HOW-TO: DIY "Phantom" Side Indicator.

IAmOrion said:
A simple Zener diode should suffice yes, I just didn't have any at the time of putting this together so thought I should make that point very clear :)
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It just needs to be a plain diode wired in series, a 1W should clear it, but to be safe probably go a little higher. If you use a zener diode, depending upon the value of the zener it may drop too much voltage if wired in series and if you wire it in parallel you will need a resister to limit it from damage which will dissipate unnecessary heat.
 
Magicarcher said:
It just needs to be a plain diode wired in series, a 1W should clear it, but to be safe probably go a little higher. If you use a zener diode, depending upon the value of the zener it may drop too much voltage if wired in series and if you wire it in parallel you will need a resister to limit it from damage which will dissipate unnecessary heat.
Click to expand...

True, however the voltage drop should be negligible since the arduino nano can operate from 6v - 20v
 
Magicarcher said:
It just needs to be a plain diode wired in series, a 1W should clear it, but to be safe probably go a little higher. If you use a zener diode, depending upon the value of the zener it may drop too much voltage if wired in series and if you wire it in parallel you will need a resister to limit it from damage which will dissipate unnecessary heat.
Click to expand...

Thinking about it more (it's been a long day) a zener diode in series will not work. In series it will give no protection as it will let current through both ways. If you are going to use a zener you would need to wire it in parallel with a ballast resister to protect it against reverse polarity, it isn't the way to go. A conventional diode in series is far simpler.
 
Magicarcher said:
Thinking about it more (it's been a long day) a zener diode in series will not work. In series it will give no protection as it will let current through both ways. If you are going to use a zener you would need to wire it in parallel with a ballast resister to protect it against reverse polarity, it isn't the way to go. A conventional diode in series is far simpler.
Click to expand...

You’re absolutely right, I’m having a senior moment today - a Zener diode is no good. Just a bog standard diode should do the trick. You could always use a dc dc buck converter to help protect the arduino (0.50p from Ali express) although from memory I can remember if they have polarity protection
 
IAmOrion said:
Magicarcher said:
It just needs to be a plain diode wired in series, a 1W should clear it, but to be safe probably go a little higher. If you use a zener diode, depending upon the value of the zener it may drop too much voltage if wired in series and if you wire it in parallel you will need a resister to limit it from damage which will dissipate unnecessary heat.
Click to expand...

True, however the voltage drop should be negligible since the arduino nano can operate from 6v - 20v
Click to expand...
Regardless, a standard rectifier diode like a 1N4004 is the correct part to use for reverse polarity protection in this instance. You may however want to install a TVS diode (perhaps 18V rated?) to protect from any spikes on the 12V power lines.

Edit: I forgot to say good work. I did some wanky (and I'm not being derogatory when I say that) lights like this on a previous car but I have no desire to do it on the Zed :D
 
The printed parts could be useful to sell for anyone thinking of doing it. I was just going to seal in strip but this looks much neater.
 
Scooba_Steve said:
The printed parts could be useful to sell for anyone thinking of doing it. I was just going to seal in strip but this looks much neater.
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Someone did ask, I said £10 (+ £2.90 postage)
 
Magicarcher said:
Don't want to be a killjoy, because I love what you have done and Audi indicators are my favourite. but what is the legal/MOT/Insurance implications.
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As long as they are amber in colour they are completely legal. I have chase indicators on my front headlights which passed the MOT without question.

Very nice work James, and a great write up. I'd be interested in doing something like this to match my chasing headlights. Being less well versed in this kind of stuff it took me back to my Electronics lessons in school (which I went on to fail) so I'm a bit bamboozled by much of the technical talk going on in here.

I suspect that the strips I used for my chasing indicators would be equally adept at achieving the effect without me needing to know very much of the technical side of things. As they are amber in colour and come with the drivers needed for the chase sequence, I could simply cut them down to size, whack them in and wire them to the indicators as I did with the fronts.
 
Scooba_Steve said:
The Nano is not expensive but could you get away with using one and connecting it to the loom behind the LCM?
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Don't think so, as although each lamp is on a seperate output, but they share the same input to the LCM which is also the same input for other lamps, if you know what I mean..

Mike
 
Hi everyone,

Really glad to have found this topic as I recently came up with an idea to install sequential indicators to my zed and was surprised to find such an amazing tutorial :) I had anticipated my version to be much simpler, but after reading the thread now, I think I might follow the OP's instructions! Thanks for writing this up!

Also, I have tried to download the 3d templates for the parts made, but the links are no longer valid. Would be OP be kind to re-share the files with us again, please? :) Thanks in advance!
 
Xter21 said:
Hi everyone,

Really glad to have found this topic as I recently came up with an idea to install sequential indicators to my zed and was surprised to find such an amazing tutorial :) I had anticipated my version to be much simpler, but after reading the thread now, I think I might follow the OP's instructions! Thanks for writing this up!

Also, I have tried to download the 3d templates for the parts made, but the links are no longer valid. Would be OP be kind to re-share the files with us again, please? :) Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I'll take a look now - I'd forgotten they were hosted on a now redundant server! I'll get the files and post back shortly
 
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