Is there a pleasant chime?

[dmjlambert]

Is there a buzzer or chime to use for a headlight reminder on a 67-72 truck that does not sound like a grating buzz nor sound like a door bell ding-dong? I have been in modern cars that have something nice, but I don't find an aftermarket chime that seems right. When I look on eBay I see lots of OEM chimes for cars, but they all have many pins and I don't know how all those pins would be wired. I am thinking of just connecting 12V positive and ground in the typical wiring scheme found in the FAQ on this forum.

['68OrangeSunshine]

No, the pleasant chime you hear is the rear bumper crushing your wife's or neighbors' windchimes.
Just kidding.
Sometimes the turn signal relays can have a 'tonk - tonk' sound, but those are rare nowdays.
Otherwise, these trucks are the strong silent types.

[Hart_Rod]

Interested in this also.

[_Ogre]

i installed a radio shack two tone chime #2730071
it has a non-annoying ding dong chime

installation: the chime has polarity, it will only work one way
this makes installation easy no relays, diodes or anything else needed
i hooked mine to the dash lights and any key on circuit: that's it
i used double sided tape to stick the chime to the top of my fuse panel

here is a video so you can hear the chime (jump to 7:15) to skip all the annoying dialogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxoQmIieVJE

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

i installed a radio shack two tone chime #2730071
it has a non-annoying ding dong chime

installation: the chime has polarity, it will only work one way
this makes installation easy no relays, diodes or anything else needed
i hooked mine to the dash lights and any key on circuit: that's it
i used double sided tape to stick the chime to the top of my fuse panel

here is a video so you can hear the chime (jump to 7:15) to skip all the annoying dialogue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxoQmIieVJE

Thanks!

[ranger danger]

My favorite chime is the sound of the big block coming to life!

[dmjlambert]

My final solution I installed today was a programmable buzzer, programmed for a marimba sound.

The item: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058M0TN8

The software (for Windows):
http://www.puiaudio.com/resources-software.aspx

The sound:
https://freesound.org/people/pogmothoin/sounds/401722/

Trim, amplify, and noise reduce with Audacity:
https://www.audacityteam.org

What the final installed thing sounds like:
https://youtu.be/jh9nNqk7hZs

I attached it to pigtails that plug into the cluster feed and ignition unfused. Used zip ties to attach it under the dash.

EDIT: the programmable buzzer is now discontinued, and no longer available at Amazon and not available from other sources that previously sold it, such as Digikey and Mouser. The part number is API-4260-LW150-R. Possible sources:
https://octopart.com/api-4260-lw150-...audio-20059436
https://www.onlinecomponents.com/pui...-50562394.html
https://www.infinite-electronic.com/...0-LW150-R.aspx
_

[Bigdav160]

A little pricey but I like!

[The Rocknrod]

No cucaracha?

[dmjlambert]

It's programmable, so I suppose I could upgrade the sound any time by just hooking up the computer and downloading to the buzzer. I thought about using the first 30 seconds of We Will Rock You by Queen. La Cucaracha would be pretty good, too.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Well the important thing is, you had fun doing it, I guess.
Back in the day, people would just say: ''Hey Man. You left your lights on." And you'ld say "oh, wow. Thanks Man", as you reached in the open window and slapped the switch to off.
Nowdays, because so many new trucks have a ''headlights-on'' audio indicator, no one bothers you, they just think the lights will automatically go out after 90 seconds, and it's no concern of theirs anyway.
After you've left your lights on and drained your battery once or twice, you get a conditioned reflex to kill the lights on shutdown.
Reminds me, I have to get a new battery for the GMC today.

[dmjlambert]

I liked the API-4260-LW150-R programmable buzzer so well I added another one. These days, flashers do not make an adequately loud tink-tonk for me to hear, especially over the unnecessarily-loud exhaust. So I programmed it to make a loud tink-tonk by shopping for sounds on freesound.org and liked this one
https://freesound.org/people/ermine/sounds/23968/
I reduced noise and amplified the sound with Audacity and uploaded it into the buzzer with the PUI Indicator software like I did in my earlier post for the headlight warning.

For a couple months I connected it directly to the terminals of the flasher module and it played a very short sound. That was OK, but it would only play the tink and not the tonk.

So, I made a little circuit to turn the on-off-on-off blink voltage into a constant on voltage, that is on while the blinker is on. I used a 555 timer chip set up as a retriggerable monostable multivibrator with a diode to drain the capacitor and start the timer over each time the flasher module blinked the bulbs.


I designed the schematic and used a calculator for the capacitor and resistor values. http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/555...ble-calculator Diode D1 is to discharge the capacitor and start the timer over, so the buzzer will turn off a little while after the last blink. The other diodes are optional and just for reverse polarity protection, so I don't burn anything out if I hook it up wrong.


I prototyped it and connected it to the truck to make sure it would work.


I rearranged the schematic to visualize the best layout of the parts on the circuit board.


I glued the components down with a little daub of E-6000 glue and soldered it together.


The battery voltage input for the circuit comes from the top connector of the flasher, the trigger input comes from the bottom connector of the flasher, and ground comes from a bare metal screw under the dash. I soldered directly to the flasher pins with thin wire. After assembling the 555 timer module, I encased it with heat shrink tubing and glued it to the buzzer. I used a zip-tie to hang it by one of its mounting ears to the wire bundle just like I did for the headlight warning buzzer as shown in my earlier post.

I can change the sound using a USB cable and computer if I want. It is possible to upload any sound that will remind me to turn off the blinker. I could program it for 25 seconds of silence followed by a brief boop or voice reminder "blinker is on" or something like that, or use a song snippet. The buzzer allows up to a 30 second sound to be uploaded, and it repeats the sound. For now I'm just going to use the tink-tonk sound.

[SunSoaked]

"retriggerable monostable multivibrator".
Exactly why I bought and choose to drive a 35 year old truck. In the old days, if you found yourself stranded with a dead battery as a result of leaving the lights on, it was called a "teachable moment". Nowadays, folks can't tell the time if thier I phone doesn't tell them the time.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

"retriggerable monostable multivibrator".
Exactly why I bought and choose to drive a 35 year old truck. In the old days, if you found yourself stranded with a dead battery as a result of leaving the lights on, it was called a "teachable moment". Nowadays, folks can't tell the time if thier I phone doesn't tell them the time.

Right on. Too much of this hi-tech crap is infiltrating our trucks and ruining the place. If I wanted a rig that went 'jingle-jangle' I'd buy a ricegrinder.

[dmjlambert]

I agree, too. Truer words were never typed in and processed by your multi-core central processing unit consisting of a single 216 square millimeter wafer of electronic-grade silicon containing 1.6 billion transistors, cached in embedded dynamic random-access memory, then transmitted through a high-speed wireless local area networking interface device, and routed over a high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable global network to be stored in scalable, multi-tenancy, and metered cloud storage for us all to read and enjoy. Just ruining the place... :-)

[dmjlambert]

Sorry, apparently I couldn't resist...

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

I agree, too. Truer words were never typed in and processed by your multi-core central processing unit consisting of a single 216 square millimeter wafer of electronic-grade silicon containing 1.6 billion transistors, cached in embedded dynamic random-access memory, then transmitted through a high-speed wireless local area networking interface device, and routed over a high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable global network to be stored in scalable, multi-tenancy, and metered cloud storage for us all to read and enjoy. Just ruining the place... :-)

I need to get a backwindow rack for my Phased Pulse Plasma weapon in the 40 gigawatt range. That's the only way to clean up the streets. Travis Bickle-style.

[dmjlambert]

You're going to need a bigger alternator for that 40 gigawatt power draw. So don't go preparing your mohawk haircut just yet.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

You're going to need a bigger alternator for that 40 gigawatt power draw. So don't go preparing your mohawk haircut just yet.

I'll just use solar panels. I live in Southern Arizona.

[kipps]

In answer to the OP's question, I'm not planning on a chime in my truck. The supply wire for the headlight switch will go through a relay that's triggered by the ignition circuit. Cut the key off, the headlights go off. I can't really imagine a scenario where I'd want the headlights on with the engine off.