Homebrew arrowstick controller

N2ZPY · Post by **N2ZPY** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 11:45 am

I ran across this circuit the other day and thought some of you might be interested in it.

It will control up to 8 lights with 5 different flash patterns and you can change the programming to your liking. I have my test board finished and now I am just working on making the arrowsticks for front and rear. The site that I grabbed this off of is located at http://www.interq.or.jp/japan/se-inoue/e_pic6_1.htm

I'll get some pics of my board and post them tonight.

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 3:44 pm

What are the patterns that it does?

With a simple addition of transistors, this could be interesting. Install a rotary switch for the pattern select.

N2ZPY · Post by **N2ZPY** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:19 pm

The thing that drew me to this is that you can set your own patterns. It is all done in the PIC programming.........

;****** Pattern 0 ******
p00 equ b'11111110'
p01 equ b'11111101'
p02 equ b'11111011'
p03 equ b'11110111'
p04 equ b'11101111'
p05 equ b'11011111'
p06 equ b'10111111'
p07 equ b'01111111'

;****** Pattern 1 ******
p10 equ b'01111111'
p11 equ b'10111111'
p12 equ b'11011111'
p13 equ b'11101111'
p14 equ b'11110111'
p15 equ b'11111011'
p16 equ b'11111101'
p17 equ b'11111110'

;****** Pattern 2 ******
p20 equ b'01111110'
p21 equ b'10111101'
p22 equ b'11011011'
p23 equ b'11100111'
p24 equ b'11011011'
p25 equ b'10111101'
p26 equ b'01111110'

This is the programming for the first 3 patterns, a 0 means that the light is on and a 1 means that it is off. Change those and recompile the program to a HEX file then load it to the PIC and you are set.

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD

jackhackett · Post by **jackhackett** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 6:22 pm

What kind of lights are you using, and what are you using to drive them?
Arrowstiks use a PIC controller, so with a little modification this circuit would be real close.

N2ZPY · Post by **N2ZPY** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 5:01 am

I haven't really decided on the other part of the lights. All that I have now is the circuit. It looked like a good project for one of these cold northeast nights. I am thinking about ordering more of the yellow LEDs from digikey and making my own bars to go in the front and rear windows of my truck.

There are some other pictures of it on my server here ....
http://n2zpy.catskill.net/backer/

So far I have about $25 in parts for the controller from digikey and another $40 in the PIC programmer that I ordered from Velleman (K8048)

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD

N2ZPY · Post by **N2ZPY** » Thu Feb 19, 2004 6:14 am

Opinion about LEDs to use if I build my own bar.......

I have narrowed it down to 2 different LEDs that I am looking at for this project. Both are from Fairchild Semiconductor. The first is part # MV8317 and the second is MV8306. The 8317 is a 5500 mcd with a 12deg viewing angle. The 8306 is a 3500 mcd with a 20 deg angle. Which should I go with? I am thinking that the 12 deg angle is not going to be a big deal when a car is 150-200' behind my truck. Either way is a compromise............angle or brightness.

Thanks

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD

N2ZPY · Post by **N2ZPY** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 4:21 pm

Well I have decided on the MV8317 LEDs that are 5500 mcd. I jsut ordered 1000 of them for $159 (enough to do 4 bars). I just sent in an order to digikey for a batch of N-channel MOSFETs to do the switching and a 6 position rotary for the pattern selection.

Kevin
N2ZPY
BCFD