HOW TO – Make a Knight Rider bar

Arduino Technology
HOW TO – Make a Knight Rider bar

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Josh writes –

’m making a Knight Rider (KITT) Light Bar to celebrate the premier of the new Knight Rider Made-For-TV Movie. I’m using an Arduino Diecimila board and 18 LEDs.

Materials (so far): FedEx box (temporary; looking for a suitable plastic container) with black construction paper for the housing. Arduino, 18 LEDs (wired to 9 output pins on the arduino – two LEDs in parallel per pin), 9 75 ohm resistors (note, 75 is not the right value, but they were the closest I had). The faceplate is made of cardboard, tissue paper (light diffusion) and some cheap car-window-sun-shade-material I found at Target.

HOW TO – Make a Knight Rider bar – Link.

14 thoughts on “HOW TO – Make a Knight Rider bar

  1. Jack says:

    Couldn’t you do this with a 555 timer and a decade-counter IC? Good experience with an arduino though, I guess.

  2. Mark says:

    You could use a 555 and a 4017 as Jack mentioned. I made a metronome that flashes back and forth with adjustable speed. You could easily add LED’s to mine as well to get a double chase effect.

    Here is a video:

    Here is a picture and the code:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/necromantia/2274598658/
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/necromantia/2273823027/

  3. OT says:

    Oh boy! Now all I need is a cheesy Member’s Only jacket and I can pretend to be just like David Hasselhoff! I’m sure those lights will make my car into a real chick-magnet!

    Between this and my Star-Wars light sabre I’ll be irresistible to the fairer sex!

  4. J. Quimbaum says:

    You’ll also be irresistible to cops. In most states it is illegal to have red lights visible from the front of your vehicle.

  5. R says:

    If you don’t feel like making one, you can always buy one. There are a few aftermarket car parts manufactures that make these things. Just mount the bar, tap a power line, install a switch on your dash, and you’re all done.

  6. jher says:

    As Mark said above, a 555 timer and some other parts will do the trick. I made one of these back in highschool based on project 3-8 from “Beginner’s Handbook of IC Projects” by David L. Heiserman, 1981. Its very much out of print but you can find a copy here:

    http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?qwork=614382&matches=24&author=Heiserman%2C+David+L.&browse=1&cm_re=works*listing*title

    for $2. I’ve taken a snapshot of the circuit diagram here:

    http://flickr.com/photos/jher/2286447188/

  7. shamra design says:

    Getting angry at the parts, electronic circuit,or even yourself,simply wastes, emotional energy that could be put to fixing the circuit.The first thing to look for are wiring errors,Everyone makes wiring errors.

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