momentary switches to control shifting

ok i am working on making a manumatic shifter using pushbuttons for my jeep. i have 4 momentary switches and 4 LEDs, one for each gear, i want to wire them us so that when i press one the corresponding LED will light up and all the others will go off. how can i do this

ok so far i know this:
-there is a power wire that comes into the TCU from the ignition
-There is power out from the TCU to three solenoids, the first 2 are for gear selection, the third is for the torque converter
-Gears are selected by the transmission from different combinations of solenoind power
Gear, Sol1, Sol2
1st, power, none
2nd, power, power
3rd, none, power
OD, none, none

i want to be able to flip a switch back and forth to select between auto(normal) and manuel(buttons). when in manuel, i want a button for each gear, so when each button is pressed it will give power to solenoid 1, 2, both or neither one. each button when pressed will also light up the coresponding LED. i also want another togle to lock the torque converter by giving power to solenoid 3

this is where in stuck
what would be the best way to wire this whole thing up

any help would be appriciated

Your best bet would be to use some sort of processor.  It would also be a great idea to monitor the current gearing when in 'auto' mode so that when you switch to 'manual' mode you arn't automatically dropping to 1st or OD.

How much is something like this worth to you, I may be willing to develop the hardware and software associated with it, especially if there is a market for it beyond your car.

By using advanced microcontrollers you would be able to have as many switch inputs as you wanted, and outputs wouldn't be a problem either.  Do you have any idea how much current each solenoid draws, or the resistance of each solenoid?

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Kevin Pierson

someone already makes one, for around 100, i just wanted to do it myself, cause it aint worth 100 to me, i figured i could find someway to wire it up myself, didnt seem that hard, i just have to send power to the solenoids, i just cant figure out how to wire all the switches together.

I think you could do it for much less then $100.  Microcontrollers are cheap, and if you find the right brand you can build cheap programmers.  You should be able to get the microcontroller and programmer for under $5.  Then, its just a matter of writing the software and designing the inputs/outputs.  You can put it all on a prototype board in a generic plastic enclosure to save some more money on it.

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Kevin Pierson

is there anyway to do it without microcontrollers, cause i dont know much about that stuff

or if you could help me, tell me what i need to do.

I'm sure it could be done with digital electronics, you could most likely even do it with relays if you had the time and motivation to lay it all out.  A microcontroller would definately be the easiest, most reliable way to acomplish it though, it would also keep your component count way down.

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Kevin Pierson

well how can i do it

also how can i do it with relays

haha, I told you how I would do it, I would use a microcontroller.  The amount of time it would take to design the complete circuit without using a microcontroller is unfortunately more time then I have right now. 

However, based on your criteria, it really shouldn't be too hard, since you arn't looking for two button control (downshift and upshift).  Using 4 buttons should greaty simplify the operation of the entire circuit.  I suggest starting with 4 latching relays and the four buttons and work from there.  The trick will be getting the currently selected relay to unlatch when another button is pushed, and getting the module to start up in the right gear (so you don't blow your tranny up).

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Kevin Pierson

Wow this reminds me of my import racing days. I did a car with a push button clutch... no one could ever figure out how to drive that thing.

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Tell the Snap-On guy I'm not here!

should i use 1-coil or 2-coil lathching relay, im sry bout all these questions, but im not to good at the wiring