urbex Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Ok, so tomorrow after class I'm going to pick up the stuff to make a circuit...but I have one more question. Which wire is the VSS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 these should answer that, and many other questions you might have. http://i.imgur.com/LUqoR.png http://i.imgur.com/6bFnE.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 AHHH!!! Thank you sooo much!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Ok...I just want to make sure I'm doing this right. The ONLY two wires from the cluster that need to get plugged into the circuit breadboard would be the VSS and ground? I've got the circuit all built and working, but when I plug those two wires in, nothing happens. (And yes, I'm plugging it in in the right places.) I just wanted to make sure I'm not supposed to plug another wire in as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 you are supplying +12V power to the cluster right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 I thought you said I need between 5-15volts, so I figured a 9v battery would do the trick... No? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 a 9V will power the 555 itself, but you still need to supply power to the custer itself so it can process the signals it recieves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Um...ok, again forgive me for not knowing ANYTHING about this. Can I just plug another 9v into the breadboard, or will 18v be too much? Don't want to blow it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 NO! that WILL kill a 555. you need to give the cluster it's NORMAL +12V power supply on whatever pin needs it, in addition to the 555 signal on the VSS circuit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Ok thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 (edited) OH MY GOD..... Yet the saga continues. So today I got an 8AA battery holder from radio shack, and plugged the positive end into the ignition wire (which is pink on my cluster, not brown like the schematics say?) , and the negative to the ground wire. Low and behold, the cluster lights up! So, I plug the VSS wire to a wire connected to the correct pin on the breadboard...nothing happens. I know my 555 circuit is working, so what could I possibly be doing that wouldn't make it read the signal? I'm loading a picture right now... I'm sorry for asking so many questions, but I think I've ALMOST got it....lol Edited April 25, 2011 by urbex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 I don't see the pic, but 8AA batteries? AA batteries can't supply hardly any current. I'm surprised that cluster lit up at all. Your AA batteries will probably be dead after 30-minutes of powering the cluster. I would use a PC power supply, 12V car charger, or something that can supply significantly more current. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Well I had a shit ton of AA at my house, so I picked that...lol. But I wired another wire from the ground on the cluster, to the VSS, and when I do that, it will speed up (anywhere from 1mph-15mph) but only upon initial contact... (I think the reason you didn't see the pic was because I was editing my post when you commented) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 I haven't actually looked at the wiring of your 555 circuit, but what frequency are you running this at? What are the resistor and capacitor values you're using? If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage of your battery pack while powered up. It's possible your cluster could be loading it down to where it's significantly less than 12V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 The wiring for it is on page 4 if you wanted to see it. I have a .01UF capacitor, a 27k resistor, and a 270k resistor. I'm using a 9v battery to power the 555 circuit, and 8 AAs (12v) to power the cluster. Same thing with the wire from the circuit, when it makes initial contact with the VSS wire it will read a signal anywhere from 1-15mph or so, but ONLY on initial contact. After that it'll go back to 0mph. But even after the initial contact it'll all still be lit up, just it only reads 0mph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnatGoSplat Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Sounds like your 555 isn't pulsing. If you briefly ground the VSS wire, does it do the same thing? If so, it sounds like it thinks your 555 output is low (ground) all the time. I would power both the 555 and the cluster with the 12V supply. That way when the 555 output goes high, it will reach 12V. It could be the 9V high on the 555 output is low enough in comparison to the 12V cluster supply that the cluster is seeing it as a ground signal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Yep...same exact thing happens when I ground the VSS. I'll try seeing if I can power my 555 with 12v. Unfortunately I only have 1 battery connector for the 12v...so I might have to make another pit stop at Radio Shack... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Well, I didn't have any way to really hook up 12v to the circuit with what I currently have at home, so the guy who helped me set up the circuit told me to just hook it up to a car battery...yeah...not so good. Half the 555 timer blew off and went flying across the garage. Looks like I'm going to need a few more parts.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgethis Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Don't give up man, what you really need to do is if your in college, stop by the engineering wing, and hang around the electrical engineering students. See if you can get a hold of one of the variable 24v power supplies (more than likely the will have them), and hook your bread board up to the V+ to the 555 timer chip, and you should be set. Just to let you know you will have to dial in the voltage you want on the power supply (Not a big deal just turn the knob to 12v) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 25, 2011 Report Share Posted April 25, 2011 Hmm..you know that might be a good idea. I don't know how I didn't think about swinging by there. I mean, the electrical labs and classes are literally right next to the photo studio...so it's right where I'm at anyways. I might have to try that. I figure I'll need a new 555 timer itself now anyways, so I'll pick one up tomorrow...see if hopefully that's the only thing that broke. Not sure if anything else fried too or not. Guess I'll find out. But I will say, just before it blew, the speedo was working, the speed was going up! So I think I'm on the right track at least... I'm just glad I didn't ruin the cluster! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertISaar Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 12 volts shouldn't kill a 555.... or at least the commonly found kind, some can't withstand as much voltage as others. where did you find the one you had, and what other markingings are on it(NE555 or anything like that)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 I bought it at the local Radio Shack. A good chunk of the timer is gone...but what is left says SA4S9M and C555CP. Now like I said, there may have been more before those letters I typed, because that's where it blew off. And I have no idea where the chunk went. It flew across the garage, so we'll probably never find it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgethis Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Doing it in a lab class would be your best bet, hell they might have some 555cn chips laying around, Hell with it being an electrical lab with a bunch of 749 op amp chips, and, and or or gates chips Im sure they might have some laying around in a cabinet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockfangd Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 I never advanced the mileage when I installed the UB3 into my cutlass, it was nice to get a cluster with less miles, and also to hit 100000 miles all over again lol. If I kept my lumina longer I definately would have installed the police cluster. I also like the recaros they used in the police luminas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbex Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Had I known I would go through this much trouble, I wouldn't have bothered. But now that I've got this much time and effort into it, I'll be damned if I give up now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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