Hi Chaps
A chance remark, in the off topic section of the projectdalek forum, regarding the sale of a Kitt car as seen in Knight rider back in the 80's has led to an interesting project for me.

Yes it's the knight rider type lighting that appeared on the bonnet (hood if your American) of Kitt. 6 or 7 red lights sweeping backwards and forward continuously.

My mate Alan has built a full size Special Weapons Dalek. Originally designed by Alan Marshall for a Dr Who special that never happened. The design has been rendered by one of our resident CGI artists with an additional twist of eye catching features and looks. Mechmaster truly added to the overall effect of the original and it is this that Alan built upon.

Currently it is loaded with cold cathodes to illuminate various louvers and grills around the prop. But Alan wants to reduce the battery weight he's carrying and due to the space one particular group are taking up he wants a change.

So thats where I come in. Our own Bill Marsden has a rather nice E-book on the go and a large chunk is given over to LED's and the various ways of driving them, individually, in groups, and patterns with or without transistors.
It is actually a favourite haunt of mine (but don't tell Bill )

One such circuit is a trio of 4017's driven by a 555 timer and driving LED's via a transistor off of each output. Also easily expandable Bill said. He was right as well because I needed 4 4017's to drive 15 LED's in the fashion of the Kitt bonnet lights.

I also needed to drive 3 Hyper Bright LED's per 15 0f the outputs. So with a fair bit of help from Bill himself and other valiant souls a design was created to drive the LED's and just to add a twist I wanted the LED's to fade out. The fading was accomplished by adding an electrolytic cap to each group of LED's. Smaller uF = quick fade, larger uF = longer fade. This is also dependent on how the LED's in each module are arranged. IE. Parallel or series. Parallel require small value caps to fade and the series method require larger uF to fade at similar rates.

Please find attached the schematic, which contains all the component values and info you will need. Also the PCB pattern for the main PCB and both variants of the LED modules (parallel/series) I have cunningly added a dimension to this so you can scale it correctly if you wish to give it a whirl. Also the Silk screen view with component ID to make things easier.

Other than I missed a 5mm length of track on my prototype it all worked great and even better when I sorted that little detail out. The 15 Modules were wired up with 35mm lengths of wire linking the +VE and -VE rails so I had a 'belt' of light modules and finally the signal wire was fixed between each module and a 15 Way 'D' plug. The power rails were hooked up to a DC jack. The main PCB had the sockets for both. plus a DC socket for the power.

One module failed due to reasons unknown. The reason for the unknown is that during the attempt at sorting it out a large dog ended up trampling it. So I am waiting for 3 new LED's at the moment but I have set up a module with standard red LED's for now.

Now the units number of LED modules (15) is down to the future use of the design. Dalek Storm has some vertical louvers across his front. There are 15 of them. So the idea is one module per louver.

The circuit can obviously be designed for many alternate styles, patterns and uses. It is definitely one of my favourites and I dare say I will be doing something for myself with it . My step-son fancies a 4017 design for his car driving blue LED's........

So enjoy if you will my little foray and thanks again to the members of this forum for the help, ideas and encouragement along the way.

http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa97/Fenris_2007/?action=view&current=SV600381.flv

regards

Fenris

 

Hello,

Well done Fenris.
A nice piece of work.

Greetings,
Bertus

 

Hi Bertus

Thanks very much. One minor omission on my part is C4 on the PCB is not shown on the schematic. C4 is just a decoupling cap a ceramic 0.1uF will do.

I'll post the vid of it when it's in situ. This should happen on Sunday coming.

regards

Fenris

 

The effect is more subtle than I thought it would be. I stopped the video in several places to see more than one set of LEDs on at a time. How much of that is an artifact of the video I wonder?

Looks good. Betcha you're a popular person with the Darlek crowd. I have a friend building a real size copy of R2D2, a really smart machine, full of processors, cameras, and whatnot.

 

Hi Bill

The video exaggerates the 'goings on' a bit due to the slow CCD. But the fade is there in real time. I think around 0.5 seconds. The speed the unit is going at also 'distorts' the effect.

I got made Moderator of the electronics section of the dalek forum 2 weeks ago so I guess I may be fairly popular . Especially with a couple of the guys who's voice mods (not my unit) have died and I managed to resurrect them.

We also have a member who has just completed an R2D2 prop. Stunning to say the least!

regards

Fenris

 

Hello Fenris,

Congrats with the promotion to moderator at the dalek forum.
I am a moderator myself at the dutch forum elektronicaforum in the sections HF and schoolwork.
You have delivered a great job.
It is nicely finished.

As you know Bill and I will help with your next project.

Greetings,
Bertus

 

Thanks Bertus

Here are 2 video's of Dalek Storm fitted with the light unit. It took 4 hrs to fit as we had to construct the light box as we went along. Well worth all the effort and Alan is extremely pleased with the result to say the least.

So once more thanks to all the guys who helped me fine tune it to suit the intended use. Please enjoy the view





regards

Fenris

 

Hello,

It looks good mounted.

Succes,
Bertus

 

Looks excellent, but I'm not biased.

The sweep delay was much more noticable on the finished product. Thank you for posting it. I have to ask, is this a hobbiest product, or is it going to be on the series, or is that a firm maybe?

 

Hi Bill

Thanks very much. In the flesh it looks even better than my poor quality video shows. The fade is spot on and there is a diamond pattern plastic light diffuser panel in front of the lights which helps blur the individual lights a tad also the 15° view means the light projects into the louver space really well and hits the vertical spacers making the actual angle of view very wide indeed due to the reflection off of the slats.

It is purely a hobbyist type thing although Alan is hoping that someone in a position to do so may indeed say 'we have to use that in one of the episodes'. But the BBC are very protective of 'their' copyright and in fact they could have our forum shutdown if they so chose, the Dalek is copyright and the buying selling and or trade of identifiable parts is severely frowned on, it is a fearful thought and we tread a very fine line as hobbyists/enthusiasts. Alan is delighted and the word 'mint' was used several times. I don't know if thats purely an English thing but it means great, super, brilliant, excellent, WOW and just about any positive word you could also use .

Again I have to thank you guys for 'mentoring' me and inspiring me. Kudos to all!

regards

Fenris

 

A video in the dark. By Alan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXOi41dTXyE

regards

Fenris

 

to the maker of the 'knight rider' type led's:

hi, am 34 now ... have taken my share of electronics in high school, along with assisting my father in home wiring many 'o times ....

thats an awesome project you got going ... and as i have read, GREAT JOB on the outcome .... sounds super-sweet idea to have on an auto .....
but basically, im a nobody around these forums ..... just wanted to say that u have done a terrific job in constructing 'your own' version of a classic "how'd they make that happen?" type of situation.

ANYHOW JUST WANTED TO SAY:
GREAT JOB 'FENRIS'!¡!¡!¡

now if only i could get sum help in my mediocre project of replacing the sub in a home base surround sound box....

 

Hi there

Thanks very much It was a fun project to do for sure. Your audio project isn't mediocre. I think lights and audio are probably the most 'tinkered' with projects. I am sure someone here can help or you could try the www.diyaudio.com where there is tons of info on homebuilt budget, mid and hi end audio systems. Also links to all sorts of similar info and a good bunch of chaps with lots of advice..........it's a home from home with this site

regards

Fenris

 

Hello Fenris . . i have see your great project, that's awesome . . . i want to make this project too based from your project. may I ask you the schematic of storm rider project? i usually using Cadsoft Eagle to make an electronic schematic, maybe you use this software too for this project. or you can give me another file type the schematic project so i can make the PCB, , ,
Sorry if my English is bad, I come from Indonesia and very interested with your project . . Thanks


PS : send to my email at <SNIP>

 

This topic is 1 1/2 years old, so you may not get a response Maxrax

 

Hello,

I contacted Fenris on the other forum where he is active.
I hope he will respond soon.

Bertus

 

Hello Gentlemen! Tis I.

1 1/2 years crikey that is a while ago. The module is, I am pleased to say, still functioning in Dalek Storm as good as the day it was installed

Maxrax - The only schematic is the image in my original post. This in turn is based on a schematic in Bill Marsdens notes, also a member of the AAC, which I edited to expand to the current design.

What I can do is create a PDF document of the PCB pattern, that you could download and print. which will be 1:1 scale. in conjunction with the schematic and the bare board view images in my OP you should be good to go.

I'll post the PDF document at some point tomorrow for you. Your English is fine and certainly better than my Indonesian. =) Good luck!

regards

Fenris

PS I really need to come here more often! So many projects so little time!!

 

Amen Bro. ..

You have been missed.

BTW: I used to be Bill_Marsden.

 

Hi Bill =) Nice to see you and thanks. I hope to pop up a bit more often as life allows.

Here is a PDF document of the PCB pattern. I have been as accurate as possible and printing it out, ensuringno scaling or shrink to fit option is selected, should give you a 1:1 scale image. Print on gloss or semi matt photo paper to transfer and you should be good to go.

Keep us up to date with your progress Maxrax.

regards

Fenris

 

Hi Bill =) Nice to see you and thanks. I hope to pop up a bit more often as life allows.

Here is a PDF document of the PCB pattern. I have been as accurate as possible and printing it out, ensuringno scaling or shrink to fit option is selected, should give you a 1:1 scale image. Print on gloss or semi matt photo paper to transfer and you should be good to go.

Keep us up to date with your progress Maxrax.

regards

Fenris

Thank you very much for the response. I've try to understand your schematic but my knowledge about electronic is poor. I try with the other schematic and the other method but I just get 9 output of LED running left-right. Actually i really hope get the schematic file from PCB maker software such as Eagle, Diptrace, Protel etc.,but thanks for the PDF file you have given. after I finish this project with some modification, I'll be upload the video or the picture later. Thank you very much