Project Scanner

Warning: This project has not yet been built!! It is designed but there will be some minor tweaking before it is finished and working as desired. I'm busy at work, have a couple trips coming up, as well as moving in September. This will most likely be a slow going project and finished by December.

I decided that my standard 3rd brake light was boring. Also, Robbie asked me to design him a scanner. Out of those two things arose this project. I have designed (with the help of a coworker) a scanner that bounces back and forth w/ a trailing tail as seen on Knight Rider. Once finished when I press my brakes my third brake light will scan in the same fashion as Kitt.

FIRST CIRCUIT:

Note that I did not draw all the transistors, LEDs, and resistors. The 14 extra pins will be wired exactly like the other two pins (not drawn to save space).

Parts are ordered and I will update this as I continue to make progress on this project. The most expensive thing is by far the LEDs (32 superflux LEDs aren't cheap ) but regular 5mm LEDs and be used. If using 5mm, LEDs the transistors can be removed and the negative of the LED will be wired to the output pin instead of ground.

I know there's some minor problems on the 138 IC but I'm wanting to hook up an O-Scope to figure it out (just a couple pins that need to be hooked to power and ground to get the demex to work right). Also, the 470uF cap in parallel w/ the LED was just a guess and might need to be tweaked.

I may pay to build. JESUS!!

Nice, it seems like a fairly simple concept... shouldn't be too hard to build... I may do this myself...

^^^ Yeah ok some of use aren't graced with this knowledge

Thanks for the Warning.

Build me one to mold into my tailgate

All I got out of the first post is "Knight Rider scanner"... so, cool!

that diagram hurts my eyes

alkatmsu wrote:

All I got out of the first post is "Knight Rider scanner"... so, cool!

It will be a knight rider scanner. But there's still a lot of work I need to do on it. I'll keep posting as I slowly make progress.

While very cool. I would imagine it is going to be hella illegal.

I love having my ice scanner. I have it set to the knightrider pattern. Some people on hwy already know me for it. I will drive by and I can here "Theres that Knight rider guy!" haha.

I wan't one because i am completely blacked out (windows oh soooo soon). So i thought it would be a very interesting piece to add. For parking and such or slow cruising.

*lurking*

^*waiting*

Yeah, I want a Knight Rider scanner to put either into my tailgate...or in my rear window.

Then when a cop pulls me over this is how it will go

Cop- "You know that lights illegal right?"
Me- "Well it obviously let you know I was slowing down, it did its job"
Cop- "Sir, get out of the car"
Me- " damn"

kornholio788 wrote:

While very cool. I would imagine it is going to be hella illegal.

I know it will be illegal but I'm not too concerned about it (cops in Bloomington don't really care about that stuff). If I get pulled over for it then I get pulled over for it. I'm a big boy and I won't complain if I get in trouble for doing something I know isn't legal.

I did receive my parts today. Unfortunetaly I was a moron and the two demex's are surface mount and not through hole....dooh! I should start assembling on a bread board this weekend but I won't finish b/c I need new demex's.

On the bright side, now that I have two things that are SMD, it's incentive to design a PCB when finished. If there's enough interest on here I and people would chip in for the boards, I could have PCB printed for everyone. But that decision is still a long ways off.

If you get this working, I will pay you for the parts, and your time to make me one.

If I still lived down there, I'd be real interested in this. I still am, but it would be cool to see it in person.

Bloomington, Indiana right?

Tim wrote:

If I still lived down there, I'd be real interested in this. I still am, but it would be cool to see it in person. Bloomington, Indiana right?

Yes sir.

Any update on this? Can't believe I missed it the first time.

I initially had trouble getting parts b/c they were backordered. Once I got them, I wired it up once in a hurry and it didn't work. I didn't have time to double check the wiring so I'm betting something isn't wired correctly.
I'll be gone this weekend on a family trip. I'll be on a submarine from October 2-22. Then I'll be over in Europe from November 1-16. I might have some time to work on it during this week or next but my schedule is pretty busy.

Quit wasting our time with excuses. Just build the damn thing already!

subscribed dawg

I bet all those dates above you will still be on the internet...

thesull wrote:

I bet all those dates above you will still be on the internet...

What a dumb comment.
Yeah, I'll still be on the internet, I never said I wouldn't. I said I was going to be gone on trips, not disconnected from the world. But last I checked, BUILDING a scanner wasn't done on the internet. It was done at home where I have parts, DMMs, power supplies, and O-Scopes.

[sarcasm]
In the event that it is done on the internet like you attempted to imply, you can build it. I have all the parts ordered and at my house. I also posted a schematic so you should be good to go. If you need any pictures of the parts to further assist in the build, ask and I'll post them up for you.
[/sarcasm]

but you haven't proved the schematic to work yet ;] what's the total cost in parts look like, anyway?

Excluding LEDs and capacitors, I think my total cost is $5-$10 dollars. I'm going to see how it looks w/out capacitors b/c those will be a HUGE cost (roughly $30). LEDs were $25 (not from Oz, I couldn't justify ~$2 per Superflux LED when I found them elsewhere for $0.43 )

RADRaze2KX wrote:

but you haven't proved the schematic to work yet ;] what's the total cost in parts look like, anyway?

Dude chill. The fact that he is willing to be the guinea pig and try this and GIVE us the diagrams is awesome. It is his time not yours. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't want to give you the diagram for acting like you are.

I am looking forward to it PwrRngr. Should be cool to see if it works. Just let us know

chill korn, i put a wink for sarcasm, i'm happy enough as is... eesh -_-"