NEW IDEAS

Headlight Alarm
HAVE

YOU

EVER

FOUND

YOUR CAR

battery dead because you had left your

headlights on after shutting off the
engine and walking awa y? Before long
your battery is totally drained , and you
have to start looking for a passing good
samaritan or a service station. It is a
frustrating experience , as you know if it
ha s ever hap pened to you .
Th is circuit is designed to give off an
alarm anytime that the lights are on but
the engine off. The device is eas y to
build and almost any technique can be
used. Installation is also simple and ju st
two connections to your car's electri cal sys tem, and one to its chassis, are
required for proper operation.
Th e circ uit for the project is shown in
Fig . I. An SPDT relay , RY I (Radio
Shack 275-003 or equivalent), and diode
D2 (IN4004 or equiv alent) supply power
to the rest of the circuit only when the
headlights are on and the ignition
switch is off. A circuit made up of R7
and D I regulates the voltage to IC I.
The IC is configured as an oscillator,
and is used to supply pulses to Q I,

which is used as a tran sisto r switch.

Each time a pu lse from IC I reache s it,
QI supplies power to TRl' s driv er circuit (TR I is a piezo-bu zzer element.
Radio Shack 273-064 or equivalent ),
sounding the alarm .
The connections to your ca r are fairly
straightfo rward. The lead marked TO
+ 12V LIGHTS should go to a line that
carries + 12 volt s whene ver the headlights are on (the one for the dashboard
lights is a good cho ice). The lead labeled
TO + 12V IGNITION should go to one of
the lines that power the car ' s accessories (radio . cigarette lighter, etc.).
Make tho se connections to any point
th at is easily access ible ; typic ally that
will be at your car's fuse box. The lead
labeled TO GROUND can be made to any
convenient point that' s conn ected to
the car' s chassis.
Of course there are time s when you
wish to use your headlight s while the
engine is off. All th at need s to be done
to silence the a larm in tho se instances is
to tum the ignition switch to the AC
-James Griggs
CES SORY po sition.

R8
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had not been previously pub lished.

1<7

+1 2V

--

'-1.
, ... 400.

This colu mn is devoted to new ideas,

circuits, device applications, construction tec hniques, helpfu l hints, etc .
All published. entries, upon publication, will earn $25 . In addition, Panavise
will donate the ir model 324 Elect ro nic
Work Center, having a value of $49 .95.
It combines the ir circui t -boa rd holder ,
tray base mount, and soider station (see
photo below) . Selections will be made at
the sole discretion of the editorial ' staff
of Radio-Electronics.

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NEW IDEAS

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New York, NY 10003