#62784 - 11/16/04 03:07 AM
auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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hey, my dad has a 02 aztek, and i kind of like his auto on/off lights, for the exterior.. anyone know of a way i can wire up a system similar to that, for my 95 EJ? i have a habit of turning my lights on, on my way in to work, and leaving them on, once i get there, and am out of my car.. what i'm thinking, is have them on, for, like, 1 minute, then fade off.. and maybe even see if i can get the interior lights to dim off, similarly to GM vehicles, too
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62786 - 11/16/04 08:42 PM
Re: auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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me and a friend have been working out a system.. what we're gonna do is have it so that the exterior lights stay on until you open the door, and then they dim to off.. as far as getting a UV sensing diode, to have the lights automatically turn themselves on and off.. if you guys want, i'll write up a how to, and get pics, if you want?
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62789 - 11/17/04 03:02 PM
Re: auto off lights
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IntenseCivic
Post Master Jr
Registered: 10/31/02
Posts: 1821
Loc: Southern Cali (OC)
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sounds pretty interesting. a vid would be cool too
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#62791 - 11/17/04 07:21 PM
Re: auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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i know what he's talking about, but it'd be expensive to wire, i believe.. you'd need a photovoltaic sensor, preferably in the form of a LED, mountable on, let's say, your dash, (where it is in the aztek), that, when it senses light, opens a circuit wired into your lights. to get them to auto off, you have to wire in either a timer, or a switch that'll wait until you open your door to turn them off. i'm also going to be wiring in a capacitor that will charge while the lights are on, and then make them dim off, once the power to them is cut. if you gimme a few days, i can get all the wiring schematics made up.. might be a week or two, before i find all the parts i need, and figure out someplace to put the new relays and everything
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62792 - 11/18/04 07:26 AM
Re: auto off lights
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rbf351
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/23/00
Posts: 16200
Loc: Manalapan, NJ
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Quote:
Quote:
all you need is the proper light sensor
Care to elaborate Mr. Smartypants...
i would if you were being an asshat, but since you couldn't ask nicely i will not post the exact parts or instruction on how to do this
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#62794 - 11/18/04 04:00 PM
Re: auto off lights
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yomuppet
Poster
Registered: 11/26/03
Posts: 228
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I'd be very interested in this as well 
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#62795 - 11/18/04 07:24 PM
Re: auto off lights
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SamuraiSam
Post Master Sr
Registered: 07/29/02
Posts: 8828
Loc: Bellingham, WA
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its VERY simple to have the headlights shut off when you remove the key or have it in "off", this has been in cars for 15+yrs, i don't know where you need to use a photovolaic sensor..
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#62797 - 11/19/04 10:06 AM
Re: auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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not only am i talking about it fading off, but i am thinking of setting it up, so i can add in another circuit, so that the lights turn on and off, on their own, therefore introducing the need of the sensor. now, the way it's going to work, right now, is i turn off the car, the lights stay on until i open the door, when i open the door, the lights will stay on for a few more seconds, gotta play with capacitor size to get the time perfect, and then it should dim as the power drains from the cap. i'll have an extra circuit in there, where i should just be able to plug in the extra relay, to get it to use the photovoltaic sensor, and do the lights on it's own.
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62798 - 11/19/04 02:06 PM
Re: auto off lights
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SiHatch
Jr Member
Registered: 01/08/00
Posts: 596
Loc: Edmonton, Alberta
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I don't really know how much you've looked into this, but I think you will find that the capacitor will drain much to quickly. I looked into doing something very similar a while ago. I only wanted the interior dome light to fade off. I didn't get very far, because after a few calculations, I found out that I would need a pretty good sized capacitor.
Essentially the idea is you put a capacitor in parallel with the light(s). When they turn on, the battery charges the capacitor as well as lights the light (the charging of the capacitor should take very little time). When the battery is disconnected, the capacitor discharges and lights the light for some time depending on the light (resistance) and the capacitor size.
In my calculations, I used a 20W light (which is fairly small). This gives an approx. resistance of 7.2 ohms. The actual resistance will be slightly different because the light is a complex load (resistive and reactive).
Using a 0.1F capacitor (relatively large), the light (20W) would fade to off in about 1 second. It wouldn't really be a nice fade either. It would fade to half it's brightness in about 0.25 seconds. I haven't really looked into buying large capacitors that much, but generally capacitors that you get at electronic stores are in the microfarad or nanofarad range.
I will post up the graph when I get home.
Anyways, good luck. If you get it to work somewhat reasonably, post how you did it.
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#62799 - 11/19/04 03:07 PM
Re: auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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so.. i'll set up a timer circuit, and i was actually planning on using a bank of capacitors (.05f), but if those won't work, i can always figure out another way to do it..
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62800 - 11/19/04 05:17 PM
Re: auto off lights
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SiHatch
Jr Member
Registered: 01/08/00
Posts: 596
Loc: Edmonton, Alberta
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I don't know why you would use a bank of capacitors. I doubt it's any cheaper buying a bunch of small capacitors rather than 1 bigger one.
I found a capacitor that's 100000uF and 16V. It would work well for a small light (<20W like I said earlier). It's only $11, but it's 1.75 in diameter and 2.5 inches in length.
Here's the data sheet if your interested: http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/EU042/0499.pdf
I don't think that you will be able to make all of the lights fade out using capacitors though. You will definatly need some sort of timer and most likely some other way to store energy temporarily (instead of a capacitor).
Anyways, like I said good luck (in a non-sarcastic way). I hope you figure it out.
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#62802 - 11/20/04 01:21 AM
Re: auto off lights
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OniFactor
Jr Poster
Registered: 03/02/04
Posts: 91
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awesome, dude.. that may just be what i need.. thanks alot!
_________________________
"Oh! I feel so delightfully white trash! Mummy, I want a mullet!"
"I felt guilty once, but she woke up halfway through."
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#62804 - 12/16/04 07:54 PM
Re: auto off lights
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_vti
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/07/03
Posts: 21137
Loc: Yurp
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#62806 - 12/28/04 10:56 AM
Re: auto off lights
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SiAdam
Post Master Supreme
Registered: 07/22/01
Posts: 19269
Loc: WV
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#62808 - 01/07/05 05:40 PM
Re: auto off lights
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nose_picker
Newbie
Registered: 05/25/03
Posts: 60
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Quote:
just hook up a relay to your ignition so when your ignition is on your headlights/parkinglights come on..... not hard :/
That would be the way to go, at least in CA. A new law effective 1/1/05 says you need to have your headlights on if it's raining, or if visibility is less than 1000 feet. So unless you get a rain-sensor from your local Mini dealership, you'll still have to turn the lights on manually, which will never happen once it becomes habit to rely on the photovoltaic cell to turn them on automatically.
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#9193188 - 11/21/17 01:18 PM
Re: auto off lights
[Re: HCivic02]
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mono
Newbie
Registered: 11/21/17
Posts: 4
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