KITT's Hybrid LED And Halogen Scanner

The H3 halogen replacement LEDs and capacitors I ordered for the scanner arrived yesterday. I decided to do a direct side comparison since I could not find where anyone online had done that. I replaced four of the eight bulbs with their LED equivalents and wired the capacitors inline to provide the proper fade out and trailing effect.

The LEDs ended up being disappointingly dim compared to the halogens. I also did not care for the the trailing effect in comparison to the halogens. There is just something artificial about it. Here is a video comparing the H3 halogen replacement LEDs versus halogens.

KITT's Halogen Scanner

I know it seems like ages ago that I promised a video of KITT's scanner, but for those that have been patiently waiting...the wait is over. This scanner looks fantastic, especially with the screen accurate scanner bar!

Before we jump to the video I wanted to share some observations about the halogen bulbs. They are insanely bright, equally as hot, and eat your battery for a afternoon snack. I had not given any thought to the heat these bulbs would generate. After just a few minutes with the scanner on, the bar is almost too hot to touch and definitely too hot to hold comfortably. It is so hot that it honestly has me concerned about safety while operating the scanner in the summer.

I searched online for others who may have had issues with heat or documented how hot these scanners get, but I could not find anything. I decided to take some temperature readings of the bar at five minute intervals while in use over a period of 15 minutes. I took these temperature readings with an infrared temperature gun in our heated garage. The temperature in the garage was 61°F with 24% humidity. Here are the results:

Scanner State	Temperature
Powered Off	60°F
Five minutes of runtime	167°F
Ten minutes of runtime	178°F
Fifteen minutes of runtime	189°F
Five minutes powered off	112°F
Ten minutes powered off	95°F
Fifteen minutes powered off	86°F

Happy Valentine's Day From Project: K.I.T.T.

Celebrating 200 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 200 followers today! Thanks to everyone for your continued interest and support!

If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the Project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.

More Parts For KITT

Mark Scrivani of Mark's Custom Kits Inc. has changed his focus and is no longer going to be in the Knight Rider replica business. As a result, the large collection of Trans Am restoration parts he has amassed over the years is up for sale.

I ordered the following from Mark: Tan rear passenger roof trim, a lower dash trim panel without cutouts, a headlight switch, a New Old Stock (NOS) Glove box cover, and a new turn-signal, cruise stem, with wiper delay. The parts arrived on Monday.

Project: K.I.T.T - What's Been Going On

I dug out KITT's schematics from where they have been packed since we insulated the garage and hung them back on the garage wall. You know what that means... It is time for Project: K.I.T.T. to get serious again. No more anger, no more moping, and no more excuses.

Damage Assessment

Since today was the warmest day in quite a while, Sara and I checked out the extent of the overspraying damage.

Two Year Anniversary

I got KITT two years ago today. Here is what he looked like on January 14, 2012...

OMG, WTF!

Just as I finished the door hinge bolts and was putting stuff away I noticed what I thought was a paint run on the driver's side rocker panel.

Getting Started Again Working On KITT

Today after work I was determined to get back to KITT. The next thing I want to do is get the doors, fenders, and hood back on the car. With those back on the car it will allow us to clean up and reorganize the garage. Frankly it has been a pain trying to work around these parts. We also have an indoor storage now, so we are going to move some of the parts from the garage into that. We love organizing, if you have not figured it out by now. ;)

I started by cleaning up the hinge bolts for the doors. They needed to be wire brushed to remove some mild surface rust. You can see that I left all of the door hinge bolts turned into their respective spots (I had already removed one before taking this picture).

KITT Is Back From The Body Shop!

This evening Troy and I went out to Mario's shop to trailer KITT home. I have been attempting to do this since the week before Christmas, but both Sara and I got really sick and the weather got really, really cold. Monday it was -27 degrees with the wind chill making it -52 degrees, just for example.

Troy picked me up about 5:45PM.

Getting Anxious

I am anxious to get back to work on KITT!  He has been waiting at the body shop for me to pick him up and trailer him home.  It has been so dang cold and snowy here lately that I have not been able to.  Soon though...

Merry Christmas 2013

KITT's Scanner Bar Update

The 55 Watt halogen bulbs arrived last week, but I have been fighting off a nasty cough/virus and have not been working on the project much. Today I decided to see if I could get the hardware I need to mount the bulbs in the scanner bar.

Celebrating 100 Followers On Google+

Project: K.I.T.T.'s Google+ page just hit 100 followers today! Thanks to everyone for your continued interest and support!

If you have not had a chance to check out the Project: K.I.T.T. page on Google+ you really should. It's a great way to stay updated, leave comments, or even ask questions about the project. It will even notify you of new blog posts and videos.

KITT's Scanner Controller Is Finished!

Brenon, of Letric Enterprises, finished my scanner controller and it arrived on Monday. 

Bodywork Update 2

Last Tuesday Dad and I stopped by Mario's shop to see how he was progressing with KITT. He had both rear quarter panels down to bare metal and had not found any unexpected surprises.

Small Box Of Parts For KITT

Back in August I received a package of parts I ordered from Shawn (OhioKARR on the Foundation board). One item in that package was the vent for the dash. Shawn had sent the center vents though and I needed the driver side vent. I was also missing the hardware for the fan shroud he sent me. I contacted him and he said he would make sure to find the correct vent and hardware and get them sent out to me. 

It took him a few months, but he came through and even contacted me to see if I needed anything else before he shipped them out. It just so happened that I did. I need the mounting brackets for the later pin style t-tops I had just acquired. I have yet to hear anything back from the guy who sold me the t-tops. :( Luckily, Shawn said he had some and would throw them in. :) The package arrived yesterday.

KITT's Scanner Controller Build Update

As promised, Brenon Fulbright of Lectric Enterprises emailed me some behind-the-scenes pictures of my controller as he is building it. He will continue to update me on the progress, so watch for more pictures soon. I am really anxious to see the finished product.

Jonathan here is a shot of some boards being populated...

Thanks

Brenon

Bodywork Update

Friday night Mario sent me a message that he was going to be working on KITT, so I stopped over to take a few pictures. I took the cowl screen and plastic mounting gaskets for the side view mirrors with me so Mario can paint them.

Mario had removed the bolts securing the rear hatch glass and asked me if I would help him lift it off. We set it to the side so that he can remove the trim.