Wiring question .. need some input .. and help !!

[4G63 GST]

Alright .. so my dsm isnt exactly stock .. and i dont want the shit getting broke into. I dont have the money right now to put towards an alarm system .. because to me a FMIC and an AFC II sound a little more important. Anyway .. I went to radio shack yesterday and bought two red LED's that are the blinking kind .. and 330 resistors .. and chrome LED holders. My plan is to either put one LED on either door .. or one up on the dash and one down on the center console .. to act as a "mock" alarm system.


I have two questions..


1. What can i use to slow the blinking of the LED down .. i think it blinks like once every second and instead I think once every 2 seconds (or something like that) would be better and look more realistic.


and ..


2. Is there a way .. and if so how .. to wire up the LED's so that they only work when the car is off and the keys are out of the ignition. Pretty much I dont want to wire it to a switch and have to flip it on and off constantly cause i think seeing them blink out of the corner of my eye would get real old real fast while I'm driving.



Thanks for the help guys .. like i said .. i got too much invested to worry about it and i think the LED's would look pretty authentic if it was done correctly.


Let me know what you guys think




Luke

 

[Perch - Tsi]

If you want to slow them down put a capacitor in series with them

R(esistance) x C(apacitance) =T(ime in seconds)

So C, the size of the cap should equal 120/330, or roughly .27, but thats in farads and a quater farad is awfully large, somebody might want to look over my math there, im tired...

as far as them going off, if you can find a wire that is at 12V when the car is on, and at ground when its off (i have no idea where to start looking, btw) then you can hook the ground up from the leds to this line, and youll get the desired effect.

or skip the geekshack crap and get one of those little ones that runs off a battery and is all set up, cuz if you need a 330 ohm resistor to keep the leds from frying, your gonna need a cap the size of a hockey puck, though my math may well be wrong, been a while since circuit theory...

 

[chorpie]

Um, i think your numbers are a little off, but like you said... it is late . Check my math too, I could be smoking crack. R*C = t (in secs) is correct. but you set 120 seconds = 2 minutes... he wants 2 seconds.

So 330 * C = 2 and C = 2/330 = 0.0061 farads = 6.1 milli-farads

I would suggest you hook this up free-floating with the wires ( don't cut any holes or mounts yet ) and test it first. I think that is right though.

let us know your results, and post some pics when you're done!

 

[Defiant]

To set it up to run when the car's off, wire it through a regular old Bosch relay so that when the power comes on, the relay opens. Run the power to the LED through 30 to 87a, and power from the accessory circuit through 85 and 86.

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[4G63 GST]

Thanks guys .. yea i remember working with electrical in engineering at WSU .. but i forgot all the farads and the sizes and stuff .. i didnt pay much attention cause that class wasnt hard at all. Anyway .. thanks for the info



Defiant .. sorry to be "ignorant" .. but if i dont know what that picture means and what to do with it .. do you stand a chance in being able to explain it? .. because i slightly remember that picture .. but i dont know where to start looking to wire or anything .




Thanks again guys


Luke

 

[splattj]

http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp
The picture is of a wiring diagram for a Bosch type relay. The numbers represent the posts on the bottom to which you would connect wires. Take a look at the link above for more info on relays.

 

[4G63 GST]

this is probably a stupid question .. but do i need to purchase a bosche relay or is it a relay that is already used on the car.

Im guessing its one i have to purchase .. but like i said .. ive shy'd away from wiring for a bit and im trying to get my roots back.


Luke

 

[chorpie]

Its something that you're going to have to buy.