5 Inch LCD Touch Screens Installed Into Frames

I have installed the 5 inch touch screens into the monitor frames I got from Knight Rider World. I think because my 5 Inch screens were a little different than the ones that KRW uses I had to make a few modifications on how I attached all of the electronics to the back part of the frames. It took me the better part of this morning to figure out a good way to secure the boards to the back of the frames. I didn't have any circuit board spacers on hand so I used some plastic rigid tubing I had that I cut into short lengths and slipped over top of my long bolts that I used to secure the circuit boards to the back plate of the monitor frames. They seem to be pretty solid so unless they break I think they should be OK for now.

After I finished I soldered up the female end of the power connectors and then with fingers crossed I plugged them into my 12 Volt power supply pack. They started up OK so that is good, no shorts in the wiring. Hopefully I have enough separation between the circuit boards to allow for good air flow. I'm not sure how warm the boards will get if the monitors are on for any great deal of time, that is something to test out of the car for sure is a good endurance test of the monitor's electronics. I think they should be OK though. Next will be to test them out with the Knight O.S.

Installing the P.I.R. Sensors Into K.I.T.T's Front Nose

I installed the two P.I.R. Motion Sensors into K.I.T.T's front nose by mounting them onto the Fog Lights assembly. I made a couple of "L" shaped brackets for the P.I.R. sensors that I have installed into small project boxes. Each of the Fresnel Lens Domes on each P.I.R. Sensor has been sealed around the edge with black silicone, the same with the connector plug at the back of the box with the Power, Ground and Signal wires. The project boxes were then mounted to the "L" shaped brackets which were in turn mounted onto the Fog Lights assembly.

While I had my front nose off I had remembered that my Fog Lights look like they could come down a little, more the centre two, probably by about a good half inch or so... that will be something to tackle while I have the whole front end all "Discombobulated" ;) I'm happy the P.I.R. sensors are installed... just need to be wired up to our Knight O.S. and then all will be good and ready for another testing. I REALLY wish those P.I.R. Sensors worked through smoked glass or plexiglass that was smoked then they would not stand out so much.... Oh well we work with what we have I guess.... but hey if anyone knows of a P.I.R. sensor capable of that I'd love to hear about it ;)

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? ;)

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.

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.

Upper Console DPDT Latching Rockers DTMF Tone Request

Here is a little something we are working on to add a little more flash to the Upper Console. The momentary switches are simple enough to have request a random DTMF tone from the Voice Box, but for latching switches this is a lot more complicated. So what we have here is a circuit scenario that makes use of a few simple components to achieve just that. This scenario makes use of the 555 timer IC chip to send a short one second pulse to the Voice Box's DTMF tone generator which is roughly about the same as a momentary button. In this diagram I have 2 mapped out for simplicity but essentially you would continue the pattern for each DPDT Rocker Switch. The LED indicator lights board is optional but I like it. On the indicator board I have green LEDs and red LEDs that would each light up for about a second when each corresponding Rocker Switch has been turned on, also a short signal is sent to the Voice Box to request the random DTMF tone.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

There are a few errors in the 555 Timer circuit above, also this new one has been simplified a little eliminating one Capacitor and swapping out a Resistor for a Variable resistor. Out side of that just swap out the Piezo Buzzer for your LED connection. :)

 

Scanner Control Box Mounted

I had been trying for a long time now to decide on a good place to mount my Scanner control box from Brenon. I thought for a while I was going to have to lengthen the wires in order to get it to go anywhere that would be good places to secure the Scanner box but with a little playing around with the wires under the hood and taking up as much of the slack on the wire looms as possible I was able to get a little more wire inside under the dash area to play around with more.

As you can see I have mounted the Scanner control box to the underside of the cover plate I am still working on. Once I get the dash completely settled as to where it will sit properly and I have drilled in holes to screw the side wings onto the stock OEM dash then I can work on completing the underside cover plate more which is going to involve a little work with making a temporary cardboard form so I can fabricate the fibreglass to fit. But anyways, that's a whole different ball game, for now I'm happy that we have our Scanner control box location all sorted out.

Upper Console DPDT Rocker Switches

I got my DPDT Rocker switches from Knight Rider World a few days ago. Took a little while to find a spec. sheet but with dome help from some of the Facebook Knight Rider community I was able to download one on line. After doing some testing with my Multimeter it seems like the lights in the switch are independent of the switch wiring which is consistent with the spec. sheet details. It also looks like the switch can operate four different devices, two should be more than good enough for anything I can think of using them for so I have come up with a wiring scheme to allow me to activate two different devices, one on at any given time per DPDT Rocker switch. In my wiring scheme I have it so as the switch bulbs will only be lighted when either device is turned on, Red for one device and green for another, middle position is off for both devices.

Auxiliary Dash Power Button Option

I have been thinking about the possibility of ever needing the dash to be powered without the car's Ignition switch turned on say in the event of a car show or something. My thought is that one of the Lower Console buttons could be rigged to supply power to the dash that would bypass the need for the Ignition to be turned on as that would be very impractical during a car show. So this is what I have come up with in the way of a wiring diagram to do that. Basically in my case the coloured lighted switches on my Lower Console use a Negative or Ground connection so the other side of the magnetic could of a SPST Relay would connect to 12V, this then would activate the Relay switch which would allow the connection to 12V to flow to the dash electronics effectively bypassing the Ignition Switch.

Lower Console Make Shift Space Matt Buttons Additional Wiring Scheme

"Not now Michael, I have a headache"

There may be a better way of doing this but this is for now how I figure I am most likely to approach this particular problem. You see my makeshift Space Matt buttons I made using an old Texas Instruments Calculator are wired like this; All of the buttons grounds are connected but each button makes and individual connection to that ground. Now the Voice Box's built in DTMF random tone generator request a tone by making a connection to ground. You may be begging to see the challenge here ;) So what I have done in this diagram is I have mapped out a way of using two sets of SPST Relays connected to each of the Space Matt buttons individual ground connection wires. What happens here is the first relay in the "Yellow" zone is isolated that it makes the ground connection for the V.B. DTMF tone request connection. The second SPST Relay in the "Blue" zone is isolated in that each one can momentarily activate a device. I could complicate this further by introducing "Step Relays" in order to make the momentary button into a latching button but lets not go there ;) Complicated I know but it will get the job done and do what I need it to do.

Getting Ready To Wire The S-1 Upper Console

I have worked out a work in progress wiring scheme for my season one Upper Console. The way I had it wired before when I was using the season 3 Upper Console which didn't fit quite right, was I had a separate power wire running to each of the switches. For some reason I didn't realize that I only needed one power wire to run to the Upper Console and then just branch off of that so long as the wire is rated the correct AWG to handle the load. I'm still trying to figure out what all of the Season One Upper Console electronics pull power wise plus all of the lighted rocker switches for up there as well. Once I know that I'll have a far better idea of what gauge (AWG) wire to run up to the console. Like I say though in the meantime I have worked out a work in progress wiring diagram for this particular job. Seeing how most of the electronics are LEDs and the switches will be just going to activate the magnetic coils of SPST Relays I can't see the power load being that much, I could probably get away with an 18 AWG or even a 16 AWG gauge wire running from the pawer fuse block I have installed into the lower hush panel on the passenger side. I just want to be sure first before I go to the trouble of running any sort of power wire up there.

Dummy Row Fixed

Well it was touch and go there for a while, I thought I was going to have to send my "Dummy" row board back to Knight Rider World for repairs or replacement. But with help from the fine folks over there at Knight Rider World we were able to figure out what was wrong with the board and even with my marginal electronics skills were able to fix the board and get it working. At first they thought it might have been a loose or broken solder joint on either one or a couple of the tiny components on the board. I did try re soldering them and then testing the board again only it still did not want to work in the middle display. So I pulled the board from my dash. Having it out of the dash I noticed that two of the pins on the chip were soldered together or "bridged", this it turns out sure enough was the culprit. Using some flux and a nice clean soldering iron tip I was able to remove the solder from between the two pins. I hooked the board up to my power supply and sure enough it worked like a dream. So thanks to the fine folks at Knight Rider World I was able to do the job myself with their guidance and save the hassle of having to ship the board back and wait for a replacement. Right on, I love when things like that get solved.

Testing Out My Calculator Space Matt Buttons

Although I have not gotten all of the wires from my make shift Space Matt Buttons wired into Molex Connectors yet, almost there just need to get some more 22 AWG wire as I ran out yesterday. I figured I would work out a diagram of how the buttons are configured and what I'm proposing to do with them in regards to using them to cycle through the message in the Message Centre and have then produce a random DTMF tone from the built in tone generator in the Knight Rider World Voice Box (V.B.)

Theoretically I'm thinking this should work based on the instructions that came with the Knight Rider dash electronics. As you can see in my diagram I have combined all of the momentary switch button wires into one wire to ground, they do have the option to be used individually in the future as I have wired them up to the Molex connectors separately. But for my immediate purpose right now just a single ground signal from all of the buttons to cycle through the Message Centre and request a random DTMF Tone from the V.B. will do for now. I know from my test yesterday that the Message Centre will cycle through with a simple Momentary switch. My only concern right now is are the V.B. DTMF Tone Generator and the Message Centre momentary switch options wired the same way?? This is something that needs to be figured out.

NOTE: Today I did a Multi Meter test on both the Message Centre Cycle Connections and the V.B. DTMF Tone Request Connections and get a reading of around 3.9 when set to DC Voltage so I think they are set up the same way as far as input signal. 

Adding Switches To K.I.T.T.s Upper Console

I brought in the Upper Console from the garage seeing how it was kind of a crappy day out and did a little work on it in my back work room. I added those lighted blue and red switches from the season 2 console (that I was not too crazy about the fitment of) into the season 1 console. I pulled the wiring harness with the Molex connector off of the other S-2 console too. I figured that since my relays under the stock OEM dash were already set up for my Fog Lights I might as use these colored lighted rockers for the Fogs. No point running extra wires when I already have them in place and ready to use. ;)

Lower Console Buttons Wiring Diagram 2

In getting my lower console ready for wiring up to Molex connectors it is important to make sure your switches are wired correctly. The 10 coloured buttons mounted into the solder-less connection board by Jupiter Electronics are pretty simple and may only need a little customization depending on how you want the bulb to light when switch is on or off or if you want the bulb lighted all the time.

These three position white switches are a little more complex as they can turn on two devices (one at a time). So the wiring them to relays is a little more complicated. Better to have it all worked out in my wiring diagrams first to make sure the switches are going to be wired correctly than just start messing around with wires and potentially hook up the switches wrong. These are specialty switches that are a little hard to come by and you REALLY don't need to be blowing them with experimentation's that you are not sure about. So I can't stress the importance of working out good wiring diagrams first and even cross referencing those diagrams with other people in the Knight Rider community who have wired up these types of switches before. I have a lot of great people on the Face Book Knight Rider groups to thanks for all of their help in this.

The above diagram I made with some great help as I say from some awesome people on the Face Book knight Rider Community pages. The one on the left shoes the three position switches connected to common SPST Relays. In this diagram the light inside of the switch remains on at all times

Now with the wiring diagrams worked out the next job will be to start soldering my wires to the switches and connecting them to Molex Connectors in preparation for a future time when I decide what to hook the buttons up to.

Lower Console Switches Installation And Wiring Diagram

With my lower console overlay finally primed and painted and most of the buttons installed it's getting very near time to start thinking about the wiring job. The coloured buttons are from Jupiter Electronics and came with a small overlay which I was originally going to see if I could use but as it turns out it was just getting in the way of my custom switches overlay I had made out of the Lexan plastic so it hot scrapped. The buttons also came with a solderless connection board as you may recall from previous posts. It was a real bear getting all of the pins to fit into the board I can sure tell you, especially since the way I had done this I had to put the whole group of 10 switches into my overlay and insert them through the hole I had pre cut into the fibreglass console and then insert the pins from the switches into the solderless connection board. A very finicky job but I finally managed it.

Next job on my list of things to do was to carefully go over the connections on the switches to make sure they matched up with the markings on the edge of the board for "Common" or ground, "NO," and the two connections for the switch bulb. one of which on the switch is marked as "+" but no marking on the board so I had to make sure I reflect that in my wiring diagram pictured below. At first glance the solderless connection board looks a little confusing but it's not really, if you looks closely at it you'll see it makes perfect sense. I have made my wiring diagram pretty "Idiot Proof" so even I can follow it lol.

I have no real plans at the moment for what I want these buttons to do so for now they are just going to be wired up to a Molex connector which can be run to a relay board at a future time when I do have a much better idea of what to do with them.... lol I'm sure I'll find something ;)

NOTE: I made a change to the diagram as I realized that I had some connections in the wrong place, this latest one is the correct one.

Here is a sample of how you can connect each switch to a Relay in order to turn on any desired device you would like to hook up to the console switches. As you can see in the diagram below that the switch makes a connection to ground completing the circuit through the Relay's magnetic coil to 12V positive energizing the magnetic coil inside of the Relay and activating it's internal switch which completes the circuit from ground to 12V positive of your desired device. Gotta love those Relays ;)

More Work On My Lower Console Switches Overlay

I'm getting closer and closer to being completed on my custom overlay for my switches on my lower console. As you can see in the top two pictures I have cut out the holes for the switches in both my Lexan plastic overlay and into the fibre glass console itself.

Next step was to give the Lexan plastic overlay a sanding before priming. Once the sanding was done I gave the overlay a good cleaning with soap and water and then dried it off with paper towels and then cleaned it once more with some rubbing alcohol before priming. Once the priming is done the final step will be to paint the over lay before installing the switches.

More Prep Work On Getting The Lower Console Electronics Installed

I'm taking a little break from the software development while the warmer weather is coming. Time to FINALLY get the ball rolling again on some of the manual labour like installing my dash, lower and upper console. Not much I can do on the upper console until I order the electronics for that, even the lower console I need the Space Matt buttons. I had a set of non functioning buttons that I recently sold off in favour of getting some functioning buttons. I made an inquiry to the fellow on Face Book I will be buying the Space Matt buttons for for the dimensions so I can pre cut my hole in the Lexan plastic overlay I am making for my buttons. I have a lot more cutting and filing o do but in the above left photo you can see the progress of my plastic overlay or bed for the buttons. Next are the buttons I got from Jupiter Electronics ready to be installed once I have finished cutting and filing my Lexan plastic mounting bed.