New total redesigned LED taillights with complete microprocessor control - Oct 3, 2006
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Taillight Redesign
1) My plan is to mold the taillights into the bumper and body, but with light bulbs that blow,
it is not feasible so I wanted to scrap the bulbs permanently... my solution, LEDs.
3mm and 5mm LEDs are too small so I went hefty. I went for 10mm LEDs.
2) I have a set of taillights to use for modifications.
I will be drilling 10mm mountings in the backs of the covers so bulbs will not be needed anymore.
3) I ordered a nightvision, wide-angle pinhole rear-view camera that will be added
to the drivers side in the same location as the keyhole would be on the passenger side to match.
Since I have already got the screens in the car, it is an easy add.
4) If I am going this far, I figured, why not get rid of the bulky designed sequential taillights
I did nearly one year ago since it is huge, uses a lot of circuitry and a whole pile of relays to
accomplish one simple function? The old design is a CMOS digital IC mess using 8 chips and a huge
circuit board and all it does is sequential turn signals and hazzards?
Now my new design uses 2 chips and it is reprogrammable on the fly with a laptop and I will not
need any more relays since I am ridding myself of the tail light bulbs.
5) I figured, if I can do THIS much, why not reprogram the ENTIRE taillights to simulate the
true vehicle functions and added a new feature too, sequential brake lights. They scroll
on and stay lit when the brakes are pressed. I had to account for all input conditions
so I needed to take into account the dim taillight condition when the headlight switch is on.
In digital, you have ON and OFF... you cannot dim with that so I had to use a PWM
( pulse width modulation ) signal to high frequency oscillate the end LEDs when the circuit
detected the headlights were on.
Here is the Excel spreadsheet I created to track all input & output conditions and prioritize
them as well as create the basic vehicle functions and equations;
View the Excel data Sheet
Lastly, I then added my own custom input to use for my show mode to do ANY kind of cool features
and light patterns my heart can program. I am actually just taking a break from writing the
show lights program right now.
You can see this is adding up to alot of work!! But I figure I needed a challenge to push my
limits and this will do....
Special Thanks to Chuck Hellebuyck at Elproducts.com for helping me get started
using the PIC16F876A microprocessor and expanding my electronic capabilites.
To learn more about programming microprocessors in simple BASIC I highly recommend you grab Chucks book and a copy of PICBASIC PRO
To see a copy of my program to control my taillights in PICBasic Pro click here.