And the very first Ducati Headlight Flasher circuit is installed and working with not a single glitch. I kept my headlights on just to test, but it works no matter what the headlights are doing (on/off/auto/etc). I have envelopes and things in the truck, I hope to have these out tomorrow (if all goes as planned). I hope to have all the first 17 out if possible (I might need to one of the techs at work tomorrow to goof off and build these instead of doing real work, but I think I can pull that off).

I really set out to be very personable with the email and pm corrospondance but I'm getting hammered with requests and spending a lot of time trying to build these as fast as possible (and test them as well), that I might sound short or annoyed or not very talkative in personal emails and Pm's. If I do, I apologize. I'm just trying to focus on the devices themselves and to get you a reply of some form asap.

Anyway not to brag too much, but it's installed in my truck and working great.

Notice I ran some wired out from behind the radio to under the dash, I was getting sick of pulling out the radio to run tests :)

I've just ordered mine - and I can't wait!!

The first 17 shipped. The next run will ship out Most likely monday or tuesday, so far, everyone who paid me is in for that second run. If you paid by "echeck" and it didn't clear yet you were "bummped" to the second run (paypal said it would not clear till monday anyway). So one person who thought they were in the first run and paid by echeck didn't get it yet.... sorry.

Made this a sticky for ya.
Keep up the great work! :D

Let me know if you received it and when you plan on shipping it. I think you said you were gonna ship the second batch on Monday or Tuesday but I got confused because you also said you weren't gonna order the parts for the second batch until everybody reported no problems with the first batch.

palacios said:

Let me know if you received it and when you plan on shipping it. I think you said you were gonna ship the second batch on Monday or Tuesday but I got confused because you also said you weren't gonna order the parts for the second batch until everybody reported no problems with the first batch.

Actually, I was waiting, but there was so much interest, I ordered a "second batch" in small quantitys just to get them out quick, but not be stuck with 300 of these if there happened to be a problem or something.

But mine was working so well, I ordered a small second batch, but they are all spoken for already. I originally thought I would ship the first batch out today, but they shipped out 3 days ago. I thought I wouldn't get the second batch out till next weekend, but I think I might have the second batch out tomorrow.

I have in the top post that the current orders (the third batch) will ship out May 22nd. I might get them out some time this week. Like I said, I'm working really hard to get these out ASAP, but I can't promise anything. Worse case, anyone who orders today (or the last couple of days) will get them shipped out May 22nd at the latest.

I'm hoping to have all but the last couple days of orders out by tomorrow. I will send an email to everyone though the paypal email saying when it shipped.

EVERYONE who sends me money WILL GET ONE. It might take me a week or two at the current time frame, but you WILL GET ONE. I will update the first post on ship days as I see how parts come in.

Thanks again ducatiboy for doing this for the community.

Got mine today, can't wait to get it intstalled!

Got mine today! Look for a full report tomorrow. Thanks for getting these to us so fast! I'm so tired of flashing my lights. ;-)

Just intstalelled it, works great! No longer get the brake lead connected wrong message with it either (my break lead is grounded)! Thanks Ducatiboy!!

Great mod I will tell my buddies over at www.streetjeeps.net
They were interested in how you can get the full functionality of this unit.
I can't wait to get it.

Thanks again.

wishbone said:

Got mine today! Look for a full report tomorrow. Thanks for getting these to us so fast! I'm so tired of flashing my lights. ;-)

Just got it installed. Works great man, thanks for all your work on this. I was so surprised to see how small and simple it seemed. Works with the lights on or off as well. Simply wonderful, thanks.

This is great, I like seeing success stories. I was worried that there might be problems and I might want to come up with a diagnostic troubeshooting guide.

I have had a couple of reports of problems, all of which turned out to be installer error.

I know this is a black box and you don't know me from Adam as they say and I know it's easy to blame this circuit. But trust me, I don't want to deal with returns or unhappy forum members. Last thing I want is people calling me a hack or a scam artist or something.

Each and every one I have sent out was personally tested with my Z1. Every one of them and I haven't made a bad one yet. I'm having such perfect success rates (100% functional) I was considering making them and just shipping them untested cause I know they work, but trust me... I am not doing that and I'm testing them all 100%. They work.

Could they fry themselves in the shipping envelope? Maybe, very doubtfull. Could they be hooked up wrong and fried due to improper installation? Maybe, I might waste one to the testing gods by hooking the outputs to ground and the input to 12V switched and the 12V switched to something else and so on just to see how hooking up this incorrectly could effect it, but there are so many people who want these, I didn't want to make someone wait an extra week or so just to try to kill one on purpose.

Please, I know you guys know what you are doing. I'm not trying to belittle your soldering skills or your experiance or anything... we all make mistakes. Please check and double check the installation and wiring.

Do not use a test light on this thing. I have no idea how much current your test lights use and if that could blow out this circuit... it was designed to supplu 60mA at best, if you hook up a test bulb it might not even light even though a meter would say 12V. If you want to make sure this is hooked up right, use a volt meter.

I'll try to type up a step by step check list for people who want tot double check your connections other than just seeing the Z1 boot up correctly or what ever.

I would like to see more feedback on installs if it's ok. Everyone whom I told was having one shipped should have them by now or latest monday or tuesday.

I hooked mine up on the bench using a 12v power supply prior to installing it in the car and watched it pulse 12v then pass through 12v....not that I didn't trust you or anything, just that I had to see it myself before hooking it to a HU that cost almost 2k lol. Like I said before, works like a charm!

03Vic-HPP said:

I hooked mine up on the bench using a 12v power supply prior to installing it in the car and watched it pulse 12v then pass through 12v....not that I didn't trust you or anything, just that I had to see it myself before hooking it to a HU that cost almost 2k lol. Like I said before, works like a charm!

Dude, no problem, no offence taken. Really... in fact I'm glad that you checked it. You guys don't know me and I could be a sick person and made these to blow up units for some sick joy or something (I didn't, I might be a sick person, but this circuit does work).

In fact if you actually hook a function generator up to the input which switched between 12V and ground at 100hz - 900 hz, it will output 12 Volts as well, to take care of different cars possible difference in dimmer wires.

And did you try hooking the input to 12V and apply power at the same time, the output still flashes and then after 10 seconds the output goes to 12V and stays there while the input is 12V.

It's actually quite smart. And I actually design medical electronics for a living. Stuff I have made had been implanted in people. I make low power circuits and software for embedded devices for a living, so this wasn't that hard. And I even had some of my co-workers code review the processor code and check the circuit. It should be quite robust.

There is a possibility that there is a car out there that functions differently than I anticipated. Worse case in this situation, is that it will still flash the lights and the Z1 will have full functionality, but the dimmer will not react to turning your lights on and off. It's possible, but I'm pretty sure that just about any car out there will work with this. Again, if your car doesn't "work with this circuit" it means the Z1 will be bypassed but it won't dim with your lights. That's the worse case, but I don't think that anyone will have this, I'm pretty sure I took care of any car's dimmer functionality with this circuit and if you are one, hook the input wire to a line that goes to 12V when you turn your headlights on, and it will work too.

When installing this, I would recommend taking the 12V switched and ground off the wire harness of the head unit. Don't take the 12V switched from somewhere else in the car, who knows, maybe your car powers up the radio at a different time from something else (there might be 12V switched that turns on before the radio's 12V switched is powered up, I don't know of any cars that do this, but they could exist). To be sure take all the wires for this circuit from the wiring harness of the radio. That will ensure proper timing and operation.

Good luck guys. Please let me know how they go. If you have trouble PM me and we will work it out.

I installed it yesterday and it has been working PERFECTLY! Thanks again for your work and spreading the wealth!!

Unlike you all, I have no idea what I'm doing so I'll take mine to the car shop! Should have it installed in the next 2 weeks, by that time you will all be lovin yours ;)

Thanks a ton!

I know I am going to buy this module very soon, maybe next week hopefully.

But I just receieved my Avic-Z1 :), and so should I hook everything up as the manual says or should I leave the parking break wire unconnected.

I would like the Z1 to be full featured for the time being so what would I lose if I didn't hook up the parking break wire?

Or should I just hook it up for now and once I get the module, just unhook it and do a reset?

Anonymous said:

But I just receieved my Avic-Z1 :), and so should I hook everything up as the manual says or should I leave the parking break wire unconnected.

You could do that, but then you would have to flash your lights to get full functionality.

Anonymous said:

I would like the Z1 to be full featured for the time being so what would I lose if I didn't hook up the parking break wire?

If you don't hook up the parking brake wire, there is a bunch of stuff you can't do... but if you flash your lights when you start the car, you won't need the parking brake wire.

Anonymous said:

Or should I just hook it up for now and once I get the module, just unhook it and do a reset?

You can do this, and then you will see what they lock out and what comes in when you are parked and activate your parking brake and deactivate it.


You could always put it on a little toggle switch and put it under the dash for the time being. This way, you can switch it and see how it works, and when you get my circuit installed, just flip the switch so it's not connected to ground and tuck it up under the dash and never worry about it.

Thanks ducati, I am actually the one who emailed you earlier today.

Anyways I think I am just going to do a complete original install and just hook up the parking break as it should be hooked up.

Then I will know what is locked and unlocked by just using the parking light switch.

I will definetly be getting one of your modules though. I always love the aspect of automation rather than manual.

This might be a stupid question but I'm a little confussed I know what grounding out the brake wire did for the older pioneer dvd unit. but I just bought a avic z1 and wanted to know ( my dumb question lol) Why ground the brake wire ? What are the advantages ? Its been said by flashing the parking light during loading will release all the avic z1 feature during driving so why ground the brake wire ? I've also read people who have grounded the brake wire will see a error install on the screen. What's the best option to have if you want all the features dvd while in motion, bluetooth navigation use while driving etc realeased without the warning of inpropper install ?

How much for that headlight flasher unit your selling with shipping ?
And is it hard to install ?

Tyrant11429 said:

This might be a stupid question but I'm a little confussed I know what grounding out the brake wire did for the older pioneer dvd unit. but I just bought a avic z1 and wanted to know ( my dumb question lol) Why ground the brake wire ? What are the advantages ? Its been said by flashing the parking light during loading will release all the avic z1 feature during driving so why ground the brake wire ? I've also read people who have grounded the brake wire will see a error install on the screen. What's the best option to have if you want all the features dvd while in motion, bluetooth navigation use while driving etc realeased without the warning of inpropper install ?

There is no stupid question... well acutally there is one and it's "Officer, do you think it's wise to let me off with just a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?" That's the only stupid question.

Many of us saw how much stuff they locked out with the parking brake off and so in an attempt to duplicate it while in motion we all grounded our parking brake wires, figuring we had outsmarted pioneer. Well they have accelerometers and things in the head unit and the gps antenna will sense your motion. If the parking brake wire is grounded and it figured out it's moving, it will pop up a warning message every time you start your car, it's very annoying.

Once we all discovered the headlight flashing, that was the best way and grounding the parking brake wire is not needed. I explain the interaction with flashing and parking brake wires in this post:
http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 2&start=16

The best option is to flash your head lights and leave the parking brake line not connected to anything, just tape it up.

Tyrant11429 said:

How much for that headlight flasher unit your selling with shipping ?
And is it hard to install ?

It's in the first post of the thread you just posted in:
http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 66&start=0

$25

Tap into the switched 12V and ground wires. Disconnect your illumination wire and stick this inbetween your car and your head unit. It's all in the first post. Is it hard? Well, I didn't think designing this circuit was hard. We all have different skill levels. I would say if you can install the Avic Z1 in your car (the hardest and most complicated radio install I have ever done) you should be able to install this as well with ease.

Oh okay I understand most of it, so when I'm going to install the avic z1 dont ground the brake wire and dont connect it just leaving it hanging and taped up. My volvo is automatic and I never use the handbrake maybe once in a blue moon if I'm on a steep hill but I guess I'd turn the radio off than pull up the brake, so just leave that wire hanging taped up. Now if I were to buy that headlight flashing devise u have I wouldn't have to flash my lights everytime I would start my car, it would be restricted all the time? I was reading on how to install your devise just cut the illumination wire and put your devise in the middle, but that means I have to cut my factory wire( and the other 12 v factory wire too) or the aftermarket adapter harness I would buy ?
I'll be taking it to my friend who does alarms and sterio, but want all this knowledge so I can inform him how to proceed.
Than is the other problem on making the Z1 fit in my volvo cause I have the railing on the side I might have to shave that I'm in for 1 big adventure. Thanks for the info

Tyrant11429 said:

Oh okay I understand most of it, so when I'm going to install the avic z1 dont ground the brake wire and dont connect it just leaving it hanging and taped up.

Yep

Tyrant11429 said:

My volvo is automatic and I never use the handbrake maybe once in a blue moon if I'm on a steep hill but I guess I'd turn the radio off than pull up the brake, so just leave that wire hanging taped up.

If you have an automatic and if you never use it, you can connect it to the parking brake, but if you ever use the parking brake, you might/would/could deactivate the cool headlight flashing trick temporarilly, or until you start the car again. I would just leave it disconnected.

Tyrant11429 said:

Now if I were to buy that headlight flashing devise u have I wouldn't have to flash my lights everytime I would start my car, it would be restricted all the time?

You might have mis-typed. If you installed this circuit, you would not have to flash your lights manually. And it would not be restricted.

Tyrant11429 said:

I was reading on how to install your devise just cut the illumination wire and put your devise in the middle, but that means I have to cut my factory wire( and the other 12 v factory wire too) or the aftermarket adapter harness I would buy ?
I'll be taking it to my friend who does alarms and sterio, but want all this knowledge so I can inform him how to proceed.
Than is the other problem on making the Z1 fit in my volvo cause I have the railing on the side I might have to shave that I'm in for 1 big adventure. Thanks for the info

Yes, you will have to "cut" into something. But you would have to "cut" into something to install this unit anyway. Usually people buy a wiring harness which plugs into the car's stock plugs, then you "cut" into this $20 wiring harness not into your $30,000 car. Then you just plug your new harness and new radio into your car's stock wiring. The installer would have to take the radio's wires and connect them to a wiring harness. Then that harness would plug right into your car like your stock radio would. If it's a new install, just wire this unit up with the head unit, it's real easy. Any alarm/radio installer could install my circuit in his sleep.

If you want to, print out the install picture and write on it (I haven't modified it yet) "Don't connect the parking brake to anything, leave it disconnected". And he will know what do to.

As of late May 15th and early May 16th, if anyone was trying to pay me and is having trouble... Paypal locked me out of my account. They think I'm a fraud (or at least are worried that I am) and want me to prove shipping and inventory and so on. I'm faxing them parts lists and receipts and so on. They won't let you pay me. I'm working on resolving this. Hopefully it will be up and running later today, they said 24 to 48 hours at most.... or if someone paid me during this time, you will get a "you can't pay this person note", sorry. Hopefully I will get this worked out. STUPID PAYPAL!

Try again tomorrow, and if that doesn't work try the next day. Sorry for the inconvienence, but it's paypal's fault.