Ok, you've hit the mark on the lighting.
My custom rodded truck I'm building is to have under hood lighting, dual
gauges; a set under the hood on the firewall facing the engine and on the
dash with a switch to alternate back and forth between them.
Jon
-----Original Message-----
From: GremlinGTs@aol.com [mailto:GremlinGTs@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 03, 2002 9:37 PM
To: luebkeb@zibsoft.com; oletrucks@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [oletrucks] Electronic Gadgets for
trucks...some ideas ( long)
Hi, Brian. Glad to hear bout you...I have a LOT of
ideas, some strange,
some not so weird. So I'll give it a go to offer up some
ideas of things that
I would like to see.
1) Underhood accent / work lights. What I mean is, a
single underhood
light isn't very useful, you can't get much light down by
the starter,
suspension, steering box, etc. What I'd like to see is a
"set" of lights
that's run around the engine compartment to "light it up"
and show off the
engine bay of a restored truck, or a work-horse version for
helping work on
"driver" type trucks. They could be run along the frame near
the engine
mounts, have some point towards the oil pan, etc. They
wouldn't have to be
1,000 watt jobbers, just some nice bright lights to help
see all the working
parts. Maybe along the lines of Christmas light string, but
with less lights.
But similar, and obviously 12 volt.
2) Electronic LED Voltmeter - I'm an electronic test
technician, and used
to subscribe to some of those Electronic hobbiest mags, and
they had some
wonderful gadgets to build and experiment with. What I'd
like to see is a
small, cheap, durable LED voltmeter that has graduated LEDs
that come on when
the voltage gets over 10 volts. Red for 10 and under, yellow
for 11 , and
green for 12 to 14, then yellow for 15, and red for 16. I
saved a bunch of
LED "strings" off some old scrapped circuit boards from my
now-defunct job,
I'd be willing to donate them to you for "research purposes"
for this idea.
They are very small ones, about 1/8th inch size or less, use
roughly 1. 5 - 2
volts to activate. An expensive voltmeter isn't for
everyone, and I and
others could use this as just a quick system checker to
verify operation ,
and it could be mounted to use continuously, or plug into a
cigarette lighter
for monitoring, etc. Or mounted under the hood near the
battery, with the
pretty lights showing what's up with the charging system. :)
I also have some
scrapped plastic "boxes" from small electronic items that my
company throws
away, they can be used to house the breadboard as well. But
this is an
extremely useful tool that could be used by anyone, just
plug and play as it
were. No fancy digital or analog readout, just lights as
indicators. I've
seen the circuits in the mags, just never got around to
acquiring all the
goods to try to build one myself. Oh well.
3) Underdash lights ( same principle as under-hood
lights ) - Ever tried
to work on your truck wiring broken down on the road? Never
have a flashlight
when ya need one. Need some lights run to shine UP under the
dash, run off a
switch, to check the systems up there as well. Could be
pivoted to act as
floor lights, and swung up to view underneath as well, so
you'd get twice the
value for the cost. Not many of the old trucks have floor
lights like modern
cars ( or trucks, either ).
4) Miniature AC generator/alternator - I've seen kits
to convert a
standard alternator to tap into the AC potential to run 110
AC devices. I'd
like to know if the current ones on the market are worth
buying, and if there
is a better alternative. It would be VERY HANDY to have
access to AC for like
a small work light ( those 12-volt work lights arent' always
around when you
need them, especially if you break down AWAY from your
garage, as your
friends rarely collect such tools which true fanatics of old
vehicles do ),
and you could run AC accent lights on your truck with them
too. Something
like a small bicycle style generator that produces standard
AC power for
small jobs might be interesting. Not sure how it could be
mounted.
5) FAR OUT ELECTRONIC GADGET - how about some modern
headlights with a
major twist - looks like a standard glass light, but inside
it has the
removeable small replacement bulb, and also a COLOR WHEEL
you can activate to
turn your headlights different colors at shows ( or
surreptiously while
cruisin' ). This would obviously entail some serious
engineering effort, as
the lower part of the headlight would have to have a slot
cut in it for a
color wheel to protrude into the housing, or totally
redesigned. But that
would look AWESOME to see red or green or yellow or blue
headlights. Not easy
to do I'd venture, this would take some serious
brain-draining work to come
up with a viable solution. But it would be so cool! Or,
better yet, how about
a Fiber optic solution to take the light to the reflective
housing, and then
you could color the light at the generating end, not in the
headlight itself.
THAT might work better, but still alot of work.
6) ANOTHER far-out idea, for exhaust tailpipe outlets -
How about
putting some small sealed lights in the exhaust pipe at the
rear bumper
exit, so when you're cruising, you can have a
red/yellow/white incremental
effect as you increase speed. Might be strobing or flashing,
tuned to the RPM
of the engine - would look even better if you have
straight-out facing
exhaust pipes. Obviously wouldn't want them TOO bright, or
you'd face the
wrath of The Man...but some low-light effect would be just
as effective. The
deeper they're in the tailpipe, the better the effect would
be. A 2-foot
stainless tailpipe with lights in all the way back would
look good. Might
have to make the lights removeable for periodic cleaning.
Just snap into
place, facing the rear of the vehicle. Heat would be an
issue, but that far
away from the engine , you might make them survive.
7) Heck, I've forgotten more zany ideas than I can
remember at the
moment, someone else insert a suggestion here! LOL. Oh, wait
a minute...I DO
have one more...a strobe light underhood pointing at the fan
and moving
pulleys, pulsed off the coil....might give a neat effect at
shows, like a
timing light pointed at the fan blades to show them briefly
"stopped" in
action. Haven't seen THIS put into effect yet by those
wonderfully creative
Californian citizens. Has anyone else? Ok, I'll leave it
alone for now, I've
exhausted myself with this creative burst. Good luck with
your R & D, Brian!
Jerry
'55 2nd project Chevy Suburban, still sitting after 10
years... :(
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between
1941 and 1959
oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
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