RF keyfob remotes for adhoc steering wheel controls?

**archimense** · 11-05-2004, 03:07 PM

I had a quick look and hadn't seen anyone mention this before...

I would like to have steering wheel controls for FrodoPlayer or MediaCar or whatever, and my car does not have existing steering wheel controls for me to hack into.

What I was thinking was using one or two RF keyfob remotes mounted on the steering wheel. These could be hooked up to the PC through the serial port, or through a microcontroller hooked up to the serial port.

I know you can get IR steering wheel controls, but then I would also need an IRMan or some sort of IR receiver for my PC. And I just think IR sucks... :P

Any opinions?

Here are some links...

http://momentumfire.com/RF_Remote_System.html

http://www.rfdigital.com/subcategory...b_Transmitters

**Zac** · 11-05-2004, 04:11 PM

You would need something to interface the output from the RF receiver to the PC.
You can search google/mp3car and find tons of parallel, serial, etc IO/relay boards, but I'd suggest USB and a search of the board shows Phidgets's USB stuff a popular way to interface. The outputs on the reciever would be tied into the inputs on this board. You can probally buy the reciever without the relays to save money...just hook em straight up using the pinout on the reciver's page.

The Phidgets part is:
http://www.phidgets.com/index.php?mo...121.111&IID=57
You can even add relays easily to it later if you decide you want to control other parts of your car via the carputer. There seems to be plenty of tutorials on their page describing how to use their parts.

Good luck with it....

**archimense** · 11-05-2004, 05:26 PM

Yeah I'm not too worried about interfacing to the PC. You could do it with just about any microcontroller.

I was really just wondering if anyone thought I was crazy for trying to do steering wheel controls this way.

**HybridFox** · 11-05-2004, 05:49 PM

no your not crazey

if i was you i'd leave comp at full blast all the time the get an in-line rotary volume knob. attach the knob to a small moter and then use the rf thing to control the moter

wa-la!
thats my quick fix of the day

-Lane

**Naamanf** · 11-05-2004, 06:00 PM

Or if you are really motivated you can buy an r/f remote, install micro switches into you steering wheel, and then connect them to the remote. I have seen it done a couple ways and if done right it can be pretty slick.

**HybridFox** · 11-05-2004, 06:02 PM

yes i assumed he was doing that (merely because its what i would do)

**e_z_street** · 11-05-2004, 06:12 PM

Cool idea, I have SW controls for cruise control and don't want to mod those, but I would like to add extra buttons for pc control. I was thinking wired though.

**HybridFox** · 11-05-2004, 07:04 PM

hey yeah

i guess you could just wire up a switch trough your car bat to operate the moter(throw a rellay in there) saving some money and simplifying things

**archimense** · 11-05-2004, 07:57 PM

My plan was to buy two remotes so I could have 8 buttons. Each remote would be on a seperate channel, and so I would also need two receivers. But that would total about $30 so no big deal.

Pull the remotes out of the casings, and hook in my own buttons that I could mount on the steering wheel. Then mount the actual rf transmitters at the back of the steering wheel, with the wires from the new buttons running to them. I want to wire up my own buttons because I don't like the button layouts of the cheap $15 keyfob remotes.

Then have use my old Basic Stamp 2 that I have lying around to interface with the two rf receviers. Then the Basic Stamp would be hooked up through serial to my PC. Then I could use Girder, or write some C++ in Windows to interpret whatever protocol I code the Basic Stamp to send to the PC serial port.

There may be cheaper ways to do this instead of getting two keyfob remotes and two receivers, but all of the other transmitters I've seen that aren't keyfob are too big for me to mount on my steering wheel.

**kefka_killer** · 11-09-2004, 09:28 PM

Hmm this gives me an idea. I work at a custom motorcycle shop and switch housings for handlebar switches might be a very viable option for what you are looking for. They usually only have 3 switches on each side with one button larger or oriented differently than others(ie prev and skip). You could bolt them on the actual wheel of your or depending on your steering wheel one of the struts to the wheel. The housings can come in a variety of styles and colors(or chrome if thats your thing.) Note that like carpcs, very few things on a motorcycle are cheap. Stop by your local motorcycle shop and see what kind of switch housings they have or if they have any used ones.