Thread: Control 12v devices with your computer

The 8 blue cubes on the board are relays. They act just like switches. You wire the relay's contacts to the same connections as your moonroof switch. If you're trying to kill power to the switch, then you would need to find the power line going to the switch and splice the relay into that wire. Your profile doesn't say what kind of car you have so I can't give you more detail than that. If you want to read up on how relays work, visit: http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relays.asp.

yeah i know the concept about realys but if i push my switch to my moonroof and i leave my finger on it when the window is fully shut you hear the motor of the moonroof still going. so i was wanting to know if using that would make that motor keep going cus of the constant power to the motor. or if you could tell me about a device that shuts the power off to the motor when it fully shuts. thanks sorry for lack of information (96 honda accord 2 dr)

Usually they are configurable with time. You may be albe to define the motor to stay on for 5 seconds, or w/e amount u desire. the funny thing about that controlller is - oyu don't need a pic. 8 relays? Hook them up with a transistor to the 8 output pins! Voila. Much cheaper to build yhouw own. Probably $10-$15.

Since the relay is doing nothing more than duplicating your switch, then yeah, it will keep the power to the motor going while the slip gear just spins as long as the contacts are closed.

KyleYankan's right about timing it. You could determine the maximum amount of time it takes to close from fully open. Since it would be hooked up to your CarPC, you could have it time the closure and shutoff when that time is reached. If you had the moonroof open only halfway, then the slipgear would spin for just a little bit.

If you really want it to stop when it reaches fully closed, there are at least three ways I know to do it. The first is with a closure switch to cut power or signal the computer that the moonroof is fully closed, regardless of where it is in the timing cycle. The closure switch can be a mechanical microswitch, a magnet and reed switch, or an optical beambreaker.

The second is you could measure the motor's load. The motor will sharply increase its current draw when it reaches the extent of its travel. This is a bit more complex. This method can also be used to stop the motor when something is blocking the moonroof from closing.

The third is to measure the motor's speed with a circuit similar to: http://www.piclist.com/techref/au/ne...id/encoder.htm. When the pulses stop, the motor has reached the end of its travel.

Hope this was helpful.

I have that board, and I wrote some software to control it. Everything is for sale, so PM me if you want it.