[Orcnet] VASI lights for garage lineup?

[Brian Conley]

There are things available that are quite a bit simpler than what you propose.
Simplest is a simple ball that hangs from the ceiling of the garage.
The idea is that you bump the ball against the wind shield to tell
you are in far enough.
I have bought those and made my own.
In my case I line up the center brake light with the line and that gets me 
pretty close.
I am also working on another version of that.
Pat has been after me to bring a prototype to meetings, so if you
remind me I will bring it to the meeting this month.
Or, if the boards come in before the meeting I will bring the latest 
prototype.

A simple modification would be a light on the back wall with a screen
in front of it.
The screen has a slit or other aperture so that 
the light can only be seen when you are properly aligned.

Again, mostly a cost issue.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com>
>Sent: Jun 12, 2010 12:29 AM
>To: orcnet <orcnet at eeconsult.org>, orcnet-members <orcnet-members at eeconsult.org>
>Subject: [Orcnet] VASI lights for garage lineup?
>
>Greetings:
>
>I've been off at conferences and busy moving, so I haven't
>been able to attend meetings for a while.  See you this month...
>
>---
>
>We hope to have the garage cleared of moving stuff in a month
>or so, and actually be able to back our cars into it.  It is
>plenty wide enough, but my wife and I are lousy at backing 
>up, and we might end up hitting stuff on the sides or the
>other car.  A visual lineup tool, adjusted for each car, 
>would be handy.
>
>Visual flight rules aircraft, landing on runways, use something
>called VASI lights (Visual Approach and Slope Indicator) to
>arrive at the end of the runway with the correct 3 degree
>glide slope.  These are simple boxes, with two stacked open
>cavities with colored lights inside, pointed towards the
>arriving aircraft.  If one box is showing white lights and the
>other red, you are on the proper glide slope - if they are all
>white you are coming in too steep, and if they are all red you
>are coming in too low. 
>
>A similar device could be constructed for garages, turned 90
>degrees and aimed at the side mirrors of the car.  So if you
>are too far left you see all red, too far right and you see
>all white (not unlike politics).  I would activate it with the
>garage door opener circuit, and it would stay on for perhaps
>60 seconds.  For the relatively short distances, some bright
>LEDs would do the job.
>
>I couldn't find anything like this on line - but there oughta
>be.  Does anyone know of something like this?  Alternatively,
>does this seem like a salable product, and would somebody 
>sell me one of the first prototypes?
>
>Keith
>
>P.S. - I kinda suspect the market would be small, as most
>people's opinion of their own driving skills are insanely
>optimistic, and any kind of accident is ALWAYS somebody
>else's fault ("You moved the garage!").  Still, I expect
>one could sell ten thousand or so over the web, nationally.
>
>-- 
>Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
>KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
>Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs
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Brian Conley, PE
Circuitsville Engineering LLC
www.circuitsvilleeng.com
Voice -  503-530-6520
FAX - 503-574-2066
bconley at circuitsvilleeng.com