Please be honest!

I recently fitted a new nokia car kit in the Z and found it difficult to fit the phone into the cradle in the dark when entering the car at night.

So I took the idea from My wifes KA that when entering the car the courtesy light stays on and then dims down and fades off completeley after so many seconds or until you turn on the ignition.

I am in the electronics industry and have started to develope this for the Z so that you can add on a circuit board without cutting any wires or making any cahnges to the existing loom (just plug in). I can understand if you want to say "well just turn the light on" This thread is not about that. I would like to know if this "add on" would be of an advantagte to you and what would be a reasonable price for me to charge for this unit.

Cheers

Ady

Connect a capacitor across the light fitting.

Thats sounds good actually - I do notice that when getting in the zed in the dark, you shut the door and it's immediately pitch black.

 

On my 94 Ford Mondeo the interior light stays on for ~10seconds, giving you time to sort yourself out, dig out stereo face, find seltbelt ;) etc. Funnily the wifes new Ford Ka doesnt have this :confused:

 

All depends on cost I guess, wouldnt know about that sorry :)

 

Pete

I believe they sell a component kit to do that in Maplins.

 

Vijay

i have scrapped my interior lights and fitted neon rope around the dashboard looks really good but you cant see sweet f.a.

 

would be intrested in this kit, depends on the price though.

Nice one herman

Please let me know where you would fit this capacitor that would be the size of a brick?. As I said I am not after "smart" ideas (leave that to me).

Thanks for the response Pete,price wise if it is more than a tenner I won't bother.

Cheers

Ady

If its under a tenner I'm sure they'll shift :)

hi vijay

have you got a link to this kit to save me spending time developing it?. I must say that I want to make an add on purley for the z, no wires to cut or mods to do to the loom just a plug in with no messing using piggy back connections and hopfully with surface mount components it will fit within the lamp fitting. I am looking at having an adjustable time delay so that when you exit the car it won't interfere with the alarm.

Most alarms allow 60 secs to initialise so it has to turn off before this after you have left the car and set the alarm or you could get false alarms.

Cheers

Ady

here you go - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Products/Module.asp?CartID=10968905&ModuleNo=3192&MR=N

 

Vijay

Cheers vijay

I like the idea of the light dimming down before shut it goes off, is that just me or would that be a better feature?

Cheers

Ady

Hmmm of ZERO value to me, I know where the keyhole is and that's as much as I need. I guess I'd go £4.99 for an easy fit light delay circuit, but it would be a toy - as is the whole *****in Zed to be honest

My alarm keeps mine on :)

Would be a good thing.

Geoff.

My alarm keeps mine on also, I thought it was a feature ont he 300zx, guess you learn something everyday, stays on for about 30 seconds or until ignition comes on.

 

its defiently something that is pretty handy to those of you who havnt got it, it would need to cut out when ignition comes on though I guess.

SEEMS A GOOD IDEA ! I WOULD BUY ONE. :cool:

Must be my Alarm then? I thought it was astandard feature? :confused: What year is your car and what spec ie U.K. leather? :confused: Mines U.K. 1995 TT Auto With leather.

I'd shell out for this.. It's a feature on my daily drive (Primera) and is quite useful.

 

Steve

I presumed it would have this..

 

My ford probe does, you close the door, and the light fades off slowly, we also have blue lights in the footwells and ignition, key locks etc

Once again thanks for the response

Mark, mine is a uk 94....full spec and an original alarm fitted from new I belive it is a cobra alarm but this does not trigger the interior light.

Hi 5, the idea is from a KA luxury but that only turns on the courtesy light I think (Mrs is out in it so I can't check) and yes I was aiming for the dimming effect after the time delay (just a bit more subtle than just going staight off).

I can build it from conventional through mount components but "surface mount" components are the tiny ones used in mobile phones etc and this would mean it could be a very tiny unit about quater of the size of a match box. My main objective would be as I said before to make it easy to fit, no cutting or chopping wires.

The only draw back is without runing a wire from the ignition it will not go off when the key is turned it will only go off after the preset time unless I can design it to sense the volt drop from the engine being started. The idea is to fit it in or behind the light housing and running an ignition wire up to there would be a pain.

Would it be a problem that it always stayed on for this legnth of time ie 1 to 60 secs

this time will be adjustable when fitting.

I am asking you guys for the help because if I am going to make it I want to get it right and make it work in the right way as I hate things that aren't what you expect.

Cheers

Ady

When i get in my car, close the door, the light starts to dim over about 6 seconds, ignition or not i believe... wouldnt bother me if it was still dimming when turning the ignition, butI'd have to be quick draw Mcgraw to be able to get in and turn my key much quicker!

Hi, still workiing on this

Is control more important over price as I can make it cheaper if it has a fixed time delay.

Cheers

Ady

Hi, still workiing on this

Is control more important over price as I can make it cheaper if it has a fixed time delay.

Cheers

Ady

 

I'd say yes, but price is alwaysm important.

I'm happy with a fixed time delay - how much are we saving on cost?

 

Steve

I'd definatley have one of these.

I don't think a variable time delay is much of an added feature though. Once you got it to the length of time you like, you'd never change it. The tricky bit is figuring out how much time everyone would like. (I'd say 6-8 secs!!)

Go for it ady, try and undercut Maplins!!!

I'd be interested in one of these. Fixed time with dimmer would be fine.

I think it has been discussed in the past and someone said they were sometimes available on eBay - may be worth a search.

Great idea. The dimmer will be a nice touch....

 

Count me in if these go ahead.