Petrol Gas Switch For A Pajero

My current vehicle, a Pajero, was modified for dual fuel - ie, petrol and gas. However, its necessary to run the vehicle on petrol at regular intervals to stop the injectors from clogging up. This simple circuit allows the vehicle to be started using petrol and then automatically switches it to gas when the speed exceeds 45km/h and the brake pedal is pressed. Alternatively, the vehicle may be run on petrol simply by switching the existing petrol/gas switch to petrol.

You can also start the vehicle on gas by pressing the brake pedal while starting the vehicle. The circuit is based on an LM324 dual op amp, with both op amps wired as comparators. It works like this: IC1a buffers the signal from the vehicles speed sensor and drives an output filter network (D1, a 560kO resistor and a 10µF capacitor) to produce a DC voltage thats proportional to the vehicles speed.

Circuit diagram:

Petrol Gas Switch For A Pajero Circuit diagram

This voltage is then applied to pin 5 of IC1b and compared with the voltage set by trimpot VR1. When pin 7 of IC1b goes high, transistor Q1 turns on. This also turns on transistor Q2 when the brake pedal is pressed (pressing the brake pedal applies +12V from the brake light circuit to Q2s emitter). And when Q2 turns on, relay 1 turns on and its contacts switch to the gas position. Trimpot VR1 must be adjusted so that IC1bs pin 7 output switches high when the desired trigger speed is reached (ie, 45km/h). In effect, the speed signal is ANDed with the brake light signal to turn on the relay. The vehicle has been running this circuit for several years now and is still running well, with no further injector cleans required.

Author: J. Malnar - Copyright: Silicon Chip Electronics

Continue Reading..

Battery Switch With Low Dropout Regulator

In the form of the LT1579 Linear Technology (www.linear-tech.com) has produced a practical battery switch with an integrated low-dropout regulator. In contrast to previous devices no diodes are required. The circuit is available in a 3.3 V version (LT1579CS8-3.3) and in a 5 V version (LT1579CS8-5), both in SO8 SMD packages. There is also an adjustable version and versions in an SO16 package which offer a greater range of control and drive signals. The main battery, whose terminal voltage must be at least 0.4 V higher than the desired output voltage, is connected to pin IN1. The backup battery is connected to pin IN2. The regulated output OUT can deliver a current of up to 300 mA. The LDO regulator part of the IC includes a pass transistor for the main input voltage IN1 and another for the backup battery on IN2.

The IC will switch over to the backup battery when it detects that the pass transistor for the main voltage input is in danger of no longer being able to maintain the required output voltage. The device then smoothly switches over to the backup battery. The open-drain status output BACKUP goes low to indicate when this has occurred. When neither battery is able to maintain the output voltage at the desired level the open-drain output DROPOUT goes low. The LT1579 can operate with input voltages of up to +20 V from the batteries. The regulator output OUT is short-circuit proof. The shutdown input switches off the output; if this feature is not required, the input can simply be left open.

Continue Reading..

Dual High Side Switch Controller

Circuit diagram :

Dual High Side Switch Controller Circuit Diagram

One of the most frequent uses of n-channel MOSFET’s is as a voltage controlled switch. To ensure that the MOSFET delivers the full supply voltage to the load it is necessary for the gate voltage to be a few volts above the supply voltage level. This can be a problem if no other suitable higher volt-age sources are available for use elsewhere in the circuit. The LTC 1982 dual high-side switch controller from Lin-ear Technology (www.linear-tech.com) solves this problem by incorporating a voltage tripler circuit in the gate driver stage. The gate voltage is limited to +7.5 V which is 2.0 V above the IC’s maximum operating voltage. It can directly drive the gate of logic-level MOSFET with a VGS(th) from 1.0 V to 2.0 V. A suitable n-channel logic level MOSFET would be the BSP 295. This device can switch up to 1.5 A and is available in an SOT 233 SMD package.

http://streampowers.blogspot.com/2012/06/dual-high-side-switch-controller.html 

Continue Reading..