LEDMods_net

Lol, I described that in another post!

Pin 87a is for the normally closed circuit. If you want something active when the switch is off, then you connect it to 87a. When you want it to switch to something else, you connect it to 87.

For example:

30 = +12V
87 = power wire to front lights
87a = power wire to rear lights

When you don't activate the relay, the front lights will be on. As soon as you activate the relay, the rear lights will turn on, and the front will turn off.

trialsindude

Look in the JLEVI post for his puddle lights, there is a wire to hook up for the interior light. I hooked up my puddle lights that way so it comes on/fade on and off with the dome lights. Best of all is that the wire to tap is a ground wire so you can hook the positive to a 12V constant....

SuperWhite12

Which post is it? JLEVI has like 100 posts.. I looked at the puddle ones but no instructions, just pics.

trialsindude

actually look at this thread for the how too and where the wires are at
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...t=puddle+light

Budsmoke

I’ve never used cathodes, so afraid I can’t answer your question.

I’ve got a possible solution, but I’ll need to thread-jack a little to get some advise from others on here that know electronics.

First question, do cathodes turn on and off almost instantly like LEDs? Or is there a greater delay? Second question, is there any known damage that can be caused to them from rapid switching?

Here is what I did to vary intensities on my LEDs, may possibly work with cathodes but haven’t tried yet. I tried varying the voltage and current, but wasn’t satisfied with the light intensities. Then I used pulse width modulation to fool the brain into thinking the intensity is changing. Looks pretty good.

Budsmoke

Cathode dimming is possible, http://www.cetsolar.com/ccfdimmer.htm , but I doubt many people would like to spend that much money to control a set of cheap cathodes.

I’m going over some schematics and datasheets at work, we actually have an LCD display that uses cathodes for backlighting and it is adjustable. And better yet, pretty much all the parts I need are free of charge (limited quantity of course)…. I’ve got a better idea now as how to do it, so I think I’m gonna have to buy some lights from Oznium for like $10 and then try it.

Budsmoke

Here is what I have found for dimming control for cold cathodes.

These modules can be used to power the cathodes and provide dimming functions. The drawback is that since it is not recommended to extend the lengths of the high voltage lines from the cathodes, you may need to use several of these to control multiple cathodes that are spaced apart in a vehicle.

http://dkc3.digikey.com/PDF/T063/1916-1917.pdf

This one here is quite a bit cheaper.
http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bi...NT_LAMPS_.html


I also found it possible to dim the cathodes using pulse-width-modulated switching to control the on-off times of the transformer that powers the cathodes. This method will probably reduce the lifespan of the transformer and/or cathodes. But considering the cheap cost of cathode kits from Oznium, I’m not too concerned.