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What did you use to keep the bezel attached after you hacked off the top portion?
I am doing a PC install myself, and the last step is the monitor mount. My plan ios to hack out the entire top and create a box from sheet metal that will hinge and hold the monitor, so it can easily be removed.
Sorry for the late reply Randal, I kind of got busy here and wasn't able to work on my project or get on here to check my post. The bezel (faceplate is attached to the cradle which is hinged on the left side and will have an actuator attached to the right side. When the actuator is pulled in.
No worries, sometimes life comes before forums!
I meant after you hacked off the top, which I just did, what you were using to keep the rest of the dash up there. I don't have power windows and it just falls towards me. I used some little pieces of luan for now, till my monitor holder is finished.
I see what you're saying now. I haven't used anything because I have the snap-in attachments just below the edge that I cut (I'll take a picture of it to post.
So I was doing a little trial and error the past few days. I temporarily wired up an auto door-lock actuator to the impulse relay. It worked perfect except for one thing. Door lock actuators do not have internal limit switches so you cannot have constant power going to it or it will melt the internal winding which causes the magic smoke to be released. And everyone knows it's not good once the magic smoke has been released. Luckily the 2-wire door lock actuator only cost me $9.00. I bought a 5-wire as well so I'm wondering if these have internal limit switches. If not, I could wire the actuator through the momentary push button as well (to the same push button as the impulse relay) since it has a very short length of travel (stroke). I would just have to hold the button in until it was fully opened (not even a second). The problem with this is the door lock actuator becomes loose after the voltage is released. That's fine when it opens, but when it closes it will be loose and could fall open. I think the only way I would us the door lock actuator is if I combined it with a magnet or something to keep it closed. This way it will stay closed after I release the button.
Since I'm still in research mode, I decided to go back to the DVD ejection tray and see if I can get it to work as an actuator. I found out that it will work on 12VDC so I don't need a DC-DC step down transformer (voltage reducer). I hacked up the DVD ejection tray to minimize the space needed.
Full DVD player taken from old DVD-VHS player
Attachment 66876
Attachment 66877
Pulled out the guts so just left with ejection tray mechanism/motor
Attachment 66878
Attachment 66880
hacked and shortened the tray
Attachment 66879
Here you can see the two limit switches (OP SW and CL SW). At first I thought these were normally closed switches but that would have been too easy. It turns out they are normally open switches and they share a common wire. My theory on how this worked is, when the switch was hit (by the white bar) it closed a circuit sending voltage back to the main circuit board telling it to open the circuit that supplies power to the motor. It was wired this way because both switches can be in the open postitoin at the same time (as in the picture). But only one can be closed at a time. So I had to figure out how I can use the two limit switches in my set up.
Attachment 66881
In this diagram I have an impulse relay, a standard vehicle relay, a momentary push button and a DVD ejection tray motor with two normally open limit switches. I know it's a little confusing but I did it in powerpoint so I was limited in my drawing abilities. Keep in mind that the diagram shows ejection tray motor in the energized position. As soon as the tray reaches either end (all the open or all the way closed) it will energize the coil of the standard relay and open the circuit. One thing I'll have to look at is if the coil on the standard relay is continuous or not (if if can always have power to it). Also the power will be wired into the ignition power so when the Jeep is off, it doesn't drain my battery (diagram shows it wired directly to battery).
Attachment 66888
Here's a couple pics of an impulse relay just for reference. You can see that there are two micro switches attached to the relay. Both switches have a common, a normally open and a normaly closed position. The switches are positioned on the relay in such a way that one switch will always be in the normally open position and the other will always be in the normally closed. When the coil get voltage it triggers a mechanism and causes the two switches to swap positions.
Attachment 66885
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Remeber all this is so I can open and close the actuator with a push of one momentary button. If you prefer to use a DPDT rocker switch you won't need any relays at all.
So now that I have the wiring figured out, it's time to test it. I'll report the findings later. Hopefully it will be successful!
@ RandallFlagg - I tried to take a picture but it just didn't come out good. I have the snap-in clips located on both ends of the a/c controls. I'm wondering if the electric windows wiring harness is what's holding the vent section of the console up. I would suggest using some small flat earth magnets like these to hold it in place. They are super strong and would work perfect for your situation. You would need four of them. Attach one on each top corner of the console and one on the corresponding spot on the dash.
Well the wiring schematic didn't work like I thought. I see where I went wrong. As soon as one of the limit switches is hit, the standard relay coil is energized and I loose power to the ejection motor. I won't get anything to the motor as long as that coil is energized. I decided to go a more simpler route and just use the impulse relay and run power through the momentary switch to the motor. In this configuration I have to hold the button down until the ejection tray is fully opened. It isn't bad because it takes about a second for the tray to open.
Attachment 66891
Nice use of old hardware, this will be really neat when completed. Any progress?
I actually have about 40-50 magnets from HDD's and those would be a good use for me.
