I bought a set of these for my smart and I wanted to connect them two ways. I am hoping someone here can give me an idea as to how to work this.
I am wanting to make a new button on my console and thanks to evilution.co.uk I know how to do that. I have one space open for that. I wanted to connect the lights to the button, but also have them connected to my dome light so when I unlock the car, they come on to illuminate the area around the car. Would this be possible?
Do you have your fogs already hooked up? Usually the "one available button" most people have is the rear fogs, not used on US smarts. The trouble with the rear fog button is that the button bank doesn't have a sense of "on" and "off" but simply that a button is pressed. If you weren't using the fogs, you might get them enabled but not really use the fogs, just the LED indicating the fogs are on.
I shipped the first batch of a gizmo I call the "switchboard" to several SCOA members designed to interface to the slightly unusual switch scheme used on the button bank. While the switch it controls is designed for low current (and strong robustness against voltage extremes) there are other options depending on your current requirements.
The switchboard can be configured (by me, not the user) to provide a good level of control. Although I'm not sure of the best way to hook up to the dome light at the moment, I should be able to hook one channel up to the dome light and another channel to the fog lamp LED, for instance, to provide the control you want (if the fog button were available). It may be possible to cross-wire some things internally in the switchboard to force the on-off functionality but I'm not certain at this point if it's doable.
Bottom line: you can't get something "off the shelf" to do what you want. You might be able to accomplish it with a "switchboard" from my second batch but even then it's not a slam dunk.
With regard to those LEDs - especially if you choose to drive with the LEDs on (illegal on public streets in most states) or have your door open while the engine is running - you have a high probability you'll fry a light or two eventually. Four LEDs in series are cheap to produce but easily driven into over-current which pops the LED after a short bout with "thermal runaway." You might use a $20 "BoostPuck" (12V in, constant current out at above 12V) to wire the two strands in series and use current limiting resistors to balance out the LED loads. Or you can wire it up and see if anything eventually pops (or melts).
These issues may be why you've found a possible cheap alternative to the expensive kits already out there. They're cheap. Good beef brisket barbeque starts off with a cheap, stubborn cut of meat that ends up (when properly prepared) melting in your mouth under a pile of sauce because of all the work put into making the meat more than what it was when it started out. You can make the LEDs work beautifully, but do you want to put in the added time and expense?
I have dog lights, but I still have one button left. I was eventually going to swap it out for another dog button, but fit now use that. Right now, I have 4 less in my luggage compartment that are wired to my done light, which is also an LED bulb. It was a simple mod. These lights are actually a pair of 4 pucks wired together with one pos and one neg for each pair instead of them all being loose or all being in one series of 8. The rest, which I think usually I would understand, went over my head. Kinds off today... Anyway. Does any of that help?
Your original post makes much more sense today. Guess between my brain stew and my keys sticking on my phone, you didn't know what to think. Ok, I bought this set for he nice flow and waterproof atributes. In a PM you said forget about controlling it from the bank, but evilution says I should be able to. With the pick to give it a constant voltage, how do I hook it up to where when the done is on, the lights are on, but when the done is off, the switch overides the done? Kind of like how the head lights can come on with the sensor, but can be shut off maunally?
Your original post makes much more sense today. Guess between my brain stew and my keys sticking on my phone, you didn't know what to think. Ok, I bought this set for he nice flow and waterproof attributes. In a PM you said forget about controlling it from the bank, but evilution says I should be able to. With the pick to give it a constant voltage, how do I hook it up to where when the done is on, the lights are on, but when the done is off, the switch overides the done? Kind of like how the head lights can come on with the sensor, but can be shut off maunally?
Evilution says nothing about being able to use a switch to press on, press off. The bank buttons are all temporary as in they're only on when you hold the button down.
"With the pick to give it a constant voltage" ... the boostpuck? That's designed to give constant current, not constant voltage. In the arrangement I was considering, you'd have greater problems because of the need for parallel chains and unspecified currents. If you just wire the pucks - "designed" for straight 12V directly - they may blow after a period of use but that's what they tell you to do.
To do things better, you'd need to control the current which is more difficult to do in your implementation because you need multiple pucks wired up in parallel. You either need a higher constant voltage with series resistors like in the LED series/parallel calculator or a higher regulated voltage with current regulators inline for each puck or series of pucks.
To choose between the dome light (not "done" light) or the constant voltage, just do what the dome light switch does: use a double-throw switch (perhaps with a center off) to switch the common side hooked up to the LEDs between the dome voltage coming into the switch or the constant 12V.
Can you tell me how much current each LED puck needs?
You can get some wide input DC-DC converters for constant voltage output (say 15V) for a reasonable price and add a current regulator (a 3-pin voltage regulator and one resistor) inline with each puck. It's a bit of soldering.
If, instead, each puck actually contains regulator circuitry (which I sincerely doubt) then all this extra voltage/current discussion is moot.
Sorry for the weird spelling. My Pre autocorrects dome as done. Anyway, the other buttons work without me having to keep them pressed. What AM I missing there? See AM? It was lower case, but is autocorrected. I posts all the specs I know. Is there a way to test for the current? I probably beef to get an ampmeter anyway.
~KISS~
~Why not connect the "Puddle Lights" up to your Dome Light... It has a three position switch... Switch positions are "Auto On"~"Off"~"On"... You can give your "Puddle Lights" all the functions of the Dome light by just connecting the two wires from the "Puddle Lights" to the two polls, one at each end of the Dome light bulb... Led's only work in one current flow direction, so if you hook them up in reverse they will not work (light)(that will not hurt them... Just reverse the connection and they will light up...<:-))
~Now this is the part you will like... With the Dome light set to Auto position, (1) You open your door the "Puddle Lights" come on, and off with door closure (2) When you lock or unlock with your key fob the "Puddle Lights" will come on along with your Dome Light (lighting the outside and inside of your car when its dark outside) (3) The Dome lights fades to off, and your "Puddle Lights" do to, making them off, and ready to hit the road legally... (4) If you feel the need to turn them on for any reason for an extended amount of time you can turn the dome light switch to the full on position (5) You may at times want to be in Stealth Mode, and put your Dome light switch in the full off center position...
well, that's half of what I want to do, but John is saying that might be tough. I want the auto on feature, but also to be able to turn them on while on the road. Its not illegal here. That's why I thought about utilizing the button bank. But I'm not sure how to do so.
the other buttons work without me having to keep them pressed. What AM I missing there?
What you're missing is that all these buttons hook up to the SAM. The SAM has the intelligence to sense the pressed button, debounce the press so it doesn't look like several presses at once, and - if it's an on/off switch rather than a temporary - change the internal virtual state of the switch. It's a software thing, not hardware. That's why it would have been ideal if you weren't using the fog lights because those can be enabled to be on/off as reported through the attached LED. There is no software control for the rear fog button (your lone blank) because it's not even wired up to the SAM. The spot in the wiring harness socket for a wire is empty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jediknight36
Is there a way to test for the current? I probably beef to get an ampmeter anyway.
If you can beef (?) to get an ammeter and check one puck hooked straight up to the car's 12V (the dome light, perhaps) and measure the two current values with the engine off and with it on and check the two corresponding voltage values (no need for the LEDs, just to where you hooked them) with the engine on and then off, you have a great starting point. It should give us an idea if the design operating point is 20, 30, or 50 mA: common max DC current values.
You might also consider opening up one puck to see if it's just 4 LEDs hooked up in series with no other parts - that's been an assumption of mine.
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