Nissan 350Z Custom LED Reflectors

 Introduction
I recently purchased a Nissan 350z and have already planned many modifications for it. My first project with my car is to put LEDs inside of the reflectors on the front bumper.

Empty Clear Reflectors

Removing the reflectors and taking them apart
 First i took off the bumper to get to the reflector. There are 10 bolts at the bottom of the bumper and 3 inside of each wheelwell. There are also 6 bumper clips to take off from under the hood.

350Z Front Bumper Removed

 The reflectors are attached with two screws. I already removed one.

Behind Reflector

To take the reflector apart, i simply used a small flat-head screwdriver to carefully pry the clear lens and housing apart.

Clear 350z Reflector

Reflector taken apart with 5mm White LEDS

Building the Circuit
I built the circuit it two sections because the 7805 heats up very easily and can create problems in the long run. So to play it safe, i split the 20 LEDs into two sets of 10 LEDs, connected to one 7805. I also chose to use a 7805 voltage regulator instead of a resistor because the car voltage fluctuates from 14 volts down to 10 volts. If a resistor was used without a voltage regulator, the brightness of the LEDs would fluctuate with the car battery voltage.

Finished Voltage Regulator

For the LEDs i used a long piece of pcb. I cut the pcb into three pieces to allow the board to bend to the shape of the reflector. If you use thinner or cheap pcb, the board will easily bend.

To make the LEDs stand out individually i painted the reflector black along with the pcb.

Reflector Painted Black

 After soldering the LEDs and connecting the voltage regulator, I reassembled the housing.

Finished product

Parts List (One Reflector)
(2) 7805-$1.00
(2) 68 OHM-$0.50
(20) 5mm White LEDS-$2.00(For a bag of 100)
(4) 104 Capacitors-$0.50
(1) Wire
(1) PCB-$5.00(Pack of 10)

I bought all the parts off of ebay

English Project

For English class i had to make a 5 page book, and the book had to be decorated with an interest of mine. I chose to make a book with a circuit board attached to it. I first made a simple five page book out of construction paper. After the glue dried, i removed all the large components on the circuit board so it would lay flat. Once all the major components were removed; using rubber cement, i glued the board to the front of the book.

Simple Construction Paper Book

Circuit Board With Capacitors Removed

Final Book With All Major Components Removed

H-Bridge Circuit for the Underwater Rover

The circuit below is what I'll be using to control the four motors. The Parts list and explanation are below. Because i do not have my motor yet some components are not specified in the parts list. This circuit will be connected to a shift register circuit so four H-bridge circuits can be controlled with three pins connected to the micro controller.

Parts List

R1-R6       1K Resistor
R7-R10     10K Resistor
Q1-Q2      2n2222a NPN Transistor or equivalent
Q3-Q6      Choose a NPN Transistor which is rated for your motor
C1-C3       0.1 μF Capacitor
D1-D4       Choose a Diode which is rated for your motor


The Circuit

INPUT A	INPUT B	MOTOR
HIGH	LOW	Clockwise
LOW	HIGH	Counterclockwise
HIGH	HIGH	N/A
LOW	LOW	OFF

When input A is High and input B remains Low, The motor turns Clockwise

When input A remains Low and input B High, The motor turns Counterclockwise

I am not responsible or liable for any damages or loss you cause with the use of this information and i am not guaranteeing that this will work.

LED Spotlights For The Underwater Rover

 The PVC

The diameter of the PVC piping is 1 1/4 inches and so the diameter of the printed circuit board will be the same. I made the printed circuit board the same diameter because the PVC couplers are slightly larger and the printed circuit board will fit snugly inside.

1 1/4 Inch Tee Adapter

The Printed Circuit Board Will Sit Right On Top Of The Inner Ledge  

 The Printed Circuit Board
Here are the printed circuit boards for the LED spotlights. Our design for the underwater rover has four forward facing holes so there will be four sets of spotlights. Each spotlight printed circuit board will have 16 white high brightness LEDs on them. The pictures below are the printed circuit boards i designed with ExpressPCB. I made four because the current design for the rover will have four front facing white LED spotlights.

The LED Spotlight Printed Circuit Board

The LED Spotlight Printed Circuit Board Top Layer

The LED Spotlight Printed Circuit Board Bottom Layer

I am not responsible or liable for any damages or loss you cause with the use of this information and i am not guaranteeing that this will work.

Salvaging Parts From Old Printers

My friend was nice enough to donate his old printers for us to take apart for spare parts. This was very useful for the rover because we able to salvage four high torque DC motors from them. Here are some pictures of the printers being taken apart and some parts removed from them.

The printers partially taken apart

Some parts salvaged from the printers

Complete destruction of the printers

Underwater PVC Rover Project

One of my favorite hobbies is fishing and every time I go fishing, I always wonder how the fish react to the bait and just how they live. After watching the BBC documentary "The Blue Planet," I was inspired to build a cheap underwater rover to see what's it like under the surface. The rover is going to be made of 1" PVC pipe and parts pulled off of other electronics such as printers and remote control cars.

Rain Sensor Circuit

I have started making the first portion of the project which is the rain detector to control the storm shutters. The sensor has been completed and the input circuit has been completed too. The rain detector is very simple and is just two traces on a PCB that do not touch. The concept of this circuit is that when rain drops fall on the PCB, electricity will flow through the water and the Arduino will sense a voltage input. The first picture is the pattern i will be using. You can make the pattern of the rain sensor however you want it, as long as there are two traces on the board that do not touch. The first picture is the pattern i will be using for my circuit. The second picture is just an example of a random pattern you can have. I have completed the input portion of the rain sensor and is shown below. The 10K ohm resistor is temporary and may or may not be charged when the rest of the circuit is built. The rain sensor does not have to be connected to an Arduino. You can make your own circuit that simply determines if there is connectivity between the traces on the rain sensor PCB.

The pattern i will be using

A random pattern i made

Rain sensor input

The Code

/*
    Hessam Siddiqui
    05/23/2012
    hessam93.blogspot.com
    Rain sensor test circuit
*/

void setup()
{
    Serial.begin(9600);                                    //Initializes serial to 9600 bits per second
}

void loop()
{
    int rainSensorValue = analogRead(A0);   // Reads the input value from analog pin 0 and assigns it  to    rainSensorValue
    Serial.println(rainSensorValue);               // The value of rainSensorValue is printed
    delay(100);                                            // A small delay so the output doesn't scroll to fast
}






I am not responsible or liable for any damages or loss you cause with the use of this information and i am not guaranteeing that this will work.