Skip to main content

Automobile Interior Lights Fader


This circuit is similar to the fading eyes circuit above and is used to slowly brighten and fade interior lights of older cars.  The circuit is based around the LM324 low power opamp which draws around 3mA of current, so it won't bother the battery if left connected for extended periods.

The top two opamps (pins 1,2,3 and 5,6,7) form a triangle wave oscillator running at about 700Hz while the lower opamp (pins 8,9,10) produces a linear, 5 second ramp, that moves up or down depending on the position of the door switch.

Automobile Interior Lights Fader Circuit Diagram

Lights Fader Circuit Diagram

The two transistors and associated resistors serve to limit the ramp voltage to slightly more and less than the upper and lower limits of the triangle waveform. These two signals (700 hZ. triangle wave and 5 second ramp) are applied to the inputs of the 4th opamp (pins 12,13,14) that serves as a voltage comparator and generates a varying duty cycle square wave that controls the IRFZ44 MOSFET and lamp brightness. The 5 second fade time can be adjusted with the 75K resistor connected to the door switch. A larger value will increase the time and a smaller value will speed it up.

When the door switch is closed (car door open) the voltage on pin 8 slowly rises above the negative peaks of the triangle wave producing a short duty cycle output and a dim light. As the ramp moves farther positive, a greater percentage of the triangle wave will be lower than the ramp voltage producing a wider pulse and brighter light. This process continues until the ramp is 100% above the positive peaks of the triangle wave and the output is maximum. When the door switch is open, the reverse action takes place and the lamps slowly fade out.

The IRFZ44 shouldn't require a heat sink if the total load is 50 watts or less but the temperature of the MOSFET should be monitored to insure it doesn't overheat. The on-state resistance is only 0.028 ohms so that 4 amps of current (48 watts) is only around 100mW. For larger loads, a small heat sink can be added to keep the MOSFET cool.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

OP AMP INTEGRATOR CALCULATOR

Enter the Input Voltage,Vin: Volts Enter the Frequency, f: Hertz Enter the Input Resistance, Rin: Ohms Enter the Value of Capacitor, C: Farads Output Voltage, Vout: Volts OP AMP based Integrator Tutorial and Design

Block diagram of AM transmitter and receiver with explanation

Block diagram of AM transmitter and receiver with explanation AM Transmitter : Transmitters that transmit AM signals are known as AM transmitters. These transmitters are used in medium wave (MW) and short wave (SW) frequency bands for AM broadcast. The MW band has frequencies between 550 KHz and 1650 KHz, and the SW band has frequencies ranging from 3 MHz to 30 MHz. The two types of AM transmitters that are used based on their transmitting powers are: ·          High Level ·          Low Level High level transmitters use high level modulation, and low level transmitters use low level modulation. The choice between the two modulation schemes depends on the transmitting power of the AM transmitter. In broadcast transmitters, where the transmitting power may be of the order of kilowatts, high level modulation is employed. In low power transmitters, where only a few watts of transmitting power are required , low...

Using the TLP250 Isolated MOSFET Driver Explanation and Example Circuits

I’ve already shown how to drive an N-channel MOSFET (or even an IGBT) in both high-side and low-side configurations in a multitude of ways. I’ve also explained the principles of driving the MOSFETs in these configurations. The dedicated drivers I’ve shown so far are the TC427 and IR2110. Some people have requested me to write up on MOSFET drive using the very popular TLP250. And I’ll explain that here. The TLP250, like any driver, has an input stage, an output stage and a power supply connection. What’s special about the TLP250 is that the TLP250 is an optically isolated driver, meaning that the input and output are “optically isolated”. The isolation is optical – the input stage is an LED and the receiving output stage is light sensitive (think “photodetector”). Before delving any further, let’s look at the pin configuration and the truth table. Fig. 1 - TLP250 Pin Configuration Fig. 2 - TLP250 Truth Table Fig. 1 clearly shows the input LED side and the receiving photodetector as well...