Hello folks!
I am in the process of making my own flashing brake light for my motorcycle.
I have a 5 volt regulator (L7805) that takes the 12v battery down for use with a 555 timer circuit. The timer circuit drives a 2N4401 transistor (NPN) that then drives a relay. For a relay I am using the “beefcake” relay kit from Sparkfun combined with two 1N4001 flyback diodes. I wasn’t sure what I should connect them to so I have two diodes in there.
This in turn powers a 12V led strip which should be pulling 2.4 amps. The lights stay on, then when I hit the brake pedal it closes a switch which powers up the 555 circuit and makes them flash at around 4hz.
When I have the LED strip disconnected it works perfectly. I can hear the distinctive relay click click click and the light on the relay flashes. Upon adding a very short section of LED strip it also works flawlessly but when I connect the entire strip it flashes once or twice then just buzzes. I’m not sure what the issue is!
One other interesting thing is that when I measure the voltage going into the 5V regulator with a normal multimeter it works much better and flashes 90% of the time. What the heck!
I have the schematic below, hopefully it’s readable. I’m pretty new to the world of electronics but this is stumping me! Any help would be appreciated!
Thank you!
Hunter