Power distribution boards?

[Arclight]

Hi all,

I wanted to share this open-source hardware project I built. It's a 4-channel lighting/power controller. It's based on the Arduino micro-controller and has 4x1A outputs and 4xinputs. I built this so that I could have have a custom control for a 5m LED lighting strip in my camper and program the buttons (switch on tailgate, switch to cycle through brightness levels and red light, timer, etc).

If anyone wants to try this, the plans and source code are free here:

http://www.accxproducts.com/wiki/index.php?title=Miscellaneous_Projects

This got me thinking - is anyone interested in some other "expedition power control" boards? I'm thinking about doing a board with some relays and fused inputs for my truck. But I wouldn't mind finding out what everyone else wants and incorporating some of those features.

I see a lot of folks doing some tricky relay logic which would be a lot easier with a micro. Is anyone interested in having a relay board with logic also?

I'm not specifically trying to sell anything, but it seems dumb for me to keep developing stuff like this in a vacuum.

Arclight

 

[mvbeggs]

Something like an SPOD?

I have an SPOD in my Jeep as well as my Tacoma. SPOD for Tacoma

I use them because they provide a clean distribution panel that fuse protects each circuit. For those of us that are a bit absent minded, the SPOD monitors battery voltage and will kill power to all devices, switched through the SPOD, when it detects low battery voltage.

Not sure of the capabilities you are talking about incorporating nor do i know enough about micros to know the potential possibilities. Tell us what kind of tasks can be accomplished with micro controlled power distribution board.

 

[Arclight]

I think most of the folks here are pretty versed car electrics. We know that it's a good idea to keep wire runs short and use large enough cable to minimize the voltage drop, especially for critical things like fridges. We also know that using a relay for high-power loads is recommended, to avoid having to run those loads straight through a small switch or our stock wiring harness.

Where it gets a little complicated is when we want to add some logic to it. For instance, maybe you want your fog lights to come on with your low beams or off-road light bar, but not with the high beams. You can do this sort of thing with a diode and/or a second relay for sure. But let's say you want to have those lights stay on for another 30 seconds after you shut down the vehicle. Or you want to have the lights in the camper controlled from 3 different switches like I did. In my case, I wanted the following:

1. Micro switch on the camper shell that will tie into the alarm system to sense opening, and tie into the lighting, turning on the LED lighting for up to 60 minutes when opened.
2. Momentary switch just inside the camper and switch in the front that will turn on the lights indefinitely and let me cycle between brightness levels and red light
3. Monentary switch on the console that just turns the lights on/off in case I need to reach back into the camper.

With the small board I built for this, I can program the behavior of the 4xinputs and the 4xoutputs. I can have the outputs pulse if I want flashing lights, or pulse in PWM mode, meaning that they pulse very fast with gaps in the middle and basically dim the lights attached to them.

With a micro controller, I can also add a USB port so that anything attached to board can be controlled from a PC. Or I could add a serial port, A/D converter and have it talk to a HAM radio. With more work, it could even be attached to the CAN or OBD-II connector and have things like vehicle speed and RPM as inputs.

This is the sort of thing that goes on when the Toyota locking diff ECU module takes your button input, checks the state of the locker, checks how fast your going, and then locks the diff and lights up the LOCK light if you're going under 10mph and it's not already locked.

While this sounds a little complicated, the "getting started" point has really come down. There's a device called the Arduino, which is a micro controller sold for teaching and prototyping purposes. All of the software you need to program it is included in a free download, and there are lots of examples for many things folks would be interested in. Anyone here could modify the program I wrote for the camper shell to do something different.

Check out:

http://www.arduino.cc

I've been building stuff like home automation boards and industrial controllers around the chip they use for a couple of years, and it's handy because most of the hard work in terms of software development has been done by the community. The only thing it needs are more robust boards that have things like surge protection, high power relays outputs, etc.

Does this make sense? I think we could be doing more cool custom stuff with less wiring.

Arclight

I have an SPOD in my Jeep as well as my Tacoma. SPOD for Tacoma

I use them because they provide a clean distribution panel that fuse protects each circuit. For those of us that are a bit absent minded, the SPOD monitors battery voltage and will kill power to all devices, switched through the SPOD, when it detects low battery voltage.

Not sure of the capabilities you are talking about incorporating nor do i know enough about micros to know the potential possibilities. Tell us what kind of tasks can be accomplished with micro controlled power distribution board.

 

[theksmith]

great explanation of the the what and why of microcontrollers for a vehicle hobbyist!

 

[mathers420]

I have an arduino board at home waiting for me to get into something like this. I have a half dozen relays that are only used for logic in my truck, so it would be great to offload that logic onto a circuit board.

 

[mvbeggs]

....Does this make sense?...

Yep, sure does. Sounds like your only limited by your imagination. Thanks for the explanation.