Thread: Control things and display status of things

Yeah, i have (except the one with seat belts ). But that means something like putting sensors all over ther car.

Some cars have these built in, but if you have something older and less equipped, you'll have to do it yourself.

When it comes to programming, it should be fairly easy if you can do some simple C/C++ or VB.

Btw, thats a REALLY stupid nick you got there...

I wanted to do this, but I do not like the idea of so many systems in my car being dependant upon my PC, since I feel there is a high probability of my PC failing at any point (even though all of the stuff is new, including the keypower power supply). I'd rather set something like that up with logic gates...and then have it trigger an ISD1000A voice playback chip connected to a powered speaker in the car somewhere.

Well that can be accomplished by using OR gates (right?).

So that you can use both the pc control and normal handles...

Sure...the nice thing about the ISD1000a is that it can be trigger by a single high signal to playback the message recorded on it. It's not CD quality of course but its about telephone-quality. OR gates would do the trick if you wanted to do it with a PC or some other means. I'm not sure how door sensors work...some kind of IR sensor maybe?

for door sensors you could use a heavy duty normally closed momentary switch.. the same kind of switch that is normally used to detect if your door is open to turn on the lights

It shouldn't be any more complicated that using a kind of circuit. Door is open -> circuit is broken, and then you are alerted.

I think most cars have switches on each door that are used to turn the dome light on.

Would that work for you?

TruckinMP3

Originally posted by TruckinMP3
I think most cars have switches on each door that are used to turn the dome light on.

Yup that's exactly what i was talking about.

You could probably just tap into that switch I think

Inorder to get those sensors to communicate with the PC you'll need a microcontroller. For the doors, all you need is a switch. For windsheld fluid, you can build a bubble switch much like the thing in your toilet tank. If you want, you can even controller the power windows, power trunk, power mirrows etc... Just find the switch and connect that to the microcontroller's output pins.