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I have promised to @MALAFAMA and other one club member to make a small tutorial of how I make lightkits that I used for digital racing.
You can see them in some of the builds I have posted here.
A bit of background
The main intent here is to use these kits for oXigen B1 and B2 chips because they use the 3-pin JST 1.25 connectors.
You can easily find them on Ebay or Aliexpress: Micro JST 1.25mm 2,3,4,5,6 Pin Female Connector Plug Wires Cables 10,20,30CM | eBay
These chips have a 3 pin output: red for positive, yellow for brake lights and black for negative.
The idea is that you use the red/positive for your front and rear lights and when you brake, the rear lights shine a bit brighter.
The voltage coming from the light socket is the same as from the track voltage so you need to install your own resistors.
What we are doing here is to use a resistor with higher Ohms for the rear lights so that they are a bit dimmer than your front.
However, we are going to by pass this resistor with the yellow output that is activated when you brake: the net effect is that the rear light will be dimmer when the car is going and brighter when brakes are applied.
Normally, when you get a lightkit from slot.it or Z-machine, you are supposed to install the kit in the car body and then use a connector to either connect to the chip (like using the JST connector with the B1/B2 chips) or connect to the motor wires (this is more typical for analog).
I do not like to do this for two main reason:
This is my construction philosophy anyway. You can still modify this to have everything tucked away in the body, or do something else.
Ok, will of that out of the way, here some basic steps of what I do.
Swapping Wires
The first thing you have to do is to change the position of the yellow and black wires in the JST connector to match the output from the chip.
As you can see, the black wires is in the middle position, you need to swap it with the yellow one
(To be honest, this is not really necessary if you keep track of what is what- but since the slot.it lightkit use the yellow for brakes and the black for ground, I swap these wires just for consistency).
![Pattern Composite material Space Road surface Font]()
For doing this you need a small flat screwdriver to lift the tabs from the connectors.
![Mesh Road surface Wire fencing Line Fence]()
Just lift the tab enough to be able to slide the wire with its metal connector:
![Mesh Grey Line Composite material Road surface]()
Repeat for black:
![Road surface Asphalt Composite material Cutting mat Pattern]()
Once the two wires are out, use the screw driver to push both tabs in.
Then inserts thet two wires back in the plug (make sure that the metal end is inserted such that the plastic tab will hold them in place).
![Line Road surface Parallel Pattern Urban design]()
I usually make more than one kit at the time.
![Line Mesh Audio equipment Font Net]()
You can see them in some of the builds I have posted here.
A bit of background
The main intent here is to use these kits for oXigen B1 and B2 chips because they use the 3-pin JST 1.25 connectors.
You can easily find them on Ebay or Aliexpress: Micro JST 1.25mm 2,3,4,5,6 Pin Female Connector Plug Wires Cables 10,20,30CM | eBay
These chips have a 3 pin output: red for positive, yellow for brake lights and black for negative.
The idea is that you use the red/positive for your front and rear lights and when you brake, the rear lights shine a bit brighter.
The voltage coming from the light socket is the same as from the track voltage so you need to install your own resistors.
What we are doing here is to use a resistor with higher Ohms for the rear lights so that they are a bit dimmer than your front.
However, we are going to by pass this resistor with the yellow output that is activated when you brake: the net effect is that the rear light will be dimmer when the car is going and brighter when brakes are applied.
Normally, when you get a lightkit from slot.it or Z-machine, you are supposed to install the kit in the car body and then use a connector to either connect to the chip (like using the JST connector with the B1/B2 chips) or connect to the motor wires (this is more typical for analog).
I do not like to do this for two main reason:
- the JST connector is quite fiddly to take out from the chip - you always run the risk to move the chip or pull the whole thing from the chassis;
- the kit adds extra weight to the body. I prefer to have most of the weight down on the chassis.
This is my construction philosophy anyway. You can still modify this to have everything tucked away in the body, or do something else.
Ok, will of that out of the way, here some basic steps of what I do.
Swapping Wires
The first thing you have to do is to change the position of the yellow and black wires in the JST connector to match the output from the chip.
As you can see, the black wires is in the middle position, you need to swap it with the yellow one
(To be honest, this is not really necessary if you keep track of what is what- but since the slot.it lightkit use the yellow for brakes and the black for ground, I swap these wires just for consistency).
For doing this you need a small flat screwdriver to lift the tabs from the connectors.
Just lift the tab enough to be able to slide the wire with its metal connector:
Repeat for black:
Once the two wires are out, use the screw driver to push both tabs in.
Then inserts thet two wires back in the plug (make sure that the metal end is inserted such that the plastic tab will hold them in place).
I usually make more than one kit at the time.
