Hahah, very nice ideas. So I think a few of us are thinking to do the same thing. I think it all sparked from the so cal iron man thread because I thought about doing this last weekend too!

I've begun to look for headlights to buy up to experiment but do you or anyone else know how I can power the headlights without plugging it into the car? This way, I can work on it whenever I want without having to remove the lights on the car.
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you can buy a 12VDC power supply that is sourced from 120VAC, or buy a small 12VDC battery. also, your PSU in your computer is 12VDC. you'd need to try to match amperages, though, or the resistor calculations won't be correct.

 

Thanks, what kind of connection does the headlight take? By 12VDC power supply, do you mean like the PSU for PCs?
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The service manual will show you a pinout for the headlamp balast wiring. it'll be 12VDC, but i'm not sure what amperage gets sent to the balast.

a 12VDC power supply will typically plug into a standard 120VAC outlet and give you a regulated 12VDC output. you can find them at radioshack or online. you could also use a standard PSU from a computer. both accomplish the same thing, but a computer PSU is designed for use in a PC.

 

Awesome, thanks!
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we can do prototype digital controllers with specific effects similar to ones described by OP for around $635 installed. If anyone is interested in being the first, let us know.

 

This project sounds impossible, but if it works out I'd pay for it! I'm already waiting to do the Ironman this winter, but if it could blink or encircle when the turn signal is on, that would just be icing on the cake!!

 

Let us know if you do want the mod done. It is more than do-able.

 

Was that aimed at me? Or was that just in general?

 

^ You.

 

lets see some developments going

 

I think it's doable. My experimental headlight has been shipped and my friend and I are getting started on this as soon as it arrives.....just need to have patience.

It's gonna be west coast ironman + a little surprise
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Hey, sorry for the lack of updates on this.

I've chosen my platform for the project. I'll be using the UBW32 development board as a base controller. It has all the processing power needed to effectively run the system.



Short of it is that is has 78 IO pins to work with, more than enough for all the inputs from the car's computer/sensors and outputs enough for all the LED's to be integrated into the car's chassis.

It's a 32bit ARM based processor running at 80Mhz with 512k flash and 32k ram.
It's bus powered and can act as a USB host.

Basically this means that it will be powered directly off of the car's computer and you'll be able to load new patterns and presets directly onto the board using the CF port in the console(though you'll lose functionality of it for music, more development on this idea is needed).

I feel that this is an awesome platform for this project. I'll have to develop a transistor-based power circuit for the LED's as they draw far too much current to be driven off the board itself.

Cheers for now. Updates soon hopefully.

 

Wow, that's a big board. Can't wait to see what inputs you're gonna take for this.

Need transistors to drive the LEDs for sure.

Keep us updated.
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the mod is gonna get pricey real quick with board and modifications for input.