As I build/re-build the new car I am contemplating a small LED brake light on the dash or in the cabin somewhere so the in-car camera can see it.

My question is, has anyone done it?
Where did you tap into for the brake feed?
Where did you locate the light so it wouldn't distract you while driving?
Have you found that it helped when watching back your in-car?

Pictures are worth a thousand words!

TIA!

Nash

 

You should easily be able to tap into one of the hot wires at the brake light. Use a tester light to find the hot wire, then run a ground to the chasis. You could also tap in at the brake light switch under the dash, but that would be more difficult, or more painfull should I say.

 

just use a single LED ..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rambler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where did you tap into for the brake feed?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Usually a bank of LEDs mounted in a housing. Maybe you can rip one out of a
spoiler in the junkyard. Then wire it into your circuit ala OEM-spec wiring. Should
be easy to do with a shop manual.

 

"Luke....uh, I mean - Nash......use the Force"


Scott, who thinks that the light won't tell the whole story...joo need a "face-cam"...then you can post up video where we can tell the exact instant you realized you braked too late....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RR98ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"Luke....uh, I mean - Nash......use the Force"


Scott, who thinks that the light won't tell the whole story...joo need a "face-cam"...then you can post up video where we can tell the exact instant you realized you braked too late....</TD></TR></TABLE>

or you could wire a flow meter to your butthole to see at what point m-dot became &gt; 0.

 

I think Rodney uses a shiftlight for one. Last time I saw his car he had it, I dont know if he still does.

 

I've never personally used one but I've talked with coaches who use them as a sort of biofeedback tool - simply to help the driver be more aware of when he/she is stepping on the pedal. It think it's a pretty good idea. I'm going to wire my DL1 to take that input this year but the immediate feedback would be useful too.

K

 

how useful do you think a progressive line of LED's showing throttle position would be in cockpit?

 

I saw in-car video once of a Spec Miata with a green led for the throttle, and a red one for the brakes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bosco500 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You should easily be able to tap into one of the hot wires at the brake light. Use a tester light to find the hot wire, then run a ground to the chasis. You could also tap in at the brake light switch under the dash, but that would be more difficult, or more painfull should I say.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Neber use a test light always use a multi meter by using a test light you are inducing more resistance into the circuit otherwise this would be great method. sorry i'm being nit picky

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Casey@Burns &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Neber use a test light always use a multi meter by using a test light you are inducing more resistance into the circuit otherwise this would be great method. sorry i'm being nit picky</TD></TR></TABLE>
just tapping it would increase amperage not resistance correct? paralell circuit?

and it would be very simple to do this, just tap from the brake switch on the pedal. just find the hot side and pick the other wire

 

I think it could be a distraction if you could see it. Maybe wire up a small, low power, led close to the camera lense. so it's in the field of vision of the camera, but not in your field of vision?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nonsense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think it could be a distraction if you could see it. Maybe wire up a small, low power, led close to the camera lense. so it's in the field of vision of the camera, but not in your field of vision? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly... I don't want to see it while driving. I am thinking in the corner of the dash by the A-Pillar on the passenger side... where the camera can see it but I can't.

I think the ideal would be a light that got brighter based upon pedal pressure but that just "sounds" to difficult to engineer

Nash

 

Take the brake controller out of your trucks ,mount it on the dash. Voila, brake light.

Chris, who sees an "E1" (Error: Trailer disconnected) taunting him at every stoplight on the way to work.

 

A friend had this in his ITC Rabbit a couple years back- he actually mounted an additional tach and brake light to the center of the dash for the video camera to pick up. He used a round light- ~2 to 2 1/2" diameter- flush mounted to the dash and used black electrical tape around the diameter so it would not distract him while driving. You could somewhat easily make a small shield around the light to not distract the driver.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rambler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Exactly... I don't want to see it while driving. I am thinking in the corner of the dash by the A-Pillar on the passenger side... where the camera can see it but I can't.

I think the ideal would be a light that got brighter based upon pedal pressure but that just "sounds" to difficult to engineer

Nash</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nash - I have this on my new car. The previous owner installed a longacre style gauge cluster with warning lights and they rewired the red oil pressure warning light to be a brake indicator instead. I didn't find it distracting at all when I drove. My gauges are mounted on the dash. It was nice to watch my video and see where I was braking.

Here's the vid of my first race in that car: http://azhcvids.com/AZHC%20-%2...r.wmv
(right click -&gt; save as please)

You can see the brake light in action. I was braking pretty early since this was my first race in that car and my first time driving since the crash.

Note to viewers: The start of the race is almost offensive it's so bad. The pace car was a turbo porsche that was faster than most of the racecars in the field and the starter green flagged us with 1/2 the cars not even anywhere in sight. If you watch the video all the way to the end, you see me get really loose on one lap. That was me losing all of my water out of the back of the block due to an O-ring failure. Two laps later, with the head thoroghly warped and head gasket blown, I'm pressurizing the oil system to the point that it blows the hose out of the catch can and sprays oil on the exhaust, causing smoke in the cabin. I thought the car was on fire, so I pulled off and jumped out.

- Scott

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FlyZlow &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Note to viewers: The start of the race is almost offensive it's so bad. The pace car was a turbo porsche that was faster than most of the racecars in the field and the starter green flagged us with 1/2 the cars not even anywhere in sight.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Not only that, but your wheel is crooked, your eyes are crossed, and your car gobbles like a turkey. Speaking of turkey, happy thanksgiving. Wish you could run that ASRA enduro w/ me this year...but family is family.

- Jon

 

With the wiring for the light- if you do not want to tap into the current brake light switch, you could add a brake fluid pressure switch that will turn on the additional brake light for the camera. Just install a tee in the brake line somewhere with the pressure switch and you are good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ITC Racer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With the wiring for the light- if you do not want to tap into the current brake light switch, you could add a brake fluid pressure switch that will turn on the additional brake light for the camera. Just install a tee in the brake line somewhere with the pressure switch and you are good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is there a pressure switch that would vary the current as the pressure inceases? Incorporate that into a small LED array that lights up progressively as the pressure increases.... hrmmm....

 

id rather put a mechanical potentiometer on the brake pedal than mess with the brake lines.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rambler &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Is there a pressure switch that would vary the current as the pressure inceases? Incorporate that into a small LED array that lights up progressively as the pressure increases.... hrmmm....</TD></TR></TABLE>

Do you not recall the problems we had with those damn things on my rabbit??
I agree a potentiometer would be the way to go.

good luck

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BluGTIVR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Do you not recall the problems we had with those damn things on my rabbit??
I agree a potentiometer would be the way to go.

good luck </TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA! why yes, yes I do..... but that was with a VW, pfffttt.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BluGTIVR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I agree a potentiometer would be the way to go. </TD></TR></TABLE>
mind explaining potentiometer?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rollingCULTURE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
mind explaining potentiometer?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i.e. Pot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer

Variable resistance thingamabob... you'd need to wire it up to your pedal/mc to turn it (like a volume ****) and use the output to a gauge or set of LED's or some junk.

&lt;--- would prefer a accelerometer, who really cares how hard you hit the brakes? The meaning of a 2" brake pedal press changes a lot for me between laps 1 (cold), 3 (warm), and 10 (hot). Of course the accelerometer is useless in a spin if you REALLY want to know how much you're using the brakes


-Chris