New Bee Car Project

Hi everyone

hope you all don't mind if i ask many question and request for guidance for my project
i am new bee beginner to arduino and electronic. with some rusty skill in computer programming.

i want to create a project to my car.
i want to install led lighting to the car but i do not want to touch the car wiring and electronic whether hot tapping or plug-in into it.

my project is to create a sensor switch to detect engine vibration which in turn, turning on 12v relay (connected directly to car battery) to turn on the led lighting. the switch will be located in the engine bay, most probably near the radiator fan. later on with some programming i want the led light to only turn on after some specific time after the vibration/sound detected and to turn off after no vibration/sound detected.

i have been browsing thru ebay and saw many arduino board, arduino 12v relay and arduino sensor but do not know which to use.

so the questions are

  1. which arduino board i should choose
  2. which sensor module i should choose. piezoelectric or ceramic or microphone
  3. can the sensor be stand alone or must come with its module.
  4. should i use arduino 12v module or 24v for car.

some more question/s when i stuck. ;D

thanks you all.

  1. Any Arduino. The Pro Mini is tiny and $2 on eBay.
  2. You will have to experiment to find which sensor works best. A "shake switch" might work too.
  3. See 2.
  4. Use a cigarette lighter phone charger to power the Arduino, either 5V or 7-9V.

jremington:

  1. Any Arduino. The Pro Mini is tiny and $2 on eBay.
  2. You will have to experiment to find which sensor works best. A "shake switch" might work too.
  3. See 2.
  4. Use a cigarette lighter phone charger to power the Arduino, either 5V or 7-9V.

thanks for the reply
2. shake switch- thanks will look into that

  1. i probably try stand alone first as i want to minimize the size or the circuit

  2. i have to use the car battery as the led light is at the car front grill.

  3. can i power pro mini board directly from car battery or i need another module to step down the power

pulling the wiring back to the car cabin would be messy but will look into that if direct connect to battery unsuccessful. i hoe it works as good exposure for me learning arduino

actually if i connect direct to cigarette lighter, i do not need any arduino at all. as i said it will be messy to pull the wiring from outside the car back into the car. to make it worse for me the fuse box for cigarette light is inside the car cabin not in the engine bay.

i need another module to step down the power

Yes for an Arduino, with output either 5V or 7-9V.