I want to have a lamp turn on when the antique car reaches 10 mph and stay on till it drops below 10 mph. Maybe use speedometer cable, drive shaft, or even a wheel. 6V +ground. Simple is better. Any ideas on how to do this?
My first dozen bike lights were driven by a dynamo (rotation of a wheel). The lights "lit" only when the wheel rotated fast enough to create a current that was sufficient for the bulb. Voltage stayed the same above zero v. The reason I had so many "dynamo" bike lights is that the rotation velocity inside the dynamo made it destroy itself.
A better way would be an encoder used for calculating speed. Look up "encoder measure speed"
GPS, radar, wheel sensor
Drive shaft may be easiest. You can use either magnetic or optical sensor to detect the rotation speed of the shaft. Then the Arduino can translate this into road speed and control the light.
Thank you for responding. I am clueless about any of this. If I got part numbers and directions I’m sure I could do it. This doesn’t have to be exactly 10 mph but close is good. Since this will be a novelty thing I’d like to keep expense down. Again thanks but I was referred to this group
I do not know what your car has available to measure. Post a picture or a drawing of the inside part of a wheel.
This project uses IR to sense light area and dark area (presence or absence of a black line).
This is the sensor: < US$1 each HiLetgo 10pcs TCRT5000 Infrared Reflective Sensor IR Photoelectric Switch Barrier Line Obstacle Avoidance Module Tracing Sensor Tracing Module for Arduino Smart Car Robot: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
This is the MCU: US$3 each Amazon.com: Nano V3.0 Board with Cable, AYWHP 5PCS Nano Board ATmega328P, CH340G Chip 5V 16M, Microcontroller Compatible with Arduino Nano (USB C Port) : Electronics
This is the OLED: US$3 each Amazon.com: Hosyond 5 Pcs 0.96 Inch OLED I2C IIC Display Module 12864 128x64 Pixel SSD1306 Mini Self-Luminous OLED Screen Board Compatible with Arduino Raspberry Pi (White) : Electronics
How to video... they mention "some of the constructs used are not necessarily trivial"
I moved your topic to an appropriate forum category @whb52ford.
In the future, when creating a topic please take some time to pick the forum category that best suits the subject of your topic. There is an "About the _____ category" topic at the top of each category that explains its purpose.
This is an important part of responsible forum usage, as explained in the "How to get the best out of this forum" guide. The guide contains a lot of other useful information. Please read it.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
How antique is your antique car?
You mention speedometer cable, so presumably there is a speedometer?
Can't you read the speedo and use some sensor at the 10-mph mark?
When I have something like a dial pressure gauge with a needle pointer and dial, but no output, I simply add a very small neodymium magnet by sticking it to the pointer and pick it up with a Hall sensor. I use it to determine from a water pump back pressure when a tank is nearly full. By small, I mean 2-mm diameter, stuck on with CA glue.
It's a technique widely used in utility meter like gas and water.
There's also reflective methods.
It could be discrete and removable.
Plenty of options to use it with or without an Arduino board.
I guess you have 6V-DC electrics which could pose some problems, but not unsurmountable.
Just a suggestion.
It is a 52 Ford car. Has a cable from transmission to dash. 6v + ground
I will look at them, but don’t know where they would go or how they work, or even what they do. Maybe the videos will help. I think I need 2 pieces. One to read and another to read the signal and turn power on at speed. Thanks for helping me
You are just starting out, here is a list of things to know and explore in order to arrive at the finished product you can put on the Ford.
You are going to find it useful to know how to solder electronics, have a soldering iron and electronics solder. If you are not familiar with that, it is something you can study and buy materials for, and there are soldering practice kits you can buy.
A multimeter will help you measure voltage, current, and resistance.
A breadboard and appropriate wires will allow you to prototype your circuit.
The main board that controls the project is called the MCU or microcontroller, an example or suggested on that xfpd gave a link to is a Nano board having an ATmega328P MCU or similar on it. It needs to be programmed, so for that you will need a computer (windows, mac, or linux), and a program called an IDE, which is a text editor where you enter the program. The programming language is Arduino and C++. You'll need to learn how to program in C++.
The Nano has numerous pins available on it for input and output, and you control what the pins are used for and what the signals mean with your program you put on the MCU. Electric signals going into the Nano are from sensors that have the ability to tell what is going on in the environment, and signals going out of the Nano control things like lights and relays.
If this seems kind of overwhelming, it's OK because Arduino ecosystem is for beginners to get started in electronics. The project you describe is typical, nothing crazy about it. You have already conversed with the forum members back and forth, so you have accomplished what many people struggle with, learning how the forum works, having the ability to start a topic and come back to it for follow up. Believe it or not that is a huge thing.
The list of items you will need to build the whole project may vary, different people will have different advice. You may need to go through a few iterations of the project to arrive at something that works.
My approach would involve a Nano, a power supply module that is capable of converting -6 volts to +5 volts at low current levels (less than 1 amp will be fine), a Hall effect sensor such as U18-G03-D or TLV4961-1TA, 2 small neodymium magnets (about 10mm round by 2mm thick) to turn the sensor on and off, a relay module, and a lamp assembly of your choice to put on the dash or wherever you are wanting to have it glow.
The magnets can be glued on opposite sides of the drive shaft at the output of the transmission, and the hall sensor put on a bendable rod such that it is positioned close but not touching the magnets as they go by, and the MCU counts the passes of the magnets over time to calculate the speed of the Ford. You will need some assorted other parts such as an enclosure (box), wire, heat-shrink tubing, grommets, nylon standoffs, fuse holder, zip ties, and perhaps other things.
I'm classic car lover. For your approach I would use gps and leave the car untouched.
Flathead V8? I owned a 52, super quick across an intersection, I dragged so many times the shifter was almost bent in half.
My uncle raced stock cars and was rebuilding one of those Flatheads, He carried it into the basement!
Perhaps a slight mod will work. Place a small magnet on the center of the speedometer indicator and see if a Hall sensor on the glass cover will indicate when the tip of the needle is under the sensor? The speedometer needle is steel and will conduct the magnetic field to the end of the needle.
Mine has the 6 cyl, first year for overhead valves. My wife and I had our first date in this car 54 years ago
Thanks for the suggestion but I would have to take the instrument cluster out to get to the speedometer. That would mean disconnecting the battery, fuel, oil, and temp gauge, dash lights and turn signals have to come out.
How would gps trigger the light?
Yes
Worth a try.
I used to monitor waste water rotating arms.
I fixed two magnets to a steel plate to improve the sensitivity.
That was before rare earth magnets were widely available.
The beauty of monitoring the speedometer indicator is doing what you do by eye.
On my pressure gauges, I fit a perspex disk with the Hall sensor embedded and it's a simple job to rotate.
Downside is it's not pretty, but could be improved.
Could you tell me more about the magnets on the drive shaft. I think that would be the way to go. Where do I start?
I can solder, have a few basic meters and played with a raspberry pi