I’m totally new to this forum, so bear with me. I’m trying to make an indicator to show what gear my transmission is in. I built a Rock Crawler and I have a special designed shifter installed. The problem is, there’s no indication of what gear or position my transmission is in. What I’d like to make is an led indicator, with use of micro switches to have each led light up as the shifter is moved. Having an indicator is very important to me, due to the shifter doesn’t have a lockout between positions. So I can go straight from low to reverse with no lockouts, which would be very bad. Can anyone lead me in the right direction or ideas on what I would need to make something like this?
I’d like to utilize a red led for park, amber reverse. Blue neutral and green for gears 123.
Thank you!
Hello,
Welcome to our community!
Thank you for your patience, our team is looking into your question.
Hello @combatrescue,
The challenge is to reliably detect the position of either the shift lever or the linkage.
Instead of microswitches I would recommend Hall effect sensors.
- Place a magnet on the mechanical assembly
- Place sensor(s) as appropriate to locate the magnet
The hall sensors are smaller and do not have moving parts. The greatest advantage is the ability to pot the assembly in epoxy which significantly reduces water and dust intrusion.
As a starting point, recommend you search keywords “Arduino and Hall Effect.” This should lead you to parts and kits to get you started. Note that Hall sensors are available in linear and binary on/off, I suspect you are looking for the on/off variety.
Please let us know if you were successful.
Sincerely,
APDahlen
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Thank you very much! I appreciate your help and I’ll do the search now. Again, thank you for your help and time.
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