Project-Zero: Charge Warning Lamp Circuit

 Not that long ago I built an alternator exciter/charge warning indicator for the Zero.  I thought I would follow that up a bit.

The idea is that you want to have a way to 1) excite the alternator field so that it actually charges at idle and 2) have something that will tell you when the alternator is putting out less juice than it should be.

The circuit itself is very simple and has been used in cars since the invention of alternators.  basically, you you create a circuit with a diode and a resistance load that connects the positive terminal of the battery with the positive output of the alternator.

If the forward voltage from the alternator is greater than the forward voltage from the battery, the diode will force current to flow through the nominal load of the resistor and prevent the lamp/led from illuminating. 

If the forward voltage from the battery is greater than the voltage from the alternator, current will flow through the diode thus illuminate the warning signal.

My particular circuit uses an LED because...well...the circuit required a diode so why shouldn't it do double duty?  You can make the exact same circuit using an incandescent bulb but...why?  Anyway, I've included diagrams of an incandescent version of the same below.

Project-Zero: Flasher Relay Redux

 The LED flasher that I bought was garbage, I updated my previous post with that information.  I've replaced it with a more expensive electronic flasher that shouldn't suffer from the terrible electro mechanical issues the one I first bought has.

The new LED Flasher (FL3-RED-K) is a three pin flasher but the GBS Zero's flasher socket will need to be re-pinned. The short story is that the GBS is pinned for ISO relays, FL3-RED-K relay that I purchased is pinned as a JSO relay. Research into that what you will but the following diagram should help on that.

Basically, looking at the back of the Relay Socket everything needs to rotate one tab clockwise.

Project-Zero: Warning Indicators

The Short Story

I'm going to go with the Summit Technologies HAWK Array rather than rolling my own. It's less expensive and would look better than what I would build for my own usage.

NOTE: This is a lie, I wound up rolling my own anyway.

The Less Short Story

For the purpose of testing my car's electrics I built a prototype indicator array. It half worked. I sunk all of the LED cathodes to a common chassis ground because I made bad assumptions. 

What indicators sink to what, briefly.

• Discrete Source, Common Sink
• Right Turn
• Left Turn
• High Beam
• Common Source, Discrete Sink
• Oil Pressure
• Alternator
• Brake

分りません!

Reading it that way is a little confusing if you've not fully grasped that some things within the car are ground switched. I had the boys down in R&D whip up this janky diagram to help better illustrate the point. (Brown lines are ground/sinks)

How does the HAWK Array work in this configuration?

The HAWK indicator array is already wired up with exactly these indicators lamps with exactly this configuration of sources and sinks. It's like it was purpose built for British kit cars. (It was purpose built for British kit cars.)

What the other stuff about bulbs, watts, and field exciter circuits?

Depending, I may need to build a circuit that will excite the alternator so that it'll produce power at idle. It's a fairly simple circuit, especially if you're using an incandescent bulb. If you're using an LED, well, they offer little forward resistance so they might not excite the alternator and you need to bridge a resistor that will simulate the load of a 2-4 watt bulb. (@12V)  I might need to do this with the HAWK array, but I'm not 100% sure on that right now.

Project-Zero: LEDs and flasher relay

UPDATE (03/03/2021):

The flasher that I bought is complete and utter garbage. Do not buy it. It will kill your children, corrupt your dog, and run off with your spouse on a bank robbery spree.

Another thing to think about, the GBS Zero uses ISO standard pin outs for the flasher relay.

You can easily use Grote 44892 LED flasher unit.

LEDs and Flasher Relay 

GBS included a flasher relay intended for incandescent bulbs however they shipped LED front turn signals and incandescent tail/brake/rear-turn bulbs with the car.  This will result in a fast than desired flashing of the right and left turn signals. The quick solution is to just replace all of the remaining indicator bulbs with LEDs and flasher relay. (With an LED compatible relay)  While I'm at it, I've also purchased a set of LED H4 headlights.

I bought all of the needed parts at SuperBrightLEDs.com, part numbers are below.

• Brake/Tail (red) - 1157 Socket x2 - 1157-R27-T-2PK
• Rear Fog (red) - 1156 Socket x1 - 1156-R27-T
• Reverse Light (white) - 1156 Socket x 1 - 1156-NW27-T
• Turn Indicator (amber) - 1156 Socket x2 - 1156-A27-T-2PK
• LED Flasher Relay - CF13GL-02 FL3-RED-K
• H4 Headlights - H4-HLV7