need a pnp and a npn for this circuit so it should be OK. This circuit will drive the indicator lights….

[ph2t]

Well I started pulling apart one of my clone PCB’s to use the SMT stuff on there, including some transistors and some resistors. I had some other old Hard Disk circuit boards lying around so I ripped some SMT capacitors off them as well as some more resistors….

With all that farting around I made this…..

There’s a bit there, you can see two great big caps at the front, then a couple of black rectangular transistors (ripped from the steering circuit on the RX pcb) and so on…. The two white clearlike things are the LED’s.

Here’s a side on picture to help go with the explanation….

As you can see it is built on ordinary vero board, nuthin’ fancy…

It’s small too. I want the circuitry to be able to fit in the roof of the car’s shell. I’ve got a bit more to cram in though including on/off control for headlights, control for left/right indicators, rear brake lights, etc, etc…

Shown next to a Bensu clone pcb for size comparison.

This is just the flasher circuit, when final it won’t alternate the flashing of the indicators since only one indicator will be on for the turn you make, a bit to go yet.

Here’s a video of said work…..

DivX 5.02 AVI 600KB

ph2t.

Edited by – ph2t on 24 May 2003 10:36:39

[barto_85]

wow, looks and sounds good, its half the size of that clone board. well done.

[ph2t]

Thanks, once I gat all the elctonics in order I’ll start fitting it to the shell. Should be pretty funky once it’s finished. :p

[ph2t]

Finally i got working blinkers!!!! I ain’t got video yet but I will soon and you will all see them working.

For micro, jamie, GT and other likeminded electronics freaks this is the circuit I designed for it.

The left side is your basic LED flasher circuit. I’ve added a couple of transistors to be able to select which LED flashes based on the signal coming from the RX pcb.

ph2t.

[barto_85]

damn, that didn’t take long. Well done, cant wait to see videos or pics.

[ph2t]

Soon barto, soon…..

Here’s a pic of just a normal pair of headlights I’m doing on my lxx booster. Again I’m using my own 3V step up supply seperate from the PCB’s one. Runtime isn’t seriously affected. As you can see the LED pcb sits nice ‘n compact on top of the RX pcb.

ph2t.

[SurfmyStrat]

nice progress ph2t, how strong is the light putout???:D

[ph2t]

Not that much mate, but this is more a limitaion of the LEDs. I’m getting some brighter blue and white ones as we speak. 😉

ph2t.

[FreeLoader101]

lmao.. i didnt understand ne thing in this topid till i seen those 2 pics.. then im like “hey! i get that.. neeto..”

meh.

[ph2t]

Check out the video posted in this thread earlier, purrrrdy!

[ph2t]

Well, I storta killed the LED flasher board that I had posted earlier in this thread so I went ahead and made a new one. I finally got off my but and completed the indicator lights.

Here’s a pic of the final prototype: Can you spot the LED’s?

FRONT

REAR

Here’s all the crap I managed to stick under the RX-7 case…… A fair bit goes in there.

Basically the extra pcb I put in connects to V+ & V- of the RX pcb along with the BASE side of the Left and Right steering transistors.

Video reel soon……

[barto_85]

damn ph2t, looks good, can’t wait to see it.

[ph2t]

Here’s some video.

On the test bench

Night running 1

Night running 2

The LEDS aren’t as bright as I’d like them to be, but I can fix that with some more development later.

Well stage 1 done, now for stages 2 and 3!!!!!!!!!!!

ph2t.

[SurfmyStrat]

ph2t, i dont know if its just me but i cant play the night 2 video

[ph2t]

Hmmmmm, that’s strange surfy. They are all encoded the same. Have you had any problems with the other two vids as well? They are all in DivX format.

Cheers,

ph2t.

[SurfmyStrat]

i have divx, it might be a bit outdated though… ohh well, ill go download the new divx i guess, mines about 2 years old.. its version 0.6.6

[ph2t]

Been putting the long weekend to good use……NOT! lol….

Here’s the break lights:

Just prototypes at the moment. Once I get the brightness levels right I will SMD them onto a nice little piece of veroboard….

For really small red smd leds they pretty darn bright.

more to come……

:smiley16:

ph2t.

[Impreza]

ph2t been meaning to ask you about the smd leds. How hard to come by are they? Would they be easy to find at local shops or are they an internet order???

[ph2t]

I got mine from http://www.rs-components.com but they also stock them in your local electronics shop. Some of these shops won’t have a great range hence why I went online with my purchase.

So generally they are not hard to come by, try your local Radio Shack, they are called Tandy here in Aus.

Cheers,

ph2t.

[Impreza]

Thx ph2t, will look into it at the local Shack first, then try on line if they don’t have them.

[ph2t]

Prez, just look for LED’s that have high “mcd” values, this will give a good indication of their brightness. Normal LED’s are about 20-50mcd, brighter ones are 100+ mcd. You can get 5000mcd ones just don’t turn ’em on! lol…..

ph2t.

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