to the electrical guys..

[twistedsymphony]

ok so you basically want the LEDs to turn on for 30 seconds after you've turned the car off correct?

That shouldn't be too difficult.

You can use the always fun, easy to find and incredibly cheap 555 timer and then wire it up in "Monostable" mode

for more information you can look here: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/555timer.htm

you can use the ACC line as your trigger and then the output can go straight to your LEDs...

Depending on how robust the specific 555 chip is the voltage supplied by your cars battery might be too much for it, in which case you might want to consider some small bit of additional circuitry such as a transformer or power regulator to absorb any spikes and dips the electrical system might experience.

You can get a 555 timer and probably everything else you need at your local radio shack for a couple bucks... (you can get it for pennies online).

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any other questions, I do electronics stuff all the time. the 555 is a great beginners tool for electronics, nearly every class on electronics will have you using a 555 and an LED in various configurations, even that link I posted above is from a highschool electronics club

[circmand]

If you have the lights go off after 30 seconds how do your passenfers find the handles when you all come back to the car from dinner etc? I mean when they get out they do not need the handles they need it when they are coming back so I do not see what the lights accomplish unless you wire them to your remote and they turn on when you unlock the car doors.

[Ldub]

Get a couple VX/Trooper domelights from a salvage yard & use the guts out of those to stay on, then stage down...the only drawback would be creating a dummy load or leaving the bulb in, so it would work properly.

[etlsport]

i meant the interior door handles.. exterior is no problem because i know where it is and i always open it for my ladies anyway


dub.. thats an idea i could probably come up with a way to use a stock circuit board from the dome lights.. only downside to them is i know for a fact that those dimmers are really rough on LEDs.. but i could look around for other cars that have similar timers without dimming.. then tie it in.. hmmmm

[Techy-D]

I'm not sure what size of capacitor you would need, but if these LED's are drawing low enough current, you could just put a capacitor in parallel with your LED/Resistor. When the 12VDC goes away, the capacitor would continue to feed the LED till it ran out of juice (It would even give you the slow fade effect). Just an idea.

I also you could check out this idea: Just look under "Power off time delay".
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...wden/page2.htm

[twistedsymphony]

for a fade effect you'd need to use a capacitor and transistor. that's pretty easy to do as well.

it's a more simplified version of this circuit

I also you could check out this idea: Just look under "Power off time delay".
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...wden/page2.htm

That wouldn't be bad if his desire was for the LEDs to be on 100% of the time while the VX is running and then just stay on for X amount of time after he shuts it off.

If the intent is for the LEDs to turn on when the VX is shut off and remain on for a minute then the 555 is the more appropriate option.

As for Dome lights.... most of the time the timer is built into a special relay that controls all of the interior lights, not just the dome light.

[Ldub]

As for Dome lights.... most of the time the timer is built into a special relay that controls all of the interior lights, not just the dome light.

Last I checked, unless aftermarket bits have been added, the dome light is "all of the interior lights"...
With the exception of the instrument cluster, glove box & ash tray, none of which dim wit da dome.

[twistedsymphony]

Last I checked, unless aftermarket bits have been added, the dome light is "all of the interior lights"...
With the exception of the instrument cluster, glove box & ash tray, none of which dim wit da dome.

I just checked the FSM (18D-13 and 18D-14) and it look like the "Room Lamp" assembly on the VX does actually have the timing relay built into it.

This is different from other cars I've worked on where kick panel and, map lights, or a 2nd dome light would illuminate as well.

Looking at the circuit the dome lights get triggered from the PRESCIENCE of Power. when you hit your keyless entry button or open a door it sends power to the dome light which will stay on for as long as there is power and fade out when the power disappears. If you use a dome light you'll have to figure out a way to emulate the keyless entry module which looks to have it's own timer to provide power to the dome for a few sections before allowing it to fade off.

if you were to make this work for the door handles you would have to find some way to emulate the timed pulse that the keyless entry provides (or as if you opened the door for a few seconds then closed it). Really it'd only be useful for the fade effect as you still need to create a "pulse" with something else to trigger it after the car is turned off and before you open the door.

I don't know why everyone is ignoring my 555 timer suggestion, it would serously take a beginner less than 10 minutes to solder it together

[Knigh7s]

I'm not sure what size of capacitor you would need, but if these LED's are drawing low enough current, you could just put a capacitor in parallel with your LED/Resistor. When the 12VDC goes away, the capacitor would continue to feed the LED till it ran out of juice (It would even give you the slow fade effect). Just an idea.

I also you could check out this idea: Just look under "Power off time delay".
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...wden/page2.htm

The cap is what I was going to suggest, It would be the easiest and prolly the cheapest route to take...

[tom4bren]

Eric,

Why don't you just drive the door handle LEDs from the circuit you installed for your Dome LEDs? They come on with the Dome & off with the Dome. Isn't that delay adequate? I know it'll be a pain to run the wires but it would save the effort of circuit design.

Tom