This to Fit This

This is a job I am not particularly looking forward to as there are a lot of wires to redo and reroute in order to make room for the blue plastic Gauge Cluster housing I modified to fit the Arduino Mega Enclosure, 16 Channel Relay Module and additional NAIS Relays Module.

Way back when I first started this project I was really not sure how many Relays I was going to need or really any sort of direction as to how to go about hooking them up. Now I have a lot more experience with this stuff and a lot more of a structured direction to go in. Like I say it's not a job I am looking forward too but the upshot will be that when I am done the install will be a lot cleaner and easier to manage. It's going to be a real wiring "Knightmare" though. ;)

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 Module

Lots of soldering wires today for the Arduino Module to control the 16 Channel Relay Module. There are lots of connection still to have wires soldered to when I get another Relay Module. As it is it's pretty crowded with wires and I have that project box pretty stuffed, but neatly stuffed. I'll take to top off in a later post and show how it's all put together. Depending on how much stuff you want our Knight O.S. software to run will really determine how stuffed your project box will be. My guess is that if you wanted every device hooked up you would need a bigger project box to make room for all of the wires as they take up a good deal of space.

As you can see I have my wires for each of the Arduino pins that they are connected too so I can track which one goes to which of the Relays on the 16 Channel Relay Module. If all goes according to plan I may very well be able to install this Arduino Module and the 16 Channel Relay Module into the blue plastic Gauge Cluster housing that I spent the better part of this morning cutting out all of the "greeble" to make usable space inside of the old Gauge Cluster housing. That was a time consuming and messy job that involved lots of cutting with my Dremel Tool.

Here is a shot of the old Gauge Cluster housing all cleared out to make space for the Arduino & Relay Module. I should be able to mount those other Relays I have installed under the dash into this thing too and it should make my install a lot cleaner of a job. ;)

Here is a shot of the Arduino Mega with the Connections "Hat" I made with the wire connections soldered on for the 16 Channel Relay Module, LDR Sensor, Temperature Sensor and Compass Module & Compass LEDs. As you can see if one wanted to hook up all of the other pins you would probably need to make some holes in the sides of the Project Box or use a bigger Project Box to contain it all. But even a bigger Project Box will still fit quite nicely into the blue plastic Gauge Cluster Housing area.