Dash Auxiliary Power Button

I have a better way of hooking up my dash auxiliary power button as right now the way I have it is a bit daffy and I'll explain why; The scenario works but what happens is that say I have the auxiliary power button turned on and I forget that it is on and then I turn over the cars ignition, well when I turn off the ignition key the car will keep running because power is still being supplied through the lower consoles auxiliary dash power button being turned on, I would then need to switch that off in order to turn the car off. This way is much better because that can't happen as the dash can only get it's power from one source or the other via the relay and not both at the same time which is how I currently have it wired.

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 ;)

Arduino Radar Project

I'll bet this data could be worked somehow in Unity to draw a working radar screen,

Adafruit Mini SFX Board With TDA2030A Amp. Module UPDATE

I combined the Optocouplers board for the button inputs for my Space Matt buttons by soldering it onto the other piece of Protoboard that I had already attached the Adafruit SFX mini and TDA2030A Mini Amplifier boards onto. I soldered the inputs for the Optocouplers to 3mm screw terminal blocks to make connecting the wires from my Space Matt buttons easier later on when I install this module into my K.I.T.T.

There are a few things left to do like add in the power regulator to convert 12V into 5V for the Adafruit board, right now I just have one 100 uF Capacitor soldered onto the board seeing how I had it on hand, I still need to add a 10 uF Cap. and a small ceramic 100 nF cap to go with the power regulator but those are minor details that just basically involve waiting for them to arrive in the mail. Now the Optocoupler board you see mounted onto my main board also sends a pulse for the DTMF tone request on the Voice Box through a wire that will be connected to the screw terminal block mounted on the lower right side of the board (above left). I have four more sound effects options that do not require a pulse to be sent to the DTMF because they will be wired to the Switch Pod buttons and they already have a tone request being sent from the Switch Pod buttons. So I'll see if I can squeeze in four more Optocouplers onto the board somewhere for those loose green wires you see sticking out of the left side of the main board next to the Adafruit module and see if I can also squeeze in two more 3mm screw terminal blocks, it's going to be tight but I think I can do it, if not then I'll just have to add in another side board with the Optocouplers on it.

In the meantime to make things easier for me to install this module when completed I worked out a diagram to illustrate where all the pin outs are located on the module (right). It's coming together though just a few more things to do and then I can wire it up for a test in the car before seeing about perhaps stuffing this into an enclosure to make for a nice install.

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. ;)

Door LEDs Bread Board Experiment 03

Here is a rework of the 555 Timer I.C. diagram other than that it's pretty much currently wired exactly the same as before, just playing about with the LEDs light up sequence. I have no doubt it will get a little more complicated if or I should say when we add the chaser sequence and perhaps a different way that the tone is played or delivered.

Door Lock LEDs Bread Board Experiment 02

Door Lock LEDs Bread Board Experiment 01

Right now it works a little twitchy but with some tweaking I think it can be made to work pretty awesome, here is the diagram I'm using for this, it's just a slight variation of the 555 timer I.C. diagram from my other post.

NOTE: I had to make a change in the diagram as there were some errors, this is the right one. We will be adding a Potentiometer into this scenario to make the time adjustable. ;)

We added jumpers into the wiring scheme to allow for playing around with the different combinations.

555 Timer IC Bread Board Experiment

See electrical diagram for this circuit a few posts down ;)

K.I.T.T. Progress Walk Around

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. :)

 

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.

Just A Year Ago!

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.

2 Low Input to 2 Higher Output Relay Board

I did up a quick diagram of the little PCB board I made with some great help from Andrea lannaccone from Face Book. There are smaller ways to do this but this is pretty small too, you can do this type of switching with a Transistor too. For what I am doing with my Top Countdown Indicator lights to activate the switch lights on my Lower Console I only need one side of the board but there was room on the board to have the same ability twice so at least I have an extra setup for should I need to do something similar again. :) 

PCB Board Installed

I installed the small PCB board later today just overtop of the other Relays board I had made a few weeks ago. I have the power wire (blue) going from the fuse panel I installed under the passenger side Hush panel into the magnetic coil and switch terminal of one of the mini Songo 12V 10 Amp Relays, this will supply power to energize the coil and provide power to one side of the Relay switch. The other blue wire you can see coming out of the top of the Relay is the 2nd power wire on the other Relay switch terminal, this wire goes into my Lower Console to supply power to the switch lights. The Relays switch will connect the two completing the circuit. The two input wires Red and Black that connect to the Optocoupler I have going into a couple of spare sockets I had available on my Molex connector for my LCD and GPS screens. Those will provide the low input signal to activate the Optocoupler once the Countdown indicator reaches it's last light, this will in turn activate the Relay making the connection as described before. Tomorrow will be the big day I test this out so if all goes well I'll be doing a video to demonstrate the final effect.

Two Relay Board Activated By Low Signal Optocouplers

There we go, I have a small PCB board set up with two 12V Mini 10 Amp Songo Relays that are each activated separately by two Optocouplers. I only need one side of this board for right now to complete the wiring scenario I mentioned in my last post for turning on the Lower Console switch lights as part of the Knight Rider dash start up sequence.
The Red and Black wires you see coming in from the left side end of the board will ultimately be spliced into the wires that connect from the Voice Box to the last set of lights in the Top Countdown indicators, this way when the Knight Rider V.B. activates those lights a signal will be sent to the Optocoupler, activating my Relay and closing the power connection to the Lower Console switch lights. I did a little tweaking to my diagram so here it is again just so you can see my minor tweaks ;)

Lower Console Switch Lights As Part Of Dash Start Up Sequence

OK, here is a solution to something that has been kind of on my mind for a little while now....

So the Lower Console's button and switch lights are on all the time currently even if the ignition is off.... not good I know, bad, bad, bad... as these are not LED lights in this buttons and switches and given enough time would drain the battery for sure. So last night I had a thought pop into my head as I learn more and more about what many of the electronics components are capable of... my idea was this:

"Why not run a small 22 AWG wire from the last top countdown indicator on the top of the dash and run that to the base of a Transistor to activate a Relay that would turn on my Lower Console Switch and buttons lights?

That way when the dash did it's startup sequence, upon the lighting of the very last indicator a signal could be sent to activate my Lower Console lights."

Very simple I thought, so I got into a great conversation with Andrea lannaccone on Face Book this morning and we hashed out this wiring scheme. NOT using a Transistor as I had originally imagined but instead using an Optocoupler. Hey whatever works and is simple I always say ;)

You can see in the middle section of our diagram how we have introduced the wiring of the last countdown indicator LED to the Optocoupler which in turn triggers the SPST Relay which sends power to the Lower Console's switch lights making it an interactive part of the Dash start up sequence.... should be pretty cool when wired up and tested out ;)

Adafruit Mini Sound FX Board Wiring Diagram

I have worked out a wiring scheme (above) for the mini Adafruit 2MB Sound FX Board for supplying power to the board, wiring up the momentary buttons that activate the sound FX on the board and the audio out jack.

The power supply is simple, I'm basically using the same 12V to 5V step-down converter (right) or transformer model that I used for my GPS screen, I solder the 5V output wires onto the Adafruit board. I may introduce an on/off switch into the wiring scheme to have further control over if the board is powered or not. If I do I'll probably do that on the 12V input side of the step-down converter module. A simple switch to Relay should work well for that.

The momentary buttons to activate the various sound FX on the Adafruit board I will hook up to both my Lower Console's Space Matt buttons and my Switch Pod buttons. So far on the sound FX board I have:

1. Knight Rider Theme (Narrated)
2. Knight Rider Theme (Un-Narrated)
3. File Open Sound FX
4. File Close Sound FX
5. Scanner Sound (Loop)
6. Radar Sound (Loop)
7. Turboboost
8. K.I.T.T. Introduction
9. Surveillance Mode FX

I have a little room to add more if I like but I think for anything more complex I will get the 16MB version of the same board in order to use more sound if I find I need more. But for now these should do for simple things.

The Knight Rider themes I have set on the board to play in next order so when you press the button the first theme plays and at the end of the theme when you press the button again the other version of the them plays.

The File Open sound FX I have sent to just play when the button is pressed, my thought is that I will have those sounds play when I turn on the LCD Screen or GPS Screen.

File Close sound FX will play when I turn off either monitor.

Scanner sound FX loop I have set as a "Latching" function on the Adafruit board, the sound plays until the button is pressed again, so looping sounds are best for the boards "Latching" function.

Same set up for the Radar and Surveillance sound FX loops. 

Turboboost FX is set as just a single play on button press same as K.I.T.T.s introduction. I could very easily add other introductions and have those play in a random order as the Adafruit sound FX board has a very nice feature for playing random sound files too, but for now I'm just using the classic K.I.T.T. introduction ;)

Here is a little additional work done on the diagram to include a power on off switch and to use the option of either a Relay or Optocoupler as switch option for the momentary button to activate the board sounds.

Adafruit Mini 2MB Sound FX Board Test

So I finally got around to testing out the Adafruit 2MB Flash Sound FX board I had picked up quite some time ago, I had been meaning to get around to it but was constantly getting side tracked with so many other projects. Today I hooked up the USB cord and plugged in the mini board and copied over the WAV and OGG files with the correct naming convention as per the instructions on the Adafruit web site. The board works like a charm and is very simple to use just like they say. This will be perfect for some sound FX that I know will get used a lot and I think should be built right into my K.I.T.T. project. I have a demo video here, I do apologize for the focus though but it's gets the point across as to what is going on and how easy it will be to hook up these contacts that activate the sounds on the board very easily to some of my Switch Pod and Space Matt buttons.

OEM Dash Center Air Vent Modifications

I had been sort of wondering for some time what to do about redirecting the airflow from the vent located in the middle of the stock OEM dash. I figured since I had that cover plate I had made out of Lexan plastic to help separate and protect the backs of the Knight Rider dash circuit boards from coming into contact with a bunch of loose flying wires I would see about somehow giving it another job as well, like attaching some sort of vent to allow the air to from through that vent opening in the OEM dash and more out from under the dash.

So what I came up with was to first make a rectangular box made from some high density foam rubber I picked up from a Craft store (Micheal's). I used black Gorilla Tape to hold the shape of the foam box together and then inserted it into the OEM dash vent opening. (above left). It's a snug fit and friction alone seems to keep it securely in place although I could glue it in with some contact cement if I find I need too. This box brings the vent opening up close to the back over my Lexan plastic cover plate.

I then cut out a square shaped hole in the Lexan plastic cover plate over the area of where the air vent matches up with the plate. I was looking for some sort of pre-made vent covering that I could use on the front part of my cover plate to redirect the air flow downwards but was not having a lot of luck, I did manage to find a small plastic tray from Dollarama for a buck that I could cut off one side that would pretty much do the trick (above right). I secured that to the front of my cover plate with 3 small bolts and some washers (left).

I'm not yet ready to secure the cover plate into place yet as I am still doing a fair bit of electrical wiring work in that area of the dash but when I am finished the cover plate will be secured into place and should serve the double purpose of protecting my wires from coming into contact with the back of my Knight Rider dash circuit boards and provide a nice opening to allow the airflow from the middle vent to flow downwards out under the dash.

Parking and Headlights Lower Console Auxiliary Switch Wiring

I have been collaborating with Lambros Vassiliou on Face Book on a wiring diagram for hooking up an auxiliary switch to activate the Parking and Headlights using one of the lower console's SPDT lighted white rocker switches. According to Lambros this diagram should work for wiring up the Headlights switch using this method on the 1982 Trans Am. I'm not sure about later models, I think it may depend on how the switch is wired so you will need to do some checking on that. Now I have not tested this wiring scheme yet. The Diodes that will be used are the 1N4007 Rectifier type (top right), 
the Relays can be SPST or SPDT rated at 20 to 30 Amps, I have a couple of SPST 40 Amp relays so I'll be using those (right).

I think I have everything I need to give this a shot, I need to pick up some more solder and I'm not sure if I want to mount my Diodes onto a small piece of PCB board or just do them as "in-line" Diodes. But it looks like I should be pretty close to doing a video to show how this works. From what I can see of the wiring diagram it looks like it would be easy to even use one of the Upper Console DPDT lighted rockers for the Parking and Headlights too. ;)


Just to clarify, this is what the plug on my Parking/Headlights combo switch looks like. As you can see it has an Orange, Yellow, Brown, White and what looks to be a fat 14 AWG Red wire on it. Now in the diagram above there is nothing happening with the White wire so I'm still trying to get a straight answer on what if anything happens with that wire??

NOTE: 

OK after some Multimeter testing on the stock OEM switch I had kicking around from the parts car it would appear that in the "OFF" position that there is a continuity between the White and Orange wire. Based on those findings I am going to try this diagram suggested by Mark Rolfe out as it seems to make the most sense with the white wire included into the scenario.

Since the white wire obviously has an internal connection on the stock switch in "OFF" position, the first SPDT Relay makes sense as in off position the white wire would be connected to the Red wire (You could use either Orange or Red as both are 12V). I'll be able to test this out when I have a SPDT Relay, right now I just have 2 SPST Relays and I need the one with the extra 87A pin for the White wire.