DIY 5th Wheel Questions

[Daniel & Laura Burk]

I didn't finish it due to a change in jobs, family status, and priorities.

I have the wheel and the IR box completed, and it works on the oscilloscope,
indoors.  The problem seems to be when I hook it up to the car and try to
pull out of the garage.  My speed goes from zero to about the speed of light
in less than a second. Talk about eyeball flattening acceleration!!  I think
the IR receiver is either being saturated by exhaust gas, sunlight, or is
picking up RFI from the engine.

I was trying to run the IR transmitter with a DC signal. The idea was to
saturate the IR receiver such that when the light path was broken, the
sensor would turn off. Well, it didn't work for some reason.  I think that
the next step would be use a pulse-width-modulated signal with a period that
is half the length of time that the light path is left open at the wheel's
fastest rotation. Then, use a notch filter on the receiver's signal, amplify
the result, route the output to a monostable multivibrator, and then pass it
to a counter.  This would eliminate the problem of extraneous noise from
sunlight or other noise sources.

By the way, I've haven't thought about this project for almost a year.  How
did you find out about it?

 BTW, I have a total of $30 in the bicycle tire, used mountain bike fork,
aluminum flag holder from the hardware store, bungee cord, PVC, wood, black
paint, and sensors.  It tracks OK if you place enough preload on the bungee
cord. The idea is to attach the bungee cord to the underside of the bar such
that it places a torque at the hinged bracket that forces the rim onto the
paved surface. I've only tested it to 45 MPH.  Wheel imbalance becomes an
issue at higher speeds. It could cause the rim to hop off the pavement.

Daniel Burk.

Andrew Golden wrote:

> I was wondering if you ever finished your DIY 5th wheel project...If so,
> what setup did you end up using?  What is the cost to reproduce it?  Any
> info, words of wisdom, etc. that you can pass along would be greatly
> apreciated

--
Daniel & Laura      email:     ws6transam at voyager.net
     Burk           Web site:  http://www.isthq.com/~dan
  Haslett,MI        Car stuff: http://www.isthq.com/~dan/fcar.html

Dan's current interests:
'84 Pontiac Trans Am L69/WS6 (retired)
'89 Honda VTR 250 Interceptor
 The ultimate garage (Due in early June)
'98 baby (Family cooperative project: Due in mid-June)