Ashtray Power/LED panel :D

ShinkunoNamida · 06-27-2002, 01:02 AM

left top: HDD LED
left bottom: PWR LED
middle top: reset
middle bottom: power
right: power kill switch

all wired up to a cat5 cable which connects to an RJ-45 mounted where the aux usb port would go.

and the rj45 is wired to the connectors for the headers on the mobo

I'll take photos tomorrow when i put it back in my car

The reset switch isn't working right.. I couldn't get the solder to bond to it so I'll have to try to redo it..

edit: btw.. If you couldn't tell all of these photos were taken at my bench and not in the car

THEMP3KID · 06-27-2002, 01:54 AM

I was going to do a similar thing with the ashtrays in teh 2 back doors, but just have headphone sockets, maybe usb, and a serial port in one of them.. I see some one beat me to actually doing it though.. :P

ShinkunoNamida · 06-27-2002, 02:20 AM

Originally I was going to do a full I/O panel in the back seat, I still may do that

Now I'm building everything into the dash though, so it'll be much sexier

The ashtray is actually temporary untill I have time to work on redoing the dash.

THEMP3KID · 06-27-2002, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ShinkunoNamida
Originally I was going to do a full I/O panel in the back seat, I still may do that

Now I'm building everything into the dash though, so it'll be much sexier

The ashtray is actually temporary untill I have time to work on redoing the dash.

Okay, kewl, you got any tips on building the sockets and stuff into the ashtray?

ShinkunoNamida · 06-27-2002, 09:33 AM

I used a dvd case for the materials.. A dremel to cut the holes (this was kind of tricky because it vibrated violently)

Next I soldered the leads to the buttons and LEDs. Then I hotglued them to make sure nothing gets crossed up.

I simply hotglued the vinyl to the ashtray casing for a semipermanent mounting. This way if i need to fix or change anything i can pull it off, remove the hot glue and re-apply it later on

final tip: don't dremel in your bedroom, it is very very messy

THEMP3KID · 06-28-2002, 07:19 AM

Quote:

final tip: don't dremel in your bedroom, it is very very messy

BAHH!!! you wouldn't be able to see it for the rest of the rubbish in my room anyway.. :P

RaZor · 06-28-2002, 10:35 AM

NICE! i want to do something similar. what does it take to make it so that when a switch is on, an led lights up?? 1 led, and 1 switch...do i need a resistor?? also, i wire the led to the ground, correct? thanks.

ShinkunoNamida · 06-28-2002, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RaZor
1 led, and 1 switch...do i need a resistor?? also, i wire the led to the ground, correct? thanks.

Well, my buttons and LEDs are wired to the headers on the mobo.. as I attempted (although rather poorly as I look now) to explain, the LEDs and buttons are soldered to a cat5 cable that runs to an RJ45 that i mounted on my case. The RJ45 is wired to the connectors that go to the headers on the mother board. The ATX power switch is spliced so that I can still use the power switch on the case itself.

I'm not sure what your application is.. Are you just looking to make a power switch with an LED? the button on the right is a 12v auto power switch that has an LED built into it that I am using for a power master kill switch.

If you are wiring to the mobo you don't need to use resistors, if you are using it for some other application you need to do some simple computations to figure out what size resistor to use.

I've never been big on terminology but here's basically how to figure it out.[list=1][*]First you need to know the voltage and current requirements of the LED (this should be on the package)[*]V = voltage of the line you are working with - voltage drop on LED (the voltage the LED requires)[*]V=IR (voltage(V) = current(I) x resistance(R)) ergo R=V/I[*]the resistance value = (line voltage - LED voltage) / (amp requirement of LED)[/list=1]

Errr.. I hope that makes sense.. I tried my best to use laymens terms.

RaZor · 06-30-2002, 02:46 AM

sorry to lose you, but the application will be for a switch that will turn on a power inverter which is wired to the car battery.

ShinkunoNamida · 06-30-2002, 01:21 PM

I"m not so sure what you need then, I think what you want is a lighted AC switch, though i may be wrong.

ShinkunoNamida · 07-05-2002, 05:27 PM

Well In this 100ºF week we've had.. the glue melted

I had used hot glue since I only wanted it to be semiperminent.

I'd be upset, but is wasn't meant to be permanent anyway.. the master power kill is not wired yet and I'm not sure yet if I want that to be the final home of all that.. ESP since I may be making a din sized computer.

MP3DUB · 07-05-2002, 11:53 PM

yeah, I had the hot glue that held the cat5 jacks in my remote come loose after a week or two of mid 90's weather. time for the 2 ton expoxy

and are those switches from radio shack? or a local electronics place? I need some "nice" plain black momentary switches for my new remote, rather than the ugly radioshack ones i have now, and haven't started to look around yet.

ShinkunoNamida · 07-06-2002, 01:50 AM

they are indeed from radio shack as there is NO local shops as far as I can tell.. If anybody knows of one in the area please let me know

Dan95five0 · 03-01-2008, 09:26 AM

can you post pics of this again?

i want to make the same switch/led panel for my car using the same cable .

thanks

audiology · 03-06-2008, 06:46 PM

i did the same with my car except mines connects with a Cat6 cable to both M2 ATX and Mobo jumpers.

for some reason the M2 ATX does not allow for hard reset.