b1b2b3

Hey all, i really dont think this is the right place to be to be asking this, or even the right site, but anyway I will ask and hope that someone can help me.

What I was wondering, is it possible for me to splice multiple neons to one music sensor to make the neons pulse to the music?

Hopefully someone can help me out here .

Sorry again for posting something that isn't really related.

ArcaneDreams

The only pulsing neons I have seen are the sound activated ones. Which really..if you have your music moderately loud, they will simply stay on and not flash.

Unless you can find some sort of external controller that reads the actual audio signal for beat detection.

I would also not recommend neons if you are doing the inside of your car.

These will give a much better result than neons.
http://www.oznium.com/led-ribbon

b1b2b3

thanks for the reply. Those strips look interesting. I was probably going to use LED neons though, so they'll be bright enough.

The sound activated ones are the ones that I might, and you can get sensors which you can adjust the sensitivity, so making it less sensitive will allow louder music and the neons to still pulse.

2k1Toaster

"LED neons" dont exist .

LEDs dont use gas like neon to make light. You are probably referring to LEDs placed in a tube to look like a neon tube.

Either way sort of ricy, but the way to make them pulse to the music is as Arcane suggests and reading the actual music directly from the low level lines. Then if you want pulsing only when louder than x, just put a comparator with the vref signal being the cutoff point for the neons. The signal from the comparator goes to a relay (or lots of relays) and that to your lights.

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b1b2b3

Yes, i know that there aren't LED Neons as such, i was just referring to the LED's in a tube. What does ricy mean anyway?

How would I go about readng the 'low level lines', and connecting them to my LED's In A Tube.

CarComp

There are many ways to control lighting using your computer. You won't end up with that ricey "pulsing" effect that sucks. Winamp has a lot of plugins (if you use mediaengine or roadrunner) that work with DJ lighting systems, as well as a few simpler ones that flash your keyboard lights (caps lock etc) to the music. Its just a little soldering and boom you have a lighting control that will run 3 lights arrays.

Here is the link to the the keyboard controller..
http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details/58104

Another link for a killer winamp light cube controller
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...ization+winamp

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ArcaneDreams

Trust me, I have used those crappy neons, and these LEDs. The LEDs by FAR are better.

Here is an image of them in action.







The neons are the only ones that look ghetto. Plus, neons do not handle contrasting weather very well. You will end up replacing them around every 3 months..doubly so if anyone kicks them.

The LEDs are very very tiny, and are made for automotive use.
They come in strips you can cut to any length..plus they are cheaper, and use less energy.

But, I guess some people will continue to use neons regardless of good advice.

2k1Toaster

while good advice above, I dont think the OP has a computer. Even though he should.

Anyways, the "comparator" I talked about above is a little IC. The "low level signals" is what goes from the headunit to the amp carries the audio which is a voltage. Amplitude varies with volume, and frequency varies with the music. Then the vref is a reference voltage. If you put a pot in there, you can adjust the level that makes the lights go off by adjusting the wiper.

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b1b2b3

I would love to put a computer in my car, but I'm not sure I'm ready to start pulling my car interior apart, and pulling apart a computer to make them fit. Doubt very much I could make it look as good as alot of people here have made theirs look. But i will be trying in the future, guaranteed . Anyway, thanks heaps for the info, I think I understand what to do, so I will give it a go when I find some well priced LED's!!! lol.
If, when I come to doing the install, I have more questions, I will be back here very quick to ask.

Thanks again .

CarComp

You can buy 100 high brightness LEDs with matched resistors on ebay for about 20 bucks.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fantastic-High-b...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/5mm-BLUE-LED-cle...QQcmdZViewItem

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ArcaneDreams

Those are not the same as I posted.

The ones I posted are tiny IC LEDs. They are very small squares.

b1b2b3

Hey thanks for the replies. Sorry I didn't get back sooner, I wasn't getting any email notifications :S. Anyway, I have been reading and reading, and I have got a problem, what does IC stand for? I know what a POT is, and I am thinking that I need to connect the POT and IC inline with the RCA's? Is this correct?

So far I know that I will need:
an IC (yet to find out what this is)
Relay
Lights of course
POT swtich to adjust the cutoff voltage, and therefore volume

This correct?

2k1Toaster

"IC" is a term to describe a broad range of "Integrated Circuits". That means any chip you see on a board, is an IC. There are a gagillion different kinds. A comparator is a kind of amplifier with high gain that just swings rail to rail essentially.

The kind you want has 2 inputs, 1 output, and needs 2 power sources (rails -- 1 vcc, and 1 ground). Input 1 will be a splice from the RCA. Input 2 comes from the pot's wiper. The other 2 pot terminals are connected to ground and vcc. Now the comparator will compare these 2 signals very very fast. If the voltage of the RCA is higher than the voltage coming from the pot, the output will be on (vcc for practicality), otherwise the output will be off (ground). Now if you turn the pot, the higher or lower this reference signal gets. So if the reference signal is higher, it needs more voltage on the RCA to be greater than the new reference voltage and turn the output on. So louder music only. If you make it less, then it takes less voltage to get over this new reference point, and now a greater range of volume will turn the output on. Take this output and connect to a transistor to beef up the signal (usually can only draw 10mA to 25mA from cheap comparators, small transistor will give the 500mA needed for a relay easily) and drive a relay. The relay is connected to your lights. Done.

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b1b2b3

wow, impressive 2k1 Toaster. The sad thing about all this is that I studied electronics at uni last year, and have found it to be the worst subject yet... although now that I am actually finding uses for it in the real world, I am wishing I paid more attention! argh haha.
I semi-understand what I need to do. I'm guessing I will probably have to make the circuit myself.. but that shouldn't be too hard, well in thoery anyway :P.

Thanks again everyone, hopefully I can work something out to get this going, otherwise I'll just take the easy way out and buy a light with the sound sensor thing lol. I want to do this though as it will be muh much more accurate and effective .

b1b2b3

Hey I think I found a circuit :O. Well 2 even, that I could use, I just wanted to check and see if this is what I want.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...=&SUBCATID=347

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...=&SUBCATID=347

I don't know about the second one so much, but I think the first one is exactly what I want?