Thread: Controlling LEDs through Car PC??

This might be a turnkey solution that's <$50:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/i...roducts_id=239

Have not used it myself, so I don't know if it's any good.

They have another board to encode pushbuttons if you don't want to hack a keyboard, too.

Originally Posted by KaBoOoM

I think one of the reasons neon lights, LED's, and etcetera might be different than a light bulb is because they work differently. Light bulbs don't really have a minimum voltage, they glow red when low and shine light when high. Neon lights may need a minimum voltage because they're plasma, not resistance wires.

*Edit* Oh also on neon lights I think a transformer is used to bump the voltage up over a couple thousand volts, so I don't know how changing the voltage going in would affect that.

Don't take my word for it though, that's just what comes to mind when I read that heh...

That's what I was thinking of, if they have a strike voltage or not when they first turn on.

Originally Posted by ModRT04

Thanks a ton. But just so I understand the basics of that board, you plug each of the power wires into a relay on the board. Then plug the board into the PC and write the software that tells the computer when to turn each relay on and off?

Yeah, basically run power to it, then connect the parrallel port to it and open and close the relays to the various devices. You could use the following one too (cheaper)

http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/i....f?category=35

But there are a lot of kits like this (or DIY schematics).

You just want to turn stuff on and off right?

Originally Posted by RedOctober

This might be a turnkey solution that's <$50:

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/i...roducts_id=239

Have not used it myself, so I don't know if it's any good.

They have another board to encode pushbuttons if you don't want to hack a keyboard, too.

that looks like the solution to everyones problem who wants easy controlled lighting/things in a car


the software has two main screens. one pops up on top of the other. Here's a pic




very, VERY interesting. If we could integrate the second screen it would be done. better if we can hide it and create a road runner skin. looks easy to do since it accepts commands sent to it.

Originally Posted by Ruffy

that looks like the solution to everyones problem who wants easy controlled lighting/things in a car...

Having spent time designing, coding, fabing PCBs, over and over again on my lighting project over the years, I can say it's not a bad deal at all.

Though I doubt it's any good for anything but leds. Pretty sure those outputs won't drive a relay. If it's shunted, you could probably drive one using multiple outputs, but I doubt if those outputs are meant to supply more than 20ma each.

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

Having spent time designing, coding, fabing PCBs, over and over again on my lighting project over the years, I can say it's not a bad deal at all.

Though I doubt it's any good for anything but leds. Pretty sure those outputs won't drive a relay. If it's shunted, you could probably drive one using multiple outputs, but I doubt if those outputs are meant to supply more than 20ma each.

according to the specs, if you wire it for power you can get 500ma per output, if its not powered it will share 500ma among all of the outputs(bleh)

but powered it's more than enough for all our needs and then some.

relays, lamps, many many lighting options are available with this now. It truly seems like the perfect solution for its given price.

I'll be ordering one soon.

specs/pdf here
http://groovygamegear.com/PDF/LEDWIZ_INSTALL.pdf

Originally Posted by shotgunefx

That's what I was thinking of, if they have a strike voltage or not when they first turn on.



Yeah, basically run power to it, then connect the parrallel port to it and open and close the relays to the various devices. You could use the following one too (cheaper)

http://www.electronics123.com/s.nl/i....f?category=35

But there are a lot of kits like this (or DIY schematics).

You just want to turn stuff on and off right?

That's exactly what I need, because it can control the 12v power supply. Now it says it has software that runs in windows, can I somehow skin that into my frontend (I don't have ne yet, so I guess what I'm asking is what front end is easiest to add software like this to?)

If I power it, that looks like it will work, I will be running 4 lines of 6 LED's each and a few more lines attached to some neons. I don't want to dim anything, just turn it on and off so this should be perfect. Now for the front end? Which front end can I use to tie the software into so I can easily control my lights from the front end? (The cops in my area give us about 2 seconds to turn them off or they turn on some lights of their own.)

Originally Posted by Ruffy

according to the specs, if you wire it for power you can get 500ma per output, if its not powered it will share 500ma among all of the outputs(bleh)

but powered it's more than enough for all our needs and then some.

relays, lamps, many many lighting options are available with this now. It truly seems like the perfect solution for its given price.

I'll be ordering one soon.

Guess I should have read it

Definitely handy. If they had them when I started my lighting project, I probably wouldn't have. I probably would have just used a few of those.