Audi A3 8P Dynamic Indicator Project

[D7YAB]

Dynamic indicators are pretty cool if you ask me. The facelift 8V also has Dynamic rears along with golf MK7.5. I know there are also more models with these fancy animating indicators but i saw a video on Facebook where someone actually fitted one in to their 3 door A3 8P.

Although i cant find a link to the video anymore (Hopefully LEE69 can find the video from the A3 8P Owners Facebook group), they did draw some attention.

There are cheap DIY LED sequential indicator/DRL strips online for less than £20. Having seen a few videos in action, the sequential animation doesn't look smooth and personally i don't think they are bright enough.

Here's my plan.

NeoPixels are programmable leds which can be controlled via a arduino(or something similar). Heres a link to them https://www.adafruit.com/product/1506. In my opinion i think these are the best programmable LEDS in terms of light output.
Theoretically these can be put in place of the indicators on the tail lights. However as the indicators don't span the whole width of the tail lights on facelift 3 door and 5 door tail lights, i don't think it would look as nice as oem dynamic indicators. Ignore my poor paint skills but i was thinking of having half the leds in the reverse light section and the other half in the indicator section for each tail light.

Now, as the leds are RGB, they can shine white light as well as any other colour you want. In this case i want Amber/Orange for indicators and white for reverse.
If the leds act as both the indicators and reverse lights, heres how i can code the arduino to control the leds.

How the LED's would work is by having the existing signals from the tail lights go into the arduino to then decide how it should control the colour of the light. I could either have two arduinos, one for each side. this would save having to route cables from each tail light. Or i could have one controlling both sides(more cables involved)

Currently there are two flaws with this idea.
1) the arduino and the LED's need constant 5v to work and not only when the lights are signalling. If these are hooked to ignition, when having the car off and having hazards on, the lights wont function hence constant power is needed.
2) I wont be able to see if the leds would be bright enough to actually see whilst reversing until i get facelift rear tail lights and fit them inside the tail lights.

If you checked the price for the NeoPixels on the link earlier, you'll realise the price is pretty steep for a LED strip. So instead ive got a set from Aliexpress for a tenna but as its coming from china, it can take up to 2 months. Maybe i should have posted this when i actually have a working model but i felt like sharing this so you guys can also have a dig at this.

 

[Omy193]

Aint got a clue myself!
But an interesting concept!

However i think it will be very difficult to take apart the rear lights to fit these!

 

[Gm95]

Awesome idea if you can get it to work, I'll be watching the thread for any updates.
As for taking on custom auto electrics in a vag car, good luck and I salute you lol

 

[D7YAB]

First update

sooo, my led strips and arduino have arrived. Having no previous arduino experience this was a little bit of fun to get set up and working. The leds are really bright when on full brightness but even 40% is bright enough.

so far i have everything working besides hazards as i cant figure out how to have two animations running simultaneously. i can have one after the other but that isnt right as left and right are synced together when having hazards on.

My car is prefacelift with the old tail lights. I dont know why i started this without the led tail lights but i guess once i have this fully working id really have to retrofit this into led facelift tail lights for my car

Heres a little clip of what ive got up to. Im simulating signals via code and yet to have it so it works when a real signal is given. Ive deactivated the leds where they will be separated in the tail lights just to see how it will look.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I'll watch this thread with interest.
I once had sequential indicators fitted to the headlights of a MK6 Fiesta. Loved them.

 

[aqibi2000]

Let me know if you need help with programming Arduino or PIC.

Btw a nested for loop will make hazards work.

 

[leonwilliams]

First update

sooo, my led strips and arduino have arrived. Having no previous arduino experience this was a little bit of fun to get set up and working. The leds are really bright when on full brightness but even 40% is bright enough.

so far i have everything working besides hazards as i cant figure out how to have two animations running simultaneously. i can have one after the other but that isnt right as left and right are synced together when having hazards on.

My car is prefacelift with the old tail lights. I dont know why i started this without the led tail lights but i guess once i have this fully working id really have to retrofit this into led facelift tail lights for my car

Heres a little clip of what ive got up to. Im simulating signals via code and yet to have it so it works when a real signal is given. Ive deactivated the leds where they will be separated in the tail lights just to see how it will look.

Mate that is awesome

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[D7YAB]

Let me know if you need help with programming Arduino or PIC.

Btw a nested for loop will make hazards work.

Thanks mate, i think ive got the hazards sorted but now i need to have it so when a signal is given, for example when the car gives power to indicators, the arduino lights up accordingly. It shouldnt be too hard but im running arduino nano for low power consumption as im having it permanently wired in. one issue is do you think the power given to bulbs is too much for the arduino? i will be using a 12v to 5v converter but also i need some sort of resistor to trick the car into thinking i have a bulb.

Mate that is awesome

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Really appreciate it. If you dont mind are you able to measure the lengths of the indicator and reverse light sections of your tail light? (Lol i see you have the facelift led tail lights from your profile pic). Right now i dont have facelift tail lights to measure this myself but hopefully ill get my hands on some to fit these into.

 

[aqibi2000]

Thanks mate, i think ive got the hazards sorted but now i need to have it so when a signal is given, for example when the car gives power to indicators, the arduino lights up accordingly. It shouldnt be too hard but im running arduino nano for low power consumption as im having it permanently wired in. one issue is do you think the power given to bulbs is too much for the arduino? i will be using a 12v to 5v converter but also i need some sort of resistor to trick the car into thinking i have a bulb.



Really appreciate it. If you dont mind are you able to measure the lengths of the indicator and reverse light sections of your tail light? (Lol i see you have the facelift led tail lights from your profile pic). Right now i dont have facelift tail lights to measure this myself but hopefully ill get my hands on some to fit these into.

You just need to use a Voltage divider to reduce the 12V that's used on the bulbs to the the Input pin the Arduino, the input needs 3V or higher to detect as logic high, the attached diagram is rugged enough to work over the range of 10V to 15V at the bulb pin to provide a Logic high without damaging the chip. Using common resistor value.

You can use sleep mode on the Arduino too.

Also with the bulb load removed, the car will flag blown bulb...

PS, I've also ordered some and will be making a version of this too.

The small issues I see is adding suppression to false triggering due to Electrical noise, also consideration of when the car does the bulb tests when you first turn the IGN on. The bigger issue is how to mount it properly inside the Light and making it look sensible.

 

[Dee60]

Looking good! I was in the process of doing this but just for the indicators. I gave up when it came to seperating my tail lights though.

 

[D7YAB]

You just need to use a Voltage divider to reduce the 12V that's used on the bulbs to the the Input pin the Arduino, the input needs 3V or higher to detect as logic high, the attached diagram is rugged enough to work over the range of 10V to 15V at the bulb pin to provide a Logic high without damaging the chip. Using common resistor value.

You can use sleep mode on the Arduino too.

Also with the bulb load removed, the car will flag blown bulb...

PS, I've also ordered some and will be making a version of this too.

The small issues I see is adding suppression to false triggering due to Electrical noise, also consideration of when the car does the bulb tests when you first turn the IGN on. The bigger issue is how to mount it properly inside the Light and making it look sensible.

Thanks for the diagram, ill use it when actually installing the leds into my car. I'm planning on using the wiring for the bulb as input signals for the arduino. This for sure will cause issues but hopefully resistors will trick the car into thinking there is a bulb.

When the leds are off but still have power, the arduino nano and the strip draw next to nothing in terms of power so battery drainage hopefully shouldn't be an issue with it permanently wired in.

Hopefully there is a way around the ignition test as it will look quite odd having the leds flash on start up but i still need to figure out how to sync the animations with input signals.

I still haven't figured out how I'm going to mount this or wire in the car. Saying that I'm yet to buy facelift tail lights

 

[D7YAB]

Looking good! I was in the process of doing this but just for the indicators. I gave up when it came to seperating my tail lights though.

There was a guy on the 8p facebook group who managed to do this using standard sequential led strips so it must be possible. I probably have to brake a few sets of tail lights until i get it how i want it

 

[aqibi2000]

Share with us how you manage to open an outer tail light without using a Dremel/Soldering Iron. Someone also posted about doing it on here too.

 

[D7YAB]

Share with us how you manage to open an outer tail light without using a Dremel. Someone also posted about doing it on here too.

I havent done it yet but this guy has done it
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10213596727966408&id=1049417196

 

[aqibi2000]

I havent done it yet but this guy has done it
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10213596727966408&id=1049417196

Looks great, could you ask him measure density his LED strip is e.g 30/60/144 LEDs per meter? I'm not on FB.

Mines going to be a step better than that Incorporating the reverse Lights as part of the indicator strip (making it appear longer), then using the RGB in white for when reverse is engaged.

 

[D7YAB]

Looks great, could you ask him measure density his LED strip is e.g 30/60/144 LEDs per meter? I'm not on FB.

Mines going to be a step better than that Incorporating the reverse Lights as part of the indicator strip (making it appear longer), then using the RGB in white for when reverse is engaged.

I dont know the guy but its a generic drl strip that you can get off ebay so its a direct indicator bulb replacement.
The whole reason started this is exactly as you said, longer indicator strip incorporating reverse light too.

 

[S7ree7figh7er]

Awesome as would love to have a kit from one of you as I'm more skilled with hands than programming.

As my A3 is 3 doors so only have single unit each side. Was thinking as my unit share white line with reversing and indicator on offside while half white and red on nearside, maybe you could add other programming to turn lights into red as for fog lights. Yeah it would mean that I'll need lhd nearside cluster so both of them will have full white strip then insert the led strip so can have indicator, reversing and fog light?

Let me know if it's possible then I will let you know how long it is needed as of where is split point etc.
Not had a look at cluster yet. Am thinking maybe need to drill a hole at one side and feed the strip through then seal it up.

Yes am keen on having it done also wondering how much the kit would be. Cheers

 

[ch1z64]

Will be watching with interest to see if this can be done and look forward to seeing the step by step guide with the pics included ( i hope ) so others can learn how to do this .

 

[D7YAB]

Awesome as would love to have a kit from one of you as I'm more skilled with hands than programming.

As my A3 is 3 doors so only have single unit each side. Was thinking as my unit share white line with reversing and indicator on offside while half white and red on nearside, maybe you could add other programming to turn lights into red as for fog lights. Yeah it would mean that I'll need lhd nearside cluster so both of them will have full white strip then insert the led strip so can have indicator, reversing and fog light?

Let me know if it's possible then I will let you know how long it is needed as of where is split point etc.
Not had a look at cluster yet. Am thinking maybe need to drill a hole at one side and feed the strip through then seal it up.

Yes am keen on having it done also wondering how much the kit would be. Cheers

This definitely would be possible and probably easier to accomplish on the 3 door rather than the sportback as the tail lights are one piece.

Having the leds function as indicators, reverse and fog lights would be doable but would be a little complicated running off one led strip. I think it would be easier to have two led strips in the tail lights one above the other. It would make sense to have one primarily as indicators and the other as reverse and fog.

Afaik the three door only has fog lights on one side and reverse on the other. This would mean running a wire from one tail light to the other which hopefully wouldnt be too hard to do considering you can run it under the boot floor. For the sportback it is a little harder as i need to figure how to run cable from boot lid to the inside of the car.

The first issue with this project is the leds wont draw enough power and therefore cause the car to think bulb has gone. As im doing this with arduino, the wiring for the bulbs are input signals into the arduino and dont draw enough to simulate a bulb without a resistor or something.

Secondly the arduino needs power constantly but this shouldnt be an issue as power draw is minimal if leds are off.

Right now this project is kind of on a halt until after my a level exams. I still need to get myself facelift tail lights to fit the leds into. Until then i wont be able to test the code any further as i need to record the signal durations coming from the car to time the dynamic indicators accordingly.

If i were to do a kit i would need to make sure everything is 100% correct and the leds are durable. If all goes well, hopefully ill have this finished and ready to sell as a kit for not too much money.

 

[D7YAB]

Will be watching with interest to see if this can be done and look forward to seeing the step by step guide with the pics included ( i hope ) so others can learn how to do this .

I will provide a guide once done. Honestly the programming side is easy and i think anyone would be able to make this from scratch if they wanted.

Although i study computer science which includes programming, i have had no previous experience with arduino as its a different programming language than what ive learnt.

Im not sure ill just post a file to upload to the arduino or guide you how i coded the arduino for a little bit of fun. Uploading the file is the easier option or selling the arduino pre programmmed isnt too bad of an idea either.

Anyways lets get this sorted first and then more will follow after

 

[jmcnamee98]

Any updates on this would be interested to see this working.

 

[leonwilliams]

Any updates on this would be interested to see this working.

I'm still waiting for this project sounds exciting. Probably be expensive though

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[D7YAB]

Any updates on this would be interested to see this working.

I'm still waiting for this project sounds exciting. Probably be expensive though

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Unfortunately im still at a halt with this project. More things are going wrong with my car one by one so im having thoughts of selling it and buying a facelift instead.

However, this project doesnt cost alot as its really its just some leds and an arduino and making your own code for it. As it stands everything is ready to be installed but i still need to get my hands on some facelift tail lights. Unless someone has a pair that i can install these into and play around with for a while until its perfect, this is where im stuck for now.

 

[D7YAB]

Been a while since ive updated but ive managed to find a set of facelift tail lights for a steal. Heres a vid of what i got up to straight away. There are a few more things i need to finish off this such as creating a loom to connect all the led strips to the controller ive made. However i want this to be perfect before i install it so theres no messing around after its installed.

 

[Omy193]

Great work! Look forward to seeing it all completed and on the car!


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[oldoiler]

Was it ever a option on the face lift A3, I have a 16 plate so back ??


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[aqibi2000]

Got mine up and running too

 

[D7YAB]

Great work! Look forward to seeing it all completed and on the car!


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Thanks, i still need to figure out how im connecting all 4 of the tail lights together. Hopefully itll be completed in a week or so.

Was it ever a option on the face lift A3, I have a 16 plate so back ??


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it is an option for the facelift a3 from factory but was never available for anything older than the prefacelift a3 8v

 

[D7YAB]

Got mine up and running too

Good work mate, i bet it looks more amber in person compared to recording it as my video doesnt justify the colour of my lights.

also how many less per strip are you using? im using 144leds per meter. Also are you planning on connecting inner lights too?

 

[aqibi2000]

Good work mate, i bet it looks more amber in person compared to recording it as my video doesnt justify the colour of my lights.

also how many less per strip are you using? im using 144leds per meter. Also are you planning on connecting inner lights too?

Doing all 4 lights
Using interrupt driven code to control reverse indicator etc

144/meter too. I tried less and it didn't look right

I'm using 4 dedicated pins on the microcontroller to drive the 4 individual strips as opposed to running it as one continuous strip cut up

 

[D7YAB]

Doing all 4 lights
Using interrupt driven code to control reverse indicator etc

144/meter too. I tried less and it didn't look right

I'm using 4 dedicated pins on the microcontroller to drive the 4 individual strips as opposed to running it as one continuous strip cut up

yep same here interupt driven too. ive used a software debouncer as sometimes one pulse of voltage for the indicator can trigger multiple pulses for the arduino.

im using 1 signal wire daisy chained to all the leds as ive already coded it a long time ago now. i suppose there would be less wires involved once installed as your only having one set of wires going into each led and not out of them like i am.

also did you take lens off to install the leds or did you manage to get them to sit using bulb spacing?

 

[aqibi2000]

yep same here interupt driven too. ive used a software debouncer as sometimes one pulse of voltage for the indicator can trigger multiple pulses for the arduino.

im using 1 signal wire daisy chained to all the leds as ive already coded it a long time ago now. i suppose there would be less wires involved once installed as your only having one set of wires going into each led and not out of them like i am.

also did you take lens off to install the leds or did you manage to get them to sit using bulb spacing?

I find it's going to be very difficult to get the wires out from the end of the outer light housing routed to the next one (hence opted for separating them over 4 pins going into each light. making it easier to route the wire entry/exit points).

Going to be fully mounting it using Transparent glue to mount the rubber tube that comes with the LED strip to the actual lens, then slide the strip in and out.

How are you dealing with the reverse and indicator bulb out warnings. I'm leaving them in place but painting them in high temp black paint. No B****T of 5/10W resistors hanging out....

 

[D7YAB]

I find it's going to be very difficult to get the wires out from the end of the outer light housing routed to the next one (hence opted for separating them over 4 pins going into each light. making it easoer to routed the wire entry).

Going to be fully mounting it using Transparent glue to mount the rubber tube that comes with the LED strip to the actual lens, then slide the strip in and out.

How are you dealing with the reverse and indicator bulb out warnings. I'm leaving them in place but painting them in high temp black paint. No B****T of 5/10W resistors hanging out....

with bulb out warnings im going to be using 25w resisters from ebay. it probably would be easier to paint the bulb.

my strip doesnt have the rubber tube and ive taken the lens off mine so itll be easier to mount the strip.

are you using fast led library to control the strip? if so can you tell me how you can control the led strips separately.

 

[ch1z64]

Interesting post lads , i guess if you get the gremlins ironed out and all fully working with no faults recorded on Vcd's you will have others queuing up to get it done , little money maker

 

[D7YAB]

Interesting post lads , i guess if you get the gremlins ironed out and all fully working with no faults recorded on Vcd's you will have others queuing up to get it done , little money maker

haha im quite enjoying this so far. love sorting things out till its perfect. this could potentially be something i could sell once its all figured out.

 

[aqibi2000]

haha im quite enjoying this so far. love sorting things out till its perfect. this could potentially be something i could sell once its all figured out.

I've got the same intention


I've taken lens off the light right now to attach the rubber strip. You shouldn't bind the LED strip directly to the lens IMO, the strips do fail, I use them very regularly. ANY static electric onto the Data pin (even if you use a resistor) will make the first led in the strip fail. (You must make it robust and replaceable/serviceable if things fail without destroying the actual light).

You need to set up a another declaration in the setup() then change the name of (Can use FastLed or Adafruit's one).

What you using for the 12 to 5V. Linear Regulator or DC-DC Converter?

 

[D7YAB]

I've got the same intention


I've taken lens off the light right now to attach the rubber strip. You shouldn't bind the LED strip directly to the lens IMO, the strips do fail, I use them very regularly. ANY static electric onto the Data pin (even if you use a resistor) will make the first led in the strip fail. (You must make it robust and replaceable/serviceable if things fail without destroying the actual light).

You need to set up a another declaration in the setup() then change the name of (Can use FastLed or Adafruit's one).

What you using for the 12 to 5V. Linear Regulator or DC-DC Converter?

haha right, seems like a race. imma beat you to it

im using fastled library for mine and ill give it a go. i think your way of installing it is better but ive not got the rubber cover for the leds.

talking about static, ive been toying with mine on carpet all this time and nothing has happened yet.

also, my arduino runs on 12v as well as 5v. ive wired a molex connector to the arduino and its happy on 12v. it runs fine off usb too so i think itll be alright on either. but i guess 12v power is freely available through out the car so ill stick to 12v.

looking at this all now, seems like youve got things more figured out than i have

 

[aqibi2000]

haha right, seems like a race. imma beat you to it

im using fastled library for mine and ill give it a go. i think your way of installing it is better but ive not got the rubber cover for the leds.

talking about static, ive been toying with mine on carpet all this time and nothing has happened yet.

also, my arduino runs on 12v as well as 5v. ive wired a molex connector to the arduino and its happy on 12v. it runs fine off usb too so i think itll be alright on either. but i guess 12v power is freely available through out the car so ill stick to 12v.

looking at this all now, seems like youve got things more figured out than i have

haha

Running the Arduino off 12V is fine but I was talking about the 5V to drive the strip.

White at max brightness draws 60mA so for example 30 LEDs would draw 1.8A instantaneous.
Arduino had 500mA output @ 5V. Using the 5V rail doesn't have sufficient and will literally fade the orange colour under load due to the voltage sagging.

 

[D7YAB]

haha


Running the Arduino off 12V is fine but I was talking about the 5V to drive the strip.
I wouldn't use the 5V regulated output from the Arduino to drive almost 100 RGB LEDs, the output current isn't sufficient and will literally fade the orange colour under load.

i have the leds and arduino powered in parallel as the arduino nano wont have no where near the enough amparage to power the leds. the strip runs on 12v too as well as 5v. 12v is brighter.

 

[ch1z64]

What kind off arduino are you both using , been reading up on Arduino's