Okay, my friend has this sub box with a plexi window on it, and I am thinking about buying it from him. Or just taking it out of his trunk lol.
Anyways I want to run either some leds or el wire or neons or some form of lighting and I didn't know how to hook it up. I was wondering if I could run it off the speaker wires from the subs and put a fuse on the wire for either leds or el wire and then they would beat with the music, because I think neons would burn being flipped on and off so fast, and I could keep wires and everything in the box. Or would I have to run a wire off the pos wire going to the amp and use that with a smaller wire and fuse to power it and get a sound sensor so it beats. Ideally I would like it to run off the speaker wire so the leds or whatever would flash at the same frequency the sub is moving, kind of make the sub look like a fast moving hand in a strobe light lol. But, if you guys don't think thats safe or know a better way please help.
Thanks.
As far as choosing the light goes, neon will not blink with the music. It takes a brief amount of time for the gases inside to ionize, and short bursts of electricity may not provide enough time to light them up at all. LED's are best suited for that. Unfortunately, flashing an LED to the beat of the music will not give the same freeze-frame visual effect as a strobe light, because musical passages rarely contain the extremely brief spikes required to rapidly turn them fully on, then fully off (perhaps a snare drum solo). You can hook up an LED to an amp's speaker outputs if you use the appropriate resistor, but it would require measuring the AC voltage of the amp, and you'd need the impedance and voltage of the light. It's easy to get it wrong. Easier to use a sound sensor that gives you adjustments to increase the brightness.
Yea, I figured neons woudn't work. And it doesn't have to be completely like a strobe light just something that goes the same fequency as the sub. I was thinking I would have to measure something on the amp to use speaker outputs, but how would I measure the output voltage? And would this affect output going to the sub or not?
You should look at this thread to get a little more info. It would fully light while a bass note is playing, not flash. I don't know a way of accomplishing what your after. Perhaps there is a product that would allow it flash, but i'm not aware of any.
Anyone else have a suggestion?
LEDs will fully light with bass notes, but there would be a noticeable flashing. I'm not sure how high the frequency has to go before it stops, though.
Here's a good option:
http://www.ledunderbody.com/Single-Color-Interior-Kits.aspx
That's the same place I linked to in the other thread when someone asked for some sound responsive LEDs. I don't know if the expandable kits are sound responsive, but the others on that page are.
1992 Chevrolet pickup; Jensen VM9412 HU; Alpine 4x6 2-way dash speakers x 2; Pyle Blue Label 4x6 3-way rear speakers x 2; Pyle Blue Label 12" subs x 2; Crunch GVP700.2 "Ground Pounder" subwoofer amplifier; Custom Subwoofer box
I read how you were saying about hooking them up to the speaker outputs. Wouldn't that be sufficient for what I was wanting? Just to have lights that "vibrated" along with the sub cone movement. I'm not exactly wanting a preset pattern from a premade set, and I have had sound sensitive lights before and they were just to "slow" for what I wanted. I want something that constantly changing with the frequency the sub is playing at, just for show, nothing outside the car, just probably in the box and maybe accenting my trunk or amp or something.
I'm thinking the speaker outs would work, as AC current is constantly changing from on to off and back at the given frequency. And now that I know how to measure and that I have plenty of background experience with resistors, I think I can figure something out. Thanks for all your help.
http://led.linear1.org/led.wiz
I've found this to be very helpful. Just input the absolute maximum voltage and LED specs. You should be fine. I can tell you, it's worth the effort.
oldhome7: I'm thinking the speaker outs would work, as AC current is constantly changing from on to off and back at the given frequency.
I'm thinking the speaker outs would work, as AC current is constantly changing from on to off and back at the given frequency.
You've gotten the wrong idea. Alternating current does not switch on and off, it reverses polarity. Let me illustrate it this way: All the lights in your house are getting AC, at 60hz. They don't flash at 60hz, they remain constantly lit. The light doesn't care which direction the power is going, it simply lights up as power flows thru it. The same would be true of lights running off your amp.
Everyone keeps talking around the issue and not getting anywhere.
You can get LED's to flash with the music - this Dual Illuminite box has them. I'm pretty sure the box uses a microphone and sensor to flash the lights - you could do it with a controller and speaker wire inputs. I don't think you can wire LED's directly to the speaker wires and have it work reliably, but maybe ...
I'm pretty sure it will vary with intensity, not frequency, - i.e. if the sub hits a LOUD passage at 80 Hz, the LED will be bright and a moderate passage at 80 Hz, the LED will be mid-level. I don't think you can have the LED different intensity for 60 Hz as opposed to 80 Hz.
I also don't know how to wire it up.
Hope This Helps!!!
Anyone else have suggestions?
2002 Ford Focus Sony CDX-GT410u Sony XT-100HD HD Tuner Stock speakers, no amp, no subs
Ah, my bad, I must have been thinking of DC or something. Might have been a night of no sleep. So, I can't get it to run off the speaker wires for the desired effect? I mean if it's like TigerHeli said and just intensity changes that would be fine too. But the ultimate goal would be to get it to flash in series with the sub.
So far as i understand, you want the light to flash rapidly on and off while a long bass note plays. i think it's an awesome idea. I did a little more research, because this is an effect i'd like to have for myself! What i now understand about LED's is they are polarized, so that they work with power flowing in only one direction. If you hook them up backwards, they don't light up. This might play to your advantage, but i'm not sure. The idea is that by hooking one up to an amp, it will light while the sub is being pushed forward, and turn off as the sub is pulled back. I have an old amp i don't mind frying, so i think i'll give it a try and post up whatever happens. I'm moving at the moment, but i'll post the results when i get around to it.
Okay, I read your initial post and I see what you are saying now.
The solution I posted was to get the lights to get brighter (flash) when the subs hit. That can be done.
It sounds like you actually want the lights to basically strobe with the music.
That can likely be done as well - think of an old school mechanics timing light it runs off 12V, picks up a signal from the number 1 plug wire and flashes when the plug fires - so all the elements are there - you just have to adapt it to pick up the output signal from the amp rather than the plug wire signal - I have no idea how you would do that, though.
Yea J Ro and TigerHeli, that's almost exactly what I want to happen. I'm thinking the whole mechanical side of hooking this up and getting it to work is like you said Tiger, just have to figure out how. But J Ro that's exactly what I want to happen as an end result, them flashing rapidly, like a strobe light, while a bass note plays. I know it will still flash on short notes, but thats the intruiging part about it and why I want to try to get this to work, because the LED's would always be flashing at different speeds.
Might not be LED's - timing lights are usually Xenon or some type of capacitive discharge, I believe. Of course so are most new car projector headlights.
Like I said, the good news is it looks like it can be done and can be run off 12V without adding a dozen extra car batteries to power it.
Now HOW you do it and how much you would have to scavenge and fabricate your own stuff to make it happen, I don't know ....
Well, I was looking up how to make a diy timing light and I noticed that some just are wire wrapped around the spark plug wire as it gives of an electric field, kinda like how you don't wont to run rca wires next to power wires im guessing. And some timing lights are LED's, but they glow pretty dimly. I'm thinking that maybe if I did more rounds of coil around say the positive speaker output that would give me enough power to light the LED's bright enough. If I had any spare LED's laying around I would test this, but I used over 100 in my last project and don't have any left over. But I could just wrap a wire around and use a multimeter and test output. I'll post back tomorrow with my findings as it is very late and I am tired.