[alfa] Flashing Brake Lights

[John.Wiltshire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Errr... I'm old enough to remember the variable-pulse-rate brake flashers
from whwn my brother looked into installing one in his AlfaSud in the '70s
(he never went ahead with it).

One of the local electronics hobby mags here ran a project for a DIY brake
light flasher.  It was a fairly simple affair that connected in series with
the brake lights (or it could just be used to drive a third brake light).
This unit would flash the lights rapidly a few times before turning them on
fully.  It also had a nice feature that would bypass the flashing and go
straight to a full light if you pressed the brake pedal, released it then
pressed it again straight away - this was designed so that is stop-start
traffic you didn't annoy the guy behind you with the flashing light.

I can attest to the effectiveness of flashing lights on the car behind.  In
one of my previous cars, I had a small microswitch installed next to the
handbrake that was connected in parallel with the brake light switch.  If I
was being tailgated (a driving habit that I absolutely detest) a few quick
taps was usually enough to have the tailgater disappearing backwards in my
mirror - this was always more effective than the traditional method of
touching the brake pedal with your left foot.

Another local electronics hobby mag published a circuit recently. This was
a very clever idea that sensed rapid deceleration and turned the brake
lights on immediately - ie before you could get your foot on the brake
pedal.  I worked by sensing when the accelerator pedal was lifted off
suddenly instead of smoothly, the only drawback of this system is that it
needed a car with electronic engine management to get a take-off for the
sensor, it also only worked for cars with auto transmissions.

If anybody is interested in either of these circuits, please let me know -
I'm sure that I have both of them in my files and I could scan and e-mail
them.

Cheers Alfisti, and have a great Alfa weekend!

John Wiltshire
Sydney Australia




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