Hi.
I hope this is the rigth place to ask.
Yesterday I bougth a Park Lite parkingwatch Link.
I bougth for one reason only, I want to hack it.
The Park Lite works by an accelerometer (MMA8452Q) Accelerometer Datasheet.
The microchip is a M430f4152 from TI Chip Data.
On it is an uidentified display.
It works on a 3V battery.
When you run the car the accelerometer tells the Park Lite that we arent parked (clever thing). When you park and the shaking stops the display shows the next whole quarter of an hour. eg. you stop the car at 12:20, the display shows 12:30.
Now:
I wanna make it work so that every 45min the parkingmeter thinks the car has been moved.
But how?
What i can come up with is:
1 - Send electrical signal from accelerometer pin to gnd-pin on microchip.
2 - Send a signal from the button that extends time with one hour. You can see the button on the print in the picture
3 - Attach small engine that punches the accelrometer
4 - Bypass the print and write straight to display.
Well, FYI, I found a button on the print the I can short-circuit with a 5V relay. A 1900ms shortcircuit advances the clock by exactly 2 hours.
Perfect, lucky, and an easier solution for sure.
Interestingly, the device has the following description:
Park Lite is approved by the Danish transport authority in accordance with Executive Order no. 237 (2003) on parking discs, and approval code FS11 is imprinted on the front. To gain Danish transport authority approval, a parking disc must be 100% reliable and the parking time on the disc impossible to manipulate. All components – including the battery – are tested at SGS Fimko, Finland’s leading supplier of testing and certification services.
I guess the manufacturers or approval authority have not reckoned with the ingenuity of Arduino hackers.
