Help me find DIM/DAWN module for the L.E.Ds

Ralph Corcino

Ralph Corcino

Well-Known Member
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Could someone help me find a module that slowly brightens up (dawn) an led?
I prefer not to make one because i don't know how to. I rather buy it.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Y5X_Bbsxc

Please watch the video as reference so you know what i am talking about, and won't need to use your imagination.
Just watch the first car's taillights, pretty please.
 
i see them but is your civic your dd? if it is i wouldnt get them just think if someone rear ends you youd probably be found at fault "oficer i swear they were working they just wernt fully on yet"

they do look cool though
 
I can tell you where to buy a module that will do that and also let you adjust brightness. It comes with a remote too. Are you looking to control interior LEDs, exterior headlight strip style lights, or taillights?


Generally a lot of the 12v faders are to control RGB strips with both fade and color change.

A small one like this you can just wire into the circuit. What exactly are you looking for though?
mcb-rgb4.jpg
 
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Dar-Dar said:
:word:

It's not ideal for daily driving. Lol. Brake lights are supposed to light up instantly.
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Yes, kind of. Well i am only planning to do the third brake light. The 2 break lights on the tails will flash or work normally as it should but the the third brake light will brighten up slowly. I am thinking about maybe 3-5 seconds or maybe just .05-1.5 to get to the full power. I'll figure out a perfect timing to be safe and cool at the same time.
Do you feel me?

http://www.ledstriphut.com/12-volt-dc-single-color-led-mini-dimmer-with-dynamic-modes-p-299.html

I found one that brightens up slowly but then it slightly pulses after. I want it to stay solid after it gets full light power.
 
Nix said:
I can tell you where to buy a module that will do that and also let you adjust brightness. It comes with a remote too. Are you looking to control interior LEDs, exterior headlight strip style lights, or taillights?


Generally a lot of the 12v faders are to control RGB strips with both fade and color change.

A small one like this you can just wire into the circuit. What exactly are you looking for though?
mcb-rgb4.jpg
Click to expand...
Thanks! Well, i am looking for a module that is plug and play, and has the brightening mod. It would be perfect if i can adjust the timing, and things related to like that. I do not need the blinking mod, sound activated, and whatever non related modes. *EDIT* maybe a module that lets me start of 75% then to the 100%. If you could find me one that complex and complicated, that'd be awesome.
 
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Yeah, that's what I thought you would probably want. I haven't seen anything plug-n-play that can do that yet. Most of the circuits are a build yourself option. Fairly easy looking though.

Most of the plug n play LED fade stuff is a constant in/out fade not just a fade in and hold.

If you build a circuit then you won't have to mess with any switches to activate it either, you can just splice it right into the 3rd brake light power wires. I think you would just need to wire a capacitor with resistors to slow the powering up of the LED until the cap charges and then supplies power for full brightness.

ethlar is the guy to ask. Hes real smart with this stuff.


I think something similar to this circuit would do it. Ill keep looking for a plug-n-play option though. Ill let you know if I find one.

FFFBJLXG1BBDB99.SMALL.gif

current limiting resistor (R2), but you can keep that to a small-ish value. On 12V rails, it'll work better than on lower rails. R1+R2 limit the diode current to safe levels when the supply is on, only R2 limits the diode current when the supply switches off
 
Im not sure i understand the desire to have a led light act slower than an incandescent bulb, but its your car.

Another option, potentially easier than the above circuit depending on your comfort with a little coding is to look into an arduino or similar micro controller. you can have the leads from the car go into the arduino, and then leads going from arduino to the 3rd light. In the arduino you can code it so that it will over a time ramp up apparent brightness via pulse width modulation from whatever starting point you want to full on, then stay constant, and pwm from full on back down however long you want it to take. You can add in flashes once on or whatever behavior you want with a little extra code. If i remember right arduino use C or some variation on it as their programming language, relatively easy to learn its just been a while since ive played with mine.

Its probably overkill compared to the circuit Nix posted but would give you 100% control over the lights behavior to do exactly what you want, and would be easy to change in the future.
 
Yeah I had considered posting something like that but I wasn't sure what the easiest route is.

Resistor/capacitor circuit?

Microcontroller?

Pulse Width Modulation?

The only issue I see with a quick R/C circuit is the light will only be at full power/brightness until the capacitor fully discharges which could be a very short time. The nice thing is the whole circuit could be made to about the size of a stick of gum, with a couple hangy bits, probably $5-15 cost.
 
Please hold your negative thoughts about this. I have not even started the project yet, and no one really knows how it would look like until i upload a video. If you must mock it just to feel happy, then go ahead.
 
Nix said:
Yeah I had considered posting something like that but I wasn't sure what the easiest route is.

Resistor/capacitor circuit?

Microcontroller?

Pulse Width Modulation?

The only issue I see with a quick R/C circuit is the light will only be at full power/brightness until the capacitor fully discharges which could be a very short time. The nice thing is the whole circuit could be made to about the size of a stick of gum, with a couple hangy bits, probably $5-15 cost.
Click to expand...

The easiest route for me would be to just buy the thing. Even though i am currently taking an electrical engineering class, i have little to no experience about making my own circuits and "stuff".

I have another one in mind. An even easier mod to do than the dim/dawn.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVKlK-fynBA

*take note that i am only interested in the braking part.
If i do this mod, i just need like a delay module to execute it.
 
how would you do sequential turn signal/brake lights when the civic only has one brake light on each side? unless you modify the reflector, even adding another bulb to the tail light assembly wouldn't create that effect, because the bulbs would be sharing the same reflector and lighting up the same area.

if you're talking about the gradual lighting/dimming of the individual brake lights, that is because the camaro has incandescent bulbs. the civic's incandescent bulbs already light the same way (gradually).
 
hey_mikey said:
how would you do sequential turn signal/brake lights when the civic only has one brake light on each side? unless you modify the reflector, even adding another bulb to the tail light assembly wouldn't create that effect, because the bulbs would be sharing the same reflector and lighting up the same area.

if you're talking about the gradual lighting/dimming of the individual brake lights, that is because the camaro has incandescent bulbs. the civic's incandescent bulbs already light the same way (gradually).
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Yes i know that. What i was maybe planning to do is that the third brake light would go on first then maybe after a time around .1-1.0 second, the tail brake lights would go on. Creating the same effect as the maro's braking even though the civic has only 1 of each brake lights on the tails. I don't need many lights on the tails in order to create the same effect. :cornmad: I also know that the night time lights share the brake lights.

Please watch 13-25. Notice how the third brake light turns on first, then the tails' brake lights turn on right after. Imagine that but remove the brake lights on both the farthest sides on the taillights of the maro.
If you need further explanation, then just ask.
Also, those are two different videos with two different effect. Please take note.
as i said in the video "take note that i am only interested in the braking part."
 
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I'll keep looking. If I find something really really easy or plug and play ill post and let you know.


Price range? ( how much would you pay if I made you a circuit & it worked?)
 
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Nix said:
I'll keep looking. If I find something really really easy or plug and play ill post and let you know.


Price range? ( how much would you pay if I made you a circuit & it worked?)
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Oh lol. Around 1-200. 200 if it is really really really time consuming and hard to make. I really appreciate your help.
 
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