Clever electronic people - How to make Drag tree lights?

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:14 pm

this is the scheme I came up with, I'll get into the lights later today then. After that I can calculate the required fuse.
Let me know if you understand it

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:39 pm

This light should be perfect:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tower-Signal- ... 4ab06abe1c

Link 3 (Fuse holder):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/In-Line-MAXI- ... 2a14abfb8d

Just pop in the lightest car fuse you've got laying around or can get hold of. I'm estimating that the complete thing uses around 600mA so any fuse higher than that number should work, I wouldn't go for bigger than 5A though

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:41 pm

Fons[DutchGuy] wrote:This light should be perfect:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tower-Signal- ... 4ab06abe1c

Link 3 (Fuse holder):
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/In-Line-MAXI- ... 2a14abfb8d

Just pop in the lightest car fuse you've got laying around or can get hold of. I'm estimating that the complete thing uses around 600mA so any fuse higher than that number should work, I wouldn't go for bigger than 5A though

Edit*

Don't forget to upload a nice vid. when you've got it working

some burning rubber on the side would be extra bonus points

K30DPC · Post by **K30DPC** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 5:53 pm

lights from link will be useless in direct sunlight IMHO

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:42 pm

K30DPC wrote:lights from link will be useless in direct sunlight IMHO

This might be a problem, but is he planning to use this in daylight? If u know what I mean

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:00 pm

How is it coming together @Ammo?

Post by **Ammo** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:35 am

Lights have been sourced, we are using warning LEDs of emergency vehicles so can be seen in daylight

That's about as far as we have got, a custom made mount is being made for it all so it will stand up etc

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 10:40 am

Id go down the microcontroller route. That way , you can change the program to suit the needs, and tweak as time goes by. Also, you never know when the next project will come along that needs something a little more complicated.

Admittedly purists would say its overkill for some sequenced light patterns, but why make life hard? This is easy to implement.

so:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arduino-UNO-R ... 27d380f981

This is the microcontroller, USB interface etc, this is what you program, and you can read inputs and define outputs on all the pins. You'd use this to sequence the lights in any time pattern you wanted.

then just use something like this to switch the 12v to the lights...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Style-5V- ... 5653128cef

just needs a little wire, some soldering, and a modicum of computer literacy ('blinking lights' are among some of the first and easiest examples to follow).

Give us a shout if you want some guidance. you could even make a fully fledged drag strip setup with the same microcontroller (to include timing, LED display read out etc).

Fons[DutchGuy] · Post by **Fons[DutchGuy]** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 1:41 pm

Scott560 wrote:Id go down the microcontroller route. That way , you can change the program to suit the needs, and tweak as time goes by. Also, you never know when the next project will come along that needs something a little more complicated.

Admittedly purists would say its overkill for some sequenced light patterns, but why make life hard? This is easy to implement.

so:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arduino-UNO-R ... 27d380f981

This is the microcontroller, USB interface etc, this is what you program, and you can read inputs and define outputs on all the pins. You'd use this to sequence the lights in any time pattern you wanted.

then just use something like this to switch the 12v to the lights...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Style-5V- ... 5653128cef

just needs a little wire, some soldering, and a modicum of computer literacy ('blinking lights' are among some of the first and easiest examples to follow).

Give us a shout if you want some guidance. you could even make a fully fledged drag strip setup with the same microcontroller (to include timing, LED display read out etc).

This is true (it helps that I'm a huge arduino fan

). You can use this thing fore practically everything, its a shame I haven't found the time to play with one of these badboys yet. I'm planning on doing some domotica in the future with one of these, you do need a litlle knowledge of Wincc type programmes though. The software is open source so chances are pretty big that you can just pull a program straight from the web.

Scott560 · Post by **Scott560** » Fri Sep 13, 2013 2:04 pm

TBH, the programming side of things is about the easiest it can be.

I've only spent a few hours here and there tinkering, you dont need to know much of the coding!

To just turn on some outputs (the relays with lights attached) in a sequence with preset timings, and a random delay on the final is only going to take about 12 lines of code.

you wont need the PC attached to it either for it to function (only to write and upload the program initially, which is then stored inside the microcontroller).