Relays Labeled

I have all of the 16 Channel Relay Modules Relays controlled by the Arduino Mega labeled so that way I can know what they are at a glance even though I also have the wires going to each on the low voltage input pins labeled too having the tops of the relays visibly marked helps things a lot too. I figure this will make the job of connecting the switch side of each 10 amp Relay up to it's corresponding device a lot easier. The funny thing is that many of the Relays I don't even have a device to hook up to them yet, but it's sure nice knowing that the initial framework is all in place and ready for very easy hook up when I do eventually have the devices to hook up to them.... and that my friends saves a boat load of work to do in the future right? ;)

A Smaller Relay Module

Some of you may recall way, WAY back when I first started my dash install I had a series of NAIS relays mounted onto a piece of Lexan plastic that I installed in the area where the old Gauge Cluster used to be. If not maybe this image might refresh your memory a little ;) One of the reasons I had done it this way was,
one: I was not sure how many Relays I was going to need,
two: I was not really sure how to go about hooking up any devices I was going to want to install which also meant not knowing how many Relays were going to be needed too. So needless to say I was a little all over the map in some areas and fairly indecisive as to what direction to go in. So I went with the idea of;
"I would rather have too many than not enough."

Eventually as this project progressed and I started developing my own Dash Software (Knight O.S.) things started to become a little more clear as to how many and what sort of Relays I would need. So I pulled the old Gauge Cluster housing out of "Mothballs" and began modifying that to house the Arduino Micro Controller and some Relay modules.

I took about 6 of the NAIS Relays and soldered them onto a piece of Proto-board along with screw terminal blocks that will serve and the low voltage inputs to trigger the magnetic coil of each Relay. I then soldered on some 18 AWG wire for the outputs on the switch side of the relays. I soldered some pretty thick tracks onto the photo-board to make sure I had more than enough to drive any current the Relays are capable of, probably went a little "over kill" but what the heck, you know me..... lol or you should by now. ;) I took the extra precaution of reinforcing the wires soldered onto the photo-board by applying a good coat of fibreglass resin on the tracks side of the board and the top side. rest assured those soldered connections are going nowhere. ;)

I then took a strip of high density foam rubber that has a sticky back side and applied that to the track side of the board. (See Left)

I then mounted the newer more compact relay module into the Gauge Cluster housing like this. (See Right) 
With that all hooked up in there nice and neat that will give me 6 more additional Relays to use if I need them. I still need to mount in the 5 pin Relay that is used for the Headlights & Running Lights, but I should be able to work that into this scenario. I'll keep you posted on what I do for that.

Arduino Mega Connections Hat

So in an effort to try and make things a little more compact and try and eliminate a lot of the "Spaghetti Wires" scenario which is a little difficult when you have so many connections like this. I'm giving this idea a shot, it's basically an offshoot idea as to what you have seen in my previous posts with the Connections Proto-Board I had been experimenting with. It's basically all that just turned into an "Arduino Hat." The "Hat" is then connected to the Arduino using Header Pins instead of all of those loose flying "Spaghetti Wires." I mean I'll still have wires but they will be coming off of the "Hat" and then going into Molex Connectors.

I had a pretty easy time soldering in all the header pins to the piece of Proto-Board I had cut the the right size to fit on top of the Arduino until I got to the last row of pins. As it turns out on my Arduino the one row of female sockets closest to the USB connector was offset by just half a hole spacing on the Proto-Board so when I got to it I thought: 
"Oh great! Now what am I going to do?"
 Luckily I came up with a solution. I used a very fine bit on my Dremel to drill tiny holes between the existing holes on the Proto-Board and then used another fine bitt to grind off the copper solder pads around the holes. I then soldered on the header pins into the newly drilled holes and uses fine wire clipping from component wires to run the solder to the "offset" holes in the next line. I used my Multi-Meter to make sure there were no shorts as it was a tricky soldering job that anyone following hopefully will NOT have to contend with. I was just unlucky enough to get an Arduino that had this slight manufacturing flaw. Either that of maybe it fits the factory made "Proto-Shield Hats" better?? I guess I'll find out when the two I ordered off eBay finally arrive ;) In any event I was able to work around it and create my own "Proto-Shield Hat" that I can solder my Optocouplers, Resistors and Jumper Wires on too.

Here is a diagram work in progress of what I am working towards with this idea.

I soldered in the Optocouplers and the 10K Resistor for the LDR Sensor. You can see here in these two photos that it was a pretty delicate job but just took some patience. lol I don't think the six cups of coffee helped much for having a steady hand so I had to brace my hand against my work bench just to keep it stable ;)

I may need to solder in a couple more Optocouplers as I may need them for screen transition requests via a Switch Pod button or some other button. I have the room on the "Hat" I'm making so a little forethought in that area might be handy ;) The Optocouplers currently on the "Hat" are for the Left & Right Turn Signal indicators in the Knight O.S. interface. 2 others are for Forward & Backwards direction indicators (Currently not set up), One is for the Manual Override Screen Request, and the other is for one of the Environment Scan Screen Requests. The Optocouplers take either a 12V Positive or Ground to trigger a 5V ground on the Arduino and are completely isolated from the 5V Arduino.

Arduino Connections Module Reworked

I reworked the Arduino Connections or Optocoupler Combo Board as I was not totally happy with how a lot of it was arranged. Chances are I'll probably rework it even more yet as my thought lately is to turn it into a "Hat" using header Pins. I have a couple of Proto-Shields on order from eBay but they will take their sweet time getting here for sure so I don't mind doing some experimenting with some Proto-Board to test out my ideas.

I reworked the schematic for my Proto-Board too just in case anyone has been following along and want to do the exact same thing. I find it handy to keep these diagrams around just so I have a record of my progress, what worked, what didn't work, what needed tweaking and just what the heck all the pin outs are for these little projects as they can get pretty complicated at times. ;)

HMC5883L Digital Compass Installed In Upper Console

I installed the HMC5883L Digital Compass into the Upper Console, I struggled long and hard for s good starting place to install this very tiny sensitive device. You are supposed to keep them away from wires and metal, lol well good luck with that as where in a car can you install something like this that it's not going to be fairly close to some sort of metal or electrical wires. I thought about somewhere in the dash but again same problem plus that area is close to the Engine Bay so I figured "Nay Nay" on that idea.
The trunk area I thought but then I'm running an excessive amount of wires for a 5V tiny device. The Upper Console seemed like a good idea as it's only got the T-Bar metal to deal with, it's somewhat centrally located, and yes there are wires but how close is "Too Close" ?? I guess when I take the Upper Console out for a test fit I'll find out won't I? If that does not work then I am at somewhat of a loss as to where a good place to install the compass would be. At least in the Upper Console I can run the 5V Power and ground off of the same one that the Temperature Sensor Module and Compass Indicator LEDs are using. Anyways, I hooked it all up to my Arduino Mega & Unity 3D setup and gave it all a bench test and it seems fine with the exception of the Compass still needing to be calibrated properly, but it all works. That Temperature Sensor I'm very impressed with, that thing works beautifully. 

Diagram For Optocoupler Combo Board

I made a diagram for the basic layout for the Optocoupler Combo board I whipped up just using some Proto-Board. In the diagram I did not include all of the Optocouplers I'm currently using as it;s likely to change and the format is simple enough to just continue the pattern to add more as needed. I have not added the Digital Compass yet either so I'll be doing another updated diagram later but this gives an idea of how simple it is to connect up some stuff like the Switch Pod button inputs for the Arduino Mega to activate screens in our Knight O.S. Dash Software interface and connect up the LDR and Temperature Sensors. You can see the Optocouplers provide complete isolation between the 12V Switch Pod buttons and the 5V ground pulse needed for the Arduino Triggers.

UPDATE:

I updated the diagram to include the connections for the HMC5883L Digital Compass.

Installing LDR Into The Upper Console

Finally getting around to doing this simple little job that was getting put off for a while until I had done a lot of the Breadboard testing with the Arduino and Unity 3D. I suppose I could have installed it but just wanted to get a lot of the preliminary testing out of the way first. Happy to say that I'm finally going to get the LDR installed.
First needed to drill s hole in the front of the Upper Console (The Part that faces towards the Windshield). File it to fit the Plexiglas enclosure I made for the LDR. Had to be a little careful with my file as the electronics are installed so a little delicate work. But I got the hole for the Sensor done and then test fitted the LDR into the freshly made hole in the front of the Upper Console. Fits great so now all I need to do is glass that into place and then connect the wires to a couple of spare ports I have available on of the Molex Connectors in the console.

I glassed in the LDR Sensor with some Bondo Glass. I'll no doubt later put a layer of fibreglass resin and maybe some matting over top of that just so it's good and strong, but that can be done later as I'm currently out of Fibreglass resin, need to do a Canadian Tire run and pick up some more so later for that for sure ;) but the Bondo Glass job looks to be pretty descent for now.

Prepping For Final

I can start working on minimizing the need for the Breadboard now especially after I make a Optocoupler board for the button inputs to the Arduino so that Switch Pod or other buttons can be assigned to trigger certain screens in our Knight O.S. interface like the Environment Scan Screens, Manual Override, or Telephone Tap Simulator Screen. These can be any momentary button which makes either the Switch Pod, Space Matt Buttons or Possibly Lower Console Or Upper Console Buttons usable for this so long as they are momentary buttons.... heck even if they are not momentary buttons I have a circuit that allows Latching Buttons to generate a short pulse to simulate the function of a momentary button. So the option either way is there.

I currently have plugged into the Breadboard a bunch of wires that are going into the Arduino ports that are coded for stuff but not actually hooked up to a Relay Module yet. I need to get a 2nd 16 Channel Relay Module and modify that one just like the one here, but for now that is kind of optional for me as most of the main functions are routed through the first Relay Module. The 2nd Relay Module would be more for all the cool extras. Although you can mix and match and assign ANY of the outputs to whatever Relay you want so for example if you don't use the Auto Doors but are going to use the S.I.D. function all you would need to do is connect up the stuff you are using, The interface would still go through the motions just without the Relay hooked up it would not actually perform the "Physical" function.... but I think you get that.

The other thing I can do now is hook up the LDR and Temperature Sensors, I think I am going to install those two up into the Upper Console as that seems a logical place. The LDR Sensor I can mount so that it is facing forwards out the front part of the Upper Console that way it will get it's light values from whatever comes through the front Windshield. The Temperature Sensor seems to make sense to me to be up in the Upper Console as that way it is away from the Heater and Air Vents which I think would cause inaccurate readings to occur, that's my thought on it anyways, but I can see that being on of the best places. The Sensor for the Compass however is a whole other animal right now so not sure about that one. Getting Closer though :D

A Better Relays Board Installed

It took me a little while to install he new relays board I made with Rectifier Bridge Diodes before each of the relays in order to cure that problem I was having with the SFX module I had put together. I had to do a fair amount of shuffling things around on my stock dash to make things fit right. (left).

You may recall from earlier posts when I was working on my Voice Projection Unit that I had the on/off button hooked up to a Step Relay that was located about where my new relays board is now. What I ended up doing was moving the Step Relay to the same location as the on/off button for the V.P. Unit and mounting it behind the panel that the button is mounted too (right). I also made up a small Rectifier Diode Bridge module with terminal blocks that I could easily wire up to between the on/off button to the Step Relay and mounting that in behind the panel as well. I like it a lot better now because when you press the V.P. button the loud click from the Step Relay is right behind where the switch is located and not on the other side of the dash like before, so in many way it makes more sense this way.

A Better Relay board

This is a much nicer relays board than my last one which was more for experimentation more than anything just to see if certain things were going to work the way I wanted them too. This new one I put together is better laid out, has more relays on the board and more terminals for the DTMF request from the Voice Box. The board is a little shorter than my old one width wise but a little higher height wise but given that it better made and has more on it I'll be able to work that under the passenger side of the dash a lot easier than my last set up. This new board also has Rectifier Diode Bridges built in before each relay so this will eliminate the problem I was having with switches that activated relays interrupting my SFX module when the relays were switched off. I'm a little fuzzy on how that works exactly but it works and it cured the problem so that is what counts. ;)

SFX Module Installation

I have a few of the SFX wired up in the car like the Turboboost sound, K.I.T.T.s introduction and the two Knight Rider themes (Narrated and Un-Narrated). The Turboboost SFX is connected to my switch pods Turboboost button and the other two or I should say 3 SFX are connected to my Space Matt buttons. The two Knight Rider themes are on the same SFX pin on the Adafruit board so they are hooked up to one button.

After hooking up those few SFX out in the car and giving it a test I did notice something unusual that happens, the SFX all play fine when the buttons are pressed but while the SFX is playing if you hit another button the SFX stops or seems to reset, which is odd considering I have not yet connected up the reset pin wire. I have a hunch that I may need to add in some rectifier diodes into my wiring scheme and see if that cures the issue. I think my SFX module might be getting some kind of signal backwash from the other buttons so I'm hoping that the diodes should correct that. I'll do some experimenting today and see. lol it's funny how things work awesome on the bench until you actually install it into the car along with all the other electronics and then discover annoying little issues like this ;)

Adafruit SFX Mini Flash Sound Board with TDA2030A Amplifier Module

I have put together the Adafruit Mini Flash SFX Sound Board along with the TDA2030A Amplifier module onto a piece of Protoboard. Took me a little while to solder out the pins and Speaker connection screw terminal block so I could solder the pins onto the back of the board and add some more pins for where the speaker connections go. I relocated the original screw terminal block from the Amplifier board to just the right of the module on the Protoboard and then connected the two with some jumper wires.

Right now I am powering the Adafruit SFX board with a USB cable but I have some LM7805 power regulators on order so I can just wire in 12V and split a portion of that off to power the Adafruit board with the 5V output from the LN7805.

I also started to make my Optocoupler board for the Sound Effects that will be generated from the Space Matt buttons. Some of the sound effects will be generated from the Switch Pods and I will not need the DTMF request wire that I have worked into this board as the Switch Pods already send a DTMF tone request. But I figure just incase I ever re-purpose these little boards for something different in the future it might be a good idea to have the ability already on the little boards. Here is a diagram of how I have the Optocoupler board wired (above left). Some other buttons I may need to get a little tricky with using that 555 timer board to request the Monitor Activation Sound when I turn on the lower console buttons for either the GPS or LCD screen as they are latching buttons and the Adafruit SFX board just needs momentary connections to activate any of the sounds on the pins.

The Birth of a PCB

In many ways I am leaning to both appreciate and hate Proto-Board. I can see where it has it's uses but it sure is kind of hard to work with for a newbie like me on more complex circuits, lol and this is hardly what most would probably call a complex circuit. ;) This kind of thing always looks better on a nice printed PCB board and it makes putting the components onto the board a lot easier too, I realized this when I made the simple two LED flasher circuit that came in the electronics starter kit I bought on eBay as it had a simple small printed PCB board and soldering in the parts following along with the instructions was child's play compared to this ugly mess you see here (above left).

One has to admit that the printed PCB boards are so much nicer, cleaner and professional looking, even knowing where to solder your components onto the board is much easier to determine with all the tracks on the board clearly traced onto the board.

I have to give very special thanks Andrea lannaccone one of my Knight Rider friends on Face Book for doing this very awesome printed PCB for me. Andrea walked me through the simple process of how he creates these very nice printed PCB's.

The drawing of the circuit diagram can be done in applications like EAGLE, (left). Once you have your circuit figured out you then print your design onto a transparency.

Andrea shows the transparency here (left) with the 555 timer I.C. just dropped into it's correct orientation just to check for accuracy in the circuit design. Sometimes two transparencies may be required if there are any areas that may not be completely solid black or may have holes where the printer miss printed, can happen with transparent film from what I understand.

Next the transparency is placed over top of the Copper coated PCB board, some people use a picture frame with glass to hold the film firmly against the PCB. Andrea uses a product called "Presensibilzed" which is a PCB board with a special Photo resist ink printed over top of the copper coating on the PCB. The transparency will mask the areas of the board that are to be kept.

The PCB is them blasted with Black Light in a dark room for a certain amount of time. 
Next you have to wash off the excess Photoresist with a solution of water and Caustic Soda.
 The next stage is the Etching Bath which will remove all of the areas affected by the Black Light (lower left).

What comes out of the etching solution after all the unwanted Copper has been etched away is your final beautifully printed PCB board (lower right). From this point all that is needed to be done is drill in your holes with a fine drill bit for your components, solder them carefully into place and then you are done, out side of giving it a test run ;)

Knight Rider Door Lock LEDs Module Test

I finished putting together the Door Lock LED Modules for my K.I.T.T. Here you can see a test of the Locked (top right) and unlocked (top left) sequences. Now I just need to put together the control board. Right now I only have one Piezo Buzzer and one 555 timer I.C. chip, I have more on order so I'll be able to do the 2nd control board. I also need to study the doors I took off of the parts car to see if I can determine the best way to install these and hook them up to my door locks. I think my door locks are currently manual locks so I'm not sure how to go about changing them to power door locks and how this will work with those, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there. ;)

How To Cook LEDs

This is what happens when you are not paying attention to what you are doing lol, I should not laugh really but this kinda thing can happen if you are not careful. Now I should point out that this was more for experimentation rather than actual use. The LEDs I want to use for my Door Lock LEDs are the smaller 3mm ones. This was more to have a little practice at working with Proto-Board and soldering of parts onto the boards. Well what happened was that I soldered everything onto the board alright but when I attached my wires I attached them to the wrong sides of the 1K Resistors, the side I soldered them onto was already attached to my LEDs Positive and one side of the 1K Resistors leaving the other side un connected which is where my wires should have been soldered too. A common mistake for newbies such as myself I am sure.

lol Remember when I said I would share my failures? Well here you go ;) I'm thankful that parts are cheap and it was nothing major just a little experimentation module for the Door LEDs mock up to play with on the bread board. ;)

Bread Board Experiments

Yesterday I was experimenting around a little with the Darlington Driver 50V / 500mA Transistor array chip model number ULN2803A. I wired up a simple circuit on my Bread Board with 2 mini Songle 12V 10 Amp relays, some resistors, micro tactile buttons, wires, a single red LED and the project 2 LED flasher circuit that came with the starter kit I got.

Now this is really simple setup using the Darlington Transistor

array chip in that my micro buttons (in this case) are switching on a stepped down 9V current through the resistors to simulate a low current input to the Darlington array chip. This is ideal since I intend on using an Arduino to control input signals to the chip, and Aduino uses a low 5V output, same as a USB device. On the other side (Outputs) of the Darlington array chip I have the necessary voltage needed to trigger the magnetic coils of the mini Songle 12V Relays and as you no doubt already know that on the switch side of the relay I can have anything I want to activate up to 10 Amps, which is a lot of current. I can use higher rated Relays if I need to power anything that requires more than 10 Amps.

So in the experiment yesterday I have it so when you press once of the micro buttons the single red LED turns on through the switch of one relay and when you press the other button the small 2 LED flasher circuit turns on through the switch of the other relay. Now keeping in mind that for a low power input of 5V (USB) I would not need the resistors in front of the input pins on the Darlington array chip, this makes for a very small space saving potential PCB board to control stuff from my dash software I have been developing in Unity 3D. I'm planing on using the Arduino because so far it's what I have found that communicates well with Unity 3D both as a means of controlling from the Arduino and sending information too the Arduino.