Vehicle Rain Sensing Window Control

Hello everyone! This is my first post here but I’ve been lurking around for awhile. I have a little project I’m working on for my car and I need some help with a circuit design.

Basically my goal is to have a rain sensor automatically raise my windows on my car when it detects rain. After some research I opted to buy this unit called the Raintracker RT-50A designed as an aftermarket add on for automatic windshield wiper control. The sensor mounts inside the car on the windshield and actually detects light disturbances that are caused when it’s raining.

Anyways enough about the unit itself. Seemingly the sensor was going to be the hardest part but now I still need to tie it into my car to raise my windows which. Fortunately my car (2006 Acura TL) has the “comfort feature” built in which will close all my windows when one particular wire in my door is pulsed twice & held for 7-10 seconds (Time to close the windows).

Thus far I’m fairly confident I know exactly what I need to do but need help getting there.

• I need to tie the raintracker into to a constant 12v source so it will be activated with the car ignition off.
• The raintracker will give me a strong positive trigger to work with when rain is detected (wire used to drive the wiper motor). Which I need to somehow convert to a pulse-pulse & hold signal.
• After this sequence is complete and my windows close I would like the raintracker to disconnect from 12v constant so it doesn’t drain the battery and continue trying to close my windows during a storm.

• When I arrive back at my car I need to unit to turn back on, but I also need to cut the connection to the window control so the unit can function normally to control my windshield wipers.

-(I was thinking maybe the arm/disarm inputs from my alarm could be used to activate/deactivate the unit?)


Well that’s it! Simple right? I’m sure it would be fairly easy with a microcontroller but unfortunately I’m not quite there yet. So far I have really only built circuits using relays, V. regs, diodes, transistors N/P Channel, caps, resistors & a few 555 timer projects.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know it looks like a lot but FIRST I need to focus on taking a 12v signal (duration unknown should be considered pulse I suppose) and converting it into a PULSE-PULSE/HOLD.

Thanks everyone!

I have bad news. After a lot of deliberation the Terms of Service has been modified to disallow all automotive discussions. I suspect this thread will be closed shortly.

This is one of our restricted topics -

6. Restricted topics. The following topics are regularly raised however are considered "off-topic" at all times and will results in Your thread being closed without question:

• Any kind of over-unity devices and systems
• Automotive modifications
• Devices designed to electrocute or shock another person
• LEDs to mains
• Phone jammers
• Rail guns and high-energy projectile devices
• Transformer-less power supplies

Click to expand...

why are these topics off limits. Is it a legal thing or a goverment thing?

People have posted about wanting help for their home made cruise control, you can see that can't end well. If some child happens to be in the car hanging out the window when your circuit tells the windows to roll up, what then?

Well, this wasn't Roger555's first thread; his first one got locked - and it was the exact same inquiry:
http://forum.allaboutcircuits.com/showthread.php?t=55511

Lt762x39 wrote:

why are these topics off limits. Is it a legal thing or a goverment thing?

Click to expand...

It was decided on the highest level of this Board that certain categories of projects were not to be discussed on here.

This is a privately-owned board, and it is mainly oriented towards novices in electricity/electronics. As the orientation is towards "newbies", we would not want them to risk life, limb and property by attempting any of those topics in the TOS Restricted List.

Automotive modifications are among the worst projects for a neophyte to attempt; it takes a lot of engineering work to get such things done properly - and even then, sometimes the engineers fail at their task. If you've ever heard of a "recall notice" issued by an automotive manufacturer, that's usually due to an engineering failure.

We don't want our Members exposed to such hazards, nor for them to expose others to such hazards - and there is also the possibility of liability.

But basically, the restrictions and rules are not up for discussion; they're pretty well fixed for now. If the owners/management decides to amend the TOS in the future, that is their prerogative.

There are many other forums where such projects CAN be discussed, and anyone who wishes to is free to seek them out and post there - just not here.

BTW, I'm not one of the Owners, Admins, nor Moderators - just a regular member with a lot of posts on these Forums.