Add Comfort Blinkers to Your Old Ride with This Simple Hack
One Redditor managed to bring this feature to his 2002 Volvo using nothing more than an Arduino and two relays.
On many cars, if you tap the blinker one way or another without fully engaging it, the lights will flash for a certain number of times. Lights with this kind of functionality are known as “comfort blinkers." While some, like myself, have probably never heard the term, or really even considered it, for others it can be very useful.
2002 Volvo S60 owner “Garrettthesnail” is apparently such a fan of this functionality that he decided to retrofit his car with it, using nothing more than an Arduino Nano and a couple relays. The procedure is fairly simple, but does take a bit of electronics finesse, as he cut traces on the stock turn signal board, and hijacked the signal to go to the new Arduino controller. The setup then actuates the blinkers via the relays, which are equipped with flyback diodes — to keep the Arduino from dying an untimely death, as the commented code puts it.
As of now, the turn signal is set to stay on for two seconds for each tap, sending out three blinks for a lane change, but switching this around is a matter of modifying the “blinktime” value. Code, as well as build pictures, are available for your perusal here. Naturally, there’s an “at your own risk” warning, and although this kind of mod is likely harmless if done correctly, it’s certainly not approved by any sort of highway safety organization.
[h/t: autoevolution]