Radar sign - Revision history

Dosman at 06:15, 13 December 2012

2012-12-13T06:15:11Z

Dosman at 06:11, 13 December 2012

2012-12-13T06:11:40Z

Dosman at 05:44, 13 December 2012

2012-12-13T05:44:54Z

Dosman: New page: A few years ago I picked up a K55 dash-mount radar unit at a local hamfest. It's a fun device for a host of reasons. The remote that came with this system got me thinking early on about th...

2012-12-13T05:33:48Z

New page: A few years ago I picked up a K55 dash-mount radar unit at a local hamfest. It's a fun device for a host of reasons. The remote that came with this system got me thinking early on about th...

New page

A few years ago I picked up a K55 dash-mount radar unit at a local hamfest. It's a fun device for a host of reasons. The remote that came with this system got me thinking early on about the possibility of capturing the speed data somehow. Fast-forward a few years and now I think I can pull this off with some help from other members of Bloominglags. Now I live on a road where cars and motorcycles seem to love to race up my road. There are also dozens of car wrecks on the steep hill immediately past my house; according to public records my road is the most dangerous in the county. While talking to one of my neighbors he mentioned he had requested a radar speed-sign from the city but got blown off. I found myself thinking I could build one using my radar. I do find these signs somewhat annoying, but being a little older now I appreciate what they try to do.

I have two ideas in mind for this project. First, I'd just like to silently log speed data of vehicles on my road. After that, I would be interested in adding a large-format display of some kind.

{|
| [[Image:K55.jpg|none|thumb|300px|K55 with 1 antenna and remote]]
| [[Image:K55-front.jpg|none|thumb|300px|K55 front panel]]
| [[Image:K55-rear.jpg|none|thumb|300px|K55 rear]]
|}

== Research and Preliminary look inside ==
Doing some googling I found [http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/k55radar.htm one guy] who had managed to read out speed data from an early model of this same unit with an AVR chip and send out RS-232 data. When we opened up my unit we found similar IC's inside as described by the previous link. Apparently the unit sends out BCD data to seven-segment display drivers so binary data can be siphoned off the board.

{|
| [[Image:K55-underside.jpg|none|thumb|300px|K55 underside]]
| [[Image:K55-cb01.jpg|none|thumb|300px|PCB silk screen]]
|}

While I'm fine with adding a board to the main unit, I'd rather tap into the remote. If I could just make a module which plugs into the remote port and adds USB/serial out I would be very happy.

{|
| [[Image:K55-remote-insides.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Remote internals]]
| [[Image:K55-remote-pinout.jpg|none|thumb|300px|Remote PCB silk screen]]
|}

== Build & Code ==
More to come.

[[Category:dosman projects]] [[Category:Arduino]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:15, 13 December 2012
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−	A few years ago I picked up a K55 dash-mount radar unit at a local hamfest. It's a fun device for a host of reasons. The remote that came with this system got me thinking early on about the possibility of capturing the speed data somehow. Fast-forward a few years and now I think I can pull this off with some help from other members of ~~Bloominglags~~. Now I live on a road where cars and motorcycles seem to love to race up my road. There are also dozens of car wrecks on the steep hill immediately past my house; according to public records my road is the most dangerous in the county. While talking to one of my neighbors he mentioned he had requested a radar speed-sign from the city but got blown off. I found myself thinking I could build one using my radar. I do find these signs somewhat annoying, but being a little older now I appreciate what they try to do.	+	A few years ago I picked up a K55 dash-mount radar unit at a local hamfest. It's a fun device for a host of reasons. The remote that came with this system got me thinking early on about the possibility of capturing the speed data somehow. Fast-forward a few years and now I think I can pull this off with some help from other members of Bloominglabs. Now I live on a road where cars and motorcycles seem to love to race up my road. There are also dozens of car wrecks on the steep hill immediately past my house; according to public records my road is the most dangerous in the county. While talking to one of my neighbors he mentioned he had requested a radar speed-sign from the city but got blown off. I found myself thinking I could build one using my radar. I do find these signs somewhat annoying, but being a little older now I appreciate what they try to do.

	I have two ideas in mind for this project. First, I'd just like to silently log speed data of vehicles on my road. After that, I would be interested in adding a large-format display of some kind.		I have two ideas in mind for this project. First, I'd just like to silently log speed data of vehicles on my road. After that, I would be interested in adding a large-format display of some kind.

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 == Build & Code ==
-The remote control port appears to be a 24 pin Centronics connector.
+The remote control port appears to be a 24 pin Centronics connector (male). Places you can order this part:
 More to come.