Hardwiring Illuminated Shift Knob Problems

[Ike66]

OK so i have one of those seven color illuminated shift knobs that a friend of mine gave me for free. I like it alot nicer than the stock one, but it went through a set of batteries in like a month....so i figured i would hardwire it. I ran my own battery wire (15 amp fused) directly from the battery and connected it to a wire that was already on the shift knob. The shift knob only runs on 2 3volt disc style batteries so i threw a 330 ohms resistor inline before the 28guage wire i ran from the circut board in the shift knob. Im not sure if this is too big of a resistor or not but thats what i use for LEDs and thats whats in the shift knob. Now the problem im having is that sometimes when the car is not running and the horn is pressed or if i make the horn chirp with my keyless entry the knob will go through an LED sysle that it normally only goes through when you first replace the batteries. Could it be that because of the resistor the horn is drawing enough power to completly take power away from the sift knob for a little bit and if so what size resistor should i use.

Thanks for any help

 

[luv2rallye]

I'm not familiar with this knob but if it has a circuit board (with circuitry on it that is more than just leds, for example to blink them in some way) and it runs off of 6V, you will have to use a 6V voltage regulator. This is because it needs a constant 6V which a resistor cannot provide. If it uses less than 1 amp a regulator such as a LM340T-6.0 or equivalent should work.

 

[Defiant]

OK so i have one of those seven color illuminated shift knobs that a friend of mine gave me for free.

That was no friend.

 

[Ike66]

ha the electronics are pretty crappy.....but the knob looks decent in the interior and feels good shifting. Ill have to look into a voltage regulator. Can i pick one up at radioshack or will i need to get it somewhere else?

 

[luv2rallye]

Looks like Radio Shack doesn't have it and neither does anyone else anymore. Radio Shack does have the LM317T (adjustable regulator) for $2.29 and with 2 resistors and some soldering you can make a 6V one. Pm me with an email address that accepts attachments if your interested and willing to build one.

 

[RedTurboEclipse]

That was no friend.

HAHA yea, I bet he is smirking now knowing he found osmeone to take it and actually put it to use.

I would never imagine someone on this site would put such a thing, I have seen them many times in stores.

I am curious however if you do put it on how it looks, in the day time, then again at night time illuminated. Pics please.

 

[Ike66]

ya ill get pics tomorrow during the day and some at night....it actually doent look bad even when not illuminated. ..... Also i was looking through my electronics part box and found one of the 5 volt constant regulators....i hooked the board up to that and it seems to work fine so im going to try wiring it up in the car tomorrow and see if it sill randomly lights with the horn beeping.

 

[luv2rallye]

Make sure you remove the batteries or you may damage them and/or the regulator. If it still doesn't work with the horn, add a capacitor to both the input and output of the regulator. Use 0.22uF (or larger) disc ceramic, 2uF (or larger) solid tantalum, or 25uF (or larger) aluminum electrolytic. All 20V or larger rating.

 

[Ike66]

ok its working alot better with the regulator instead of the resistor, but it randomly did the light show thing a few times today after the horn. I think ill add the capacitors but when i put them on should i cut the wires in half and solder each to a lead of the cap. or can i just splice the leads of the cap into the wires? thanks for all the help and ill get some pics of the knob hopefully tomorrow.

 

[luv2rallye]

Cut or splice - just make sure you solder all connections (and keep a long nose pliers between the capacitor and the connection when solding to act as a heat sink to not damage the cap). If that doesn't work you may have to go to the 6V adustable regulator.