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When I got my Z, the headlights gave off a soft yellow glow. Nothing comforting when driving on the highway. I did the relay upgrade, and that worked fine, but I still had the problem of forgetting to shut the headlights off and coming back to a dead battery. Also, I wanted the side markers to blink with the blinkers and hazard lights. While I was at it, the Z is small - or, stated another way everything else on the road is bone-crushingly huge. When I stop, I want everyone to know. I've seen brake lights that flash quickly when the brakes are applied - I wanted that too. While I was at it, a 10 second delay before the dome light shuts off would be nice. I also threw in a 2 second delay before the accessory relay turns on.
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| Bottom (Click for larger view) |
I created a custom lighting computer based on the
Microchip 8-bit PIC microcontroller and the
International Rectifier IPS6031 High Side Intelligent Power Switch. Although this is the prototype, it is working well, so I'll leave it in place until I finish the final version.
I have a main-board (the larger one) with all the opto isolators and power switches. A daughter board contains the CPU (small black diamond in the image to the right) and a few other parts.
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| Top (click for larger view) |
The top of the main board is where the blade fuses go (which, it turns out are not necessary with the High Side Switches I used - hence the name "Intelligent"). I also put in small LEDs next to each fuse - fuse blows - LED goes on.
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| Side (Click for larger view) |
I am not thrilled with the wiring. It works, but it is not very easy to work on. Revision 2 will make use of a different connector approach. The right and left sides are symmetrical.
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| Enclosure (Click for larger view) |
The whole thing mounts in an engraved aluminum enclosure, 3 x 6 inches by 1.5 inches thick. The fuses are accessible through the 4 large rectangular holes.
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| Engine Harness |
Naturally, this also required extensive modifications to all three wiring harnesses - front (shown on the harness board at the right), rear and dashboard harnesses. The result was effective but not as pretty as I would have liked.
So, at the end of it all, here is a short video showing some of the features in action.
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