[srishiva]

Very effective way of controlling the head lamps. Great job. Maybe you can add auto rain sensing wipers easily to this setup
What is the development environment like?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by amansanc

Great project audioholic! Hoping to see the finished product soon.

Thanks. Even I wish I could finish it soon, but I dont think it will happen as fast as I want it to. Will elaborate it later.

Originally Posted by Sweet Chariot

can the sensor be mounted in such a place that it does not get soiled or damaged due to dirt and water??

:

Thanks! Have explained about the sensor. It is water proof. There is no dust-proof region except the interiors. Hence cant do much on that regard. If it gets dirty, functionality isnt that affected unless the muck is really thick. Since the car will be washed regularly that wont happen too.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Maybe you can add auto rain sensing wipers easily to this setup
What is the development environment like?

The wipers are integrated into the BCM of the car and it is very difficult or rather impossible to play with it using an external device. At a greater level of sophistication it is definitely possible but.

The arduino uses a programming environment very similar to C except for a little change since it can handle both analogue and digital signals. Nothing so difficult but.

The board was mounted into the casing. Now the pending work is to design a harness. Hence I need to do some shopping WRT wires and connectors. Also, I searched J C Road for splice connectors but couldnt find them. Hence the work has been stalled until the required materials are procured. Hopefully I will do it tomorrow, if not the following week is fully packed with a trip coming up.

[isiv]

Brings back sweet memories of my days as a teenage hobbyist subscriber of EFY and EE. Though I mostly used to build projects from EFY, I was always more drawn to the ones in EE, but never managed to get anything built because they used SMDs and I did not have the right equipment to do that. As life would have it, over a period of time I got distanced from my hobby and eventually my workbench (which always had PCBs, electronic components, screws and what not permanently strewn on it) made way for a computer desk for my first PC - an Intel MMX 144Mhz with 32 MB RAM and 1 GB HDD with 16x CD ROM and an external 56K Lanbit dialup modem - a super whopper config for those days...

Few suggestions based on experience:
1. Most homemade stuff for use in automobiles give up the ghost due to moisture, heat and dust. Make sure the enclosure is perfectly water tight, air tight and vibration proof. Bigger heatsinks for the regulators just in case?
2. Use a rubber grommet along with a rubber based sealant at the opening for the cables.
3. Use auto grade cables without any joints for all external connections with amp connectors.
4. Make sure to include a fuse of lowest feasible rating in the power supply to the circuit. Did not notice one, hence mentioned.

Good luck and do post some pictures from different angles of the completely finished and installed project.

[audioholic]

One thing is for sure. I dont intend to put this certain model under regular use. Hence, the long term aspects are not yet evaluated. Speaking about resistance to water etc, a grommet will be used, however yet it wont be water tight. The next version i would be making will have a different housing altogether and that will be as good as submersible.

As of now the harness is being readied and since this weekend is a long holiday, I am mot able to go for component shopping. Hope to install it by wednesday at least.

[Rajiv0909]

Great effort Audioholic.I have been wanting to develop something similar and fell into this trap of chinese gadgetry which i am now realizing i didnt need.

I am told that an android device (since they anyway sense light )with a camera/webcam setup should be able to trigger relays via usb to achieve the same outcome, did you consider that approach?

[nishantbhatia84]

This is a great project! All the best to you and i hope you successfully complete this one soon! I would love to get this product installed in my Figo, please let me know whenever it is possible!!

[gurudutt]

Good project indeed, has better features that the OEM ones on XUV, high beam does not work in auto mode, you cant even manually override it. How easy or difficult is it to do an Auto wiper?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Rajiv0909

I am told that an android device (since they anyway sense light )with a camera/webcam setup should be able to trigger relays via usb to achieve the same outcome, did you consider that approach?

You could pair an arduino with an Android phone by adding a bluetooth module to the main board. As simple as that. However, the direct method is not known to me. Since this is application specific, I want it to be standalone than dependent upon a phone.

Originally Posted by nishantbhatia84

This is a great project! All the best to you and i hope you successfully complete this one soon! I would love to get this product installed in my Figo, please let me know whenever it is possible!!

Thanks! But you can only DIY one and make your own product. I am not intending to sell this one or do any sort of mass production. It is fit for mass market use also. On the other hand, I can surely help people who are interested to build one for their car.

Originally Posted by gurudutt

Good project indeed, has better features that the OEM ones on XUV, high beam does not work in auto mode, you cant even manually override it. How easy or difficult is it to do an Auto wiper?

Was not aware that the XUV had only auto Low beam. As I have told before, the wipers are controlled by the BCM since they operate in different working speeds as well as the intermittent speeds. Hence, though implementing auto wipers is possible, we have to interfere with the system at a higher level. OTOH, the auto headlamps is a simpler thing to play with since its just an ON-Off circuit.

[dutta_d1]

Originally Posted by audioholic

As I have told before, the wipers are controlled by the BCM since they operate in different working speeds as well as the intermittent speeds.

From the top of my head, it should be doable if we interface it to the connections of the control stalk and leave the inner electronics alone.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by dutta_d1

From the top of my head, it should be doable if we interface it to the connections of the control stalk and leave the inner electronics alone.

The overview is that the designed system must be a piggyback to imitate the controls of the wiper stalk. That will fool the BCM or the wiper controller to do as the system says. For this we have to intercept the wiper stalk signals which I am not so proficient with. Perhaps in the days to come I may lay my hands on it. But as of now I am focussed on this. But the auto wiper thing is definitely doable.

[audioholic]

Sorry for not updating this thread, and mind you this isnt a flop Had been busy and am busy writing some exams so the only progress made was to design the entire harness thats going to sit inside the car. Brought the regular wiring kit and made modifications to suit the AHCU so that the entire idea would be plug and play. Now I plug the male pin into the existing headlght holders, and plug the ceramic holders of my harness into the headlamp bulbs. As simple as that. 100% plug and play achieved.

[audioholic]

As things get geared up for installation, the last thing done off-site(on site meaning hooked to the car) was to test the whole thing for any failures, maybe due to heating, or a sticky relay etc and there were no issues found. Hence that gave the final clearance to install this thing in the car. Since I never wanted such issues to turn up once it is installed(which may be damaging) I took a long time and multiple runs to check and elimnate any possible flaw.

Here is a video I made of the working of the AHCU. You can see how the circuit responds to changes in the light falling on the sensor. The AHCU is programmed to give a report regularly through USB which I can read from the computer. When the status changes, the relay controlling the headlamps are also switched. Along with the status, it has also reported the various input readings of which only the sensor input is used. The other two are the status inputs from the manual control of headlamps, which isnt used in this case currently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX25...ature=youtu.be

Planning to get it onsite this monday. Since there has been sufficient homework, this should work flawlessly on the car, except for calibrating the sensor readings for external lighting. Plan to make it sensitive enough to trigger low beam once we enter an underpass, and make it switch to high beam only in pitch darkness.

[maverickgoan]

i know this is an old thread, but very Nice Project !! are you still using the controller ?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by maverickgoan

i know this is an old thread, but very Nice Project !! are you still using the controller ?

Since I was busy with lots of travel over the last year and I sold the WagonR, I didn't pursue the priject. However, I want to implement the same at a more professional by making use of OE sensors and control stalk. Lets see when that will happen. Or by then I might even buy a car that already has these features

[surajitray]

Hi I am interested in this project.

Could you make me a prototype with a input of 12v and output to the headlights.

What would be the cost of the development ?