led pulse with music project

[SpatialTerror]

ok so i have finally got funding to build my bpt race car. and i got a little extra money to put into my gsr. right now i have my sound system hooked up running great. and i want another wow factor besides being insanely lound inside and out. so i deicided to start this project.
basically i am doing just what the subject says, im making led or neon lights pulse with the bass.
so far ive done a little research. and i could go the easy way with crappy results and buy a music interface that just plugs in to 12v power has a mic on it and hears the sounds and makes the light pulse accordingly. well after watching many videos of 3 different types of music interfaces. ive realized that it takes alot of fine tuning. and it still isnt just bass line being pulsed. some people are saying hook them into my amp. but from what ive heard (i am pretty dumb when it comes to electronics other than how to hook up and use.) that creates a unnessacerry load on your amp and can also blow your leds or neon. so pretty much i am trying to find a music interface that instead or a mic could plug into the rca's. or what im also wondering is if i could but a interface with the mic and take it apart and hook the wires that are for the mic into some wires comming from rca's. like i said i dont know much about the science of electricity, so i dont know if this is possible. but i need input on this and if modding the interface would work or not? and if not how else could i do this without either being hard on my amp or blowing led's. i also read something that said i could run leds off my amp without creating a great load and without blowing leds using a 12v resistor. dont know exactly what i need to do that. but i am off for wyotech in about 10 days. and i want to have this done b4 then. so all the help i can get it appriciated. i just want this idea to work.

so basically the setup i want it my car is 3 different colors of leds all though out the car inside and out. all being able to either be turned on flat(no pulse) with a switch. and another switch to turn them on pulse. and mabye a like 2 switches one for interior flat other for exterior. and same with pulse.

[SpatialTerror]

i am very sorry if it seems like im rambling. i have been up for 48hours straight and its hard to know if i got what im trying to say across or not

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Here's a nice circuit. It's a little complicated, but it gives you 3 frequency related channels (low, mid and treble) and a 4th "no signal" channel.

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... 26prmd%3Dv

If you want something easier, you can always use a VUmeter circuit, like the UAA180:

http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-p ... AA180.html

and add a low pass filter at the input.

Hope that helps.

[SpatialTerror]

well that confused the hell outa me. im still hella tierd though. so ill look at em again and try to figure it out. i think ive figured out stuff bout this complex. but i dunno yet.
but basicly i am just looking for something i can buy to hook this up. thats why im trying to figure out if i could run the output from the rca's into the wires on the mic of the music interface. it should work right. its basicly the same circut you showd me im guessing so the mic it the imput for the lights. or is what would be concidered the imput after the mic
heres the link for the exact interface im lookin at getting
http://www.streetglow.com/Music-Interface-ANMI2

[Inodoro Pereyra]

That is, most likely, a UAA180 based VUmeter. You can't hook up a mic input straight to a line output. You will need a potentiometer in between them, to adjust for the voltage difference, and, in some cases, a capacitor for DC decoupling. That, and the line output will have the full spectrum signal, so if you want only the bass you'll need a low pass filter.

[SpatialTerror]

so your saying its possibe? and thats what i need to do it. so i need like a 12v capacitor like what you hook to an amplifier. i have a low pass filter i could use. but what is a potentiometer. and what does it do. and it what order do i hook every thing up between line out and mic in.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Everything is possible in electronics. You just have to find a way to do it.
A potentiometer is a variable resistor. It's what allows you to adjust the volume on your old radio. For that application I'd go with a pre set type (a variable resistor that adjust with a screw), so it's stays properly set once you adjust it.
To do it you will need to know a few things, like the line out impedance, and the low pass input and output impedance. It's the low pass passive or active?

Initially, providing that the low pass' input impedance is equal or higher than the line out impedance, I'd connect the low pass to the line out through a bipolar, 10 microfarad by 25V electrolytic capacitor. Then, I'd connect a pre set potentiometer (of a value equal or higher than the low pass output impedance) between the low pass output (one end), ground (the other end), and connect the mic input of the interface between the cursor of the potentiometer and ground.

[SpatialTerror]

hmm well thats pretty awsome that it could be done. i would be following through with it but i went into a local sterio shop the other day and they sell pulse boards for $45.00 for this exact application its build to power upto 1000 led lights or enough neon to be seen from space (thats what the guy at the shop told me) so i bought one of those. now i gotta buy enough leds to complete the job now. thanks for the advice though cuz i was almost certain that i couldnt find something i could just buy as one assembly and i would of needed the help. i will put up some pics of the install and what it all looks like done. and i vid.
i just got a brand new sound system too. its insanely loud. to rockford fosgate p2 12's in a sealed box on a 500X2watt rms 2ohm stable bridged amp that i believe 850watts peak. and all new mids and highs all alpine type s. 4 tweets and 4 mids. with tv/cd player type deck(touch screen ). shitty part is that im in wyoming at wyotech now and dont have anywhere to to the lighting install. other than school and i dont know if theyll let me do it there.
ill start a worklog after i get this finished. and a vid and pics up. but just as a warning the car is still a diamond in the rough. its my gs. i bought it with some body damage. ive fixed alot of it. but the outside still looks like s---. but to me its whats under that hood and what inside that really counts