Replacing control boxes with something like an Arduino board

[jammy_basturd]

My headlights are playing up so I may look at replacing the control box along with adding in a relay with a direct feed from the battery.

I was thinking something like an Arduino board could be a great replacement for many of the control boxes - has anyone else looked into the idea?

http://www.arduino.cc/

[Stunned Monkey]

Reliability of the control boxes isn't really a control problem, but all the power connections and wiring external to the boxes, correct me if I'm wrong. Not saying an arduino and a bunch of external relays couldn't make a better job of things though

[crypto]

Stunned Monkey said:

Reliability of the control boxes isn't really a control problem, but all the power connections and wiring external to the boxes, correct me if I'm wrong. Not saying an arduino and a bunch of external relays couldn't make a better job of things though

I would agree, apart from that all the control boxes are easy to repair (and give less work than the arduino solution).

[TimJM]

I thought about building my own (Arduino or any other programmable chip) a few years back when I had trouble with a window control unit and sourcing a replacement. I don't think it would take too much effort as most the inputs are pretty basic. I have built other small programmable projects in the past but eventually I did find a replacement control box and gave up on the idea.

[Stunned Monkey]

Admittedly I haven't had a good look at this stuff, but do we need a software based system, or are they fairly simple logic based functions?