Am I crazy?

hello, I have a1992 civic hatchback cx model.

I am bored and want to do something different to my car,something like replacing the manual operated ac/heater controls with an electrical type (acura legend 94) manipulated by commands stated to a simple computer with voice recognition software.I was thinking of using servos(the model airplane kind) or linear actuators to control the heater fan switch,temp. control lever,air mix cable etc.

Do i sound crazy? I have more ideas for the computer 

So what I am asking for is input on this idea, is it possible?Do you have any other ideas to do this?

Sounds difficult.  I think it would be easier to forgo the voice control and just buy the electronic heat a/c control parts from an uplevel Honda/Acura (if they will fit and work correctly).  Usually there are two parts the control panel and the controller/programmer module. 

If it the systems are close then the hardest part would be to "calibrate" the temperature door control wire to the motor that turns the cable on the electronic module (if it uses a wire to control the temperature door).

I mean anything is possible but the level of difficulty might be very high.  I just think the above suggestion would be easier than trying to build one from scratch.

Hey dan....

Yes you are crazy...but crazy people are the innovators!!

Like Omega said, it will probably be a B*tch, but you know what....who cares!!!  No offense Omega...

The hardest part will probably be the computer aspect of it.....reason is....you'd have to build a card, either ISA or PCI depending on your motherboard, so the puter can tell the motors what to do...how do you do that?  good question, the guy I had do for me, well we no longer talk...he was my ex's brother...so if you know anyone send them my way to...PLEASE!!!  as far as an OS (operating system) you could get away with using Linux or Unix...they're cheap if not free off the net, and easier to write programs and drivers for than Windows....

Or you could talk to Radio Shack...maybe they have something out there for this reason I'm not sure...

I'd use the servos cause of there size...however, make sure they are strong enough to be able to move the cables and not burn out....

So yes it is possible, and yes you are crazy, but what the hell.......Go for it!!!!

haha.. i dont even know what to say.

Hey sparky....better to say nothing than to shoot an idea down, right? 

Go for it dan! 

No no death, hahaha..i was laughing at ghostrida's comment.

Ds for Dan, i was reading this post before but had no comment cause thats a little too complex for me. but I want him to go for it and see what happens!   it sounds like a great idea but I can supply no help in this subject. hehe

Take care.

Dan,

Ok I think I am following what you want to accomplish.  As far as using a computer inside your car to run the "voice rec software", there is clearly (in my opinion) a better way.

Now, you can get a voice rec system from Jameco Electronics, not sure of the part number though.  They system is just a simple circuit board with a PROM chip that is read/writable to store you voice commands in, on each memory address, you have the flexablility to get it to do a desired out put, in this case, i think they have it just go to binary 1 and light up an LED, but you can modify it and use the outputs as needed.  It works just like cellphone voice rec system, that if you want to call BOB, you program BOB in the prom with your voice, and when you say BOB, the phone (granting it recs your voice freqs) it will call BOB.

Now as far as the interfacing, you create a logic circuit (using NAND, NOR whatever gates) to interface to your system.  But, I cannot help you with out knowing very specifically how the electronic system is going to work.  If you repost more specifics I can help you with the design portion of the interface circuit. 

Now I have done simple systems in homes for like Lights and TV and various appliences using an interface system with a JAMECO voice rec system and it worked great, so long as you have a very good microphone, and you record your voice commands with minimal interference. 

Let me know more specifics and I will see if I can find some more infos about part numbers and such.

Craig Roush

PS.  Disregard if this has NOTHING to do with what you are attempting, I was just going by your initial post.

thats cool crroush! I looked up Jamecos site and found the following two interfaces that might be suitable for his application:

Jameco # 208629

Jameco # 173489

I believe those are similiar to the ones that I used.  Pretty cool stuff actually, very easy to work with, and the interfacing system shouldn't be to horribly impossible to design, since I cannot imagine that you need to many inputs to operate each aspect of the system.  Just set up a simple K-map (karnaugh map) with the desired outputs, figure out the function needed from using logic reduction via the K-map and design a circuit to take the outputs of the voice rec to deliever the specific outputs needed to operate each aspect of the system.   This is actually a simple logic design problem, can be found in any textbook that is for digital logic design, I believed I learned this technique my sophmore year in electrical engineering.

Craig