Any sparkys out there? I need to pick someone's brain here.

I'm thinking of putting a starter button in my Camaro. I know how I'm going to go about it, except for one small thing.

I will probably stick to the ignition barrel in the steering column to switch the ignition on, and then have a button on the dash somewhere to engage the starter simply by feeding the starter directly to a 12v source and putting the button in the line. I realise that you would still be able to turn the engine over with the ignition switched off, but the car's not going anywhere like that so it's not really an issue. If I really wanted I could route it through the ignition barrel.

The issue is this : Rather than holding the button in until the engine is started, I'd like it to be a "one-touch" system. Think of it as turning your PC on. You don't hold the button until the computer is booted up, you press it once. The real problem, as you can imagine, is getting the starter to disengage of it's own accord once the engine has started. There is a car over here that has this system as standard, but it's a brand new car and to buy the control module (or whatever it is) would be very expensive indeed.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
Si

 

I understand what you are trying to do, but I don't know of any commercially available modules or circuits that perform this function.

I believe that the remote car starters use either a signal off the coil or an inductive spark plug wire pickup to 'watch' the engine speed. A circuit then determines the speed of the engine and de-energizes the starter once the engine has reached that speed.

If you are handy with electronics prototyping it is possible, a little experimentation would get you a circuit that changes state when the engine is running of its own accord.

One should build a timer to set a 'maximum cranking time' to avoid cranking continuously in the event of a problem under the hood if the engine refuses to fire.

If you've worked with the old 555 timer there is no doubt a means to perform the timing functions with this puppy.

 

The timer function is a good idea....don't want my starter to cook itself!

Anyone have any clues as to how a circuit might go?

 

you would need to design some type of logic circuit....say....

button engauged,
is car on?
check rpm,
no?
turn over starter
car on?
yes
take power off the starter.

errr something like that... i hope your good with coding and electronics ;]

 

A vacuum operated switch might do the trick!

Check my other post: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...70#post1117770