New to all of this, please help

[mpitera]

Hi guys,
I know very little about electronics outside of the computer world. I'm an IT tech and need some help with what I think is a little project. I am looking for a way to connect a small electronic motor to my car with a switch. I need this motor to pull my license plate in and out, basically hiding it. I know there are kits out there that I can just buy but I was posed with a challange from one of my friends stating that I couldn't make one. I have the design of the plate movement down, I just need the whole electronic side. How can I get it so that when I push the switch in my car the license plate will come out of my grill and show it self and then with the push of the same button (or switch) it will retract back into my grill.

I would like the finish product to work something like this:

Please let me know if I need to clearify somethings.
Thanks guys
oh and fry i'm new to the board so, HII

 

[akshay_d_2006]

First of all I dont think t is leaglly good to do somethiing like this...


Watch out for Police as they might catch you even when you were challenging friends.

Added after 6 minutes:

Now for the hiding of the front or tail number plate I really need to know the design of your car.
I mean is it easy to hide it as shown in video or is it easy to push it up or down into some grill so that it can hide. YOu can even flip it. You can even drop another fake number plate on your existing....(Plz dont indulge in any crime)

Tell me how can i help you.. And tell me what best suits your car design.
I am again requesting you plz keep it to friends itself.

You can even show them better things than this with the help of EDABOARD

 

[mpitera]

I do not plan on doing any illegal actions with this. This is strictly for show, Car shows and what not. I have a 2008 Lancer. The mount is the same mount as show in the video. It pulls out (of the top part of the bottom grill) and flips DOWN to cover the grill of my car.
**broken link removed**
I am thinking about using a 3 way rocker switch to control the action of the motor, 2 tact switches to prevent the motor for running longer then it needs, and a cable to pull the plate in and out. The license plate holder has a spring on it to flip open. I'm not sure on what type of motor to use (RPM wise). I know it need more torque then speed also I need a way to get power to it, either an inline fuse or something.

The reason I was think about two tact switches is to break the connection of power from the switch when the license plate is in the desired location. (break the connection from the forward action when the plate is all the way out and the opposite for when its in).

I was told that there might be small motor with internal limiter, meaning I can have it run for X seconds with each push of the button, rather then holding it down; does something like that exist?

If been be I can create some kind of wire map on how I was thinking about doing this.

 

[akshay_d_2006]

I'm glad to hear that you are on the right track.
Both socially and technically

Well even i am not quite sure of the motor with internal limiter. But you can definately have a timing capacitor or IC555 to keep the output of IC on for a limited amount of time which will be decided by the amount of time motor takes to do the job completly. Then the op of IC automatically stops so as to stop the current flow. and thu the motor. Tact switches would do too.

 

[mpitera]

Thanks for the reply, I have another jam...I just got the unit now and am trying to peice everything together. I need to find a way to push and pull the actuall unit in and out of the grill. I can take a picture of it later but what are some suggestions. I was orginally thinking of a cable to pull it out and then pull it back in, depending on witch way the motor is running but I can't figure out how to connect the cable to the motor. Another way that I was thinking was getting something like this to push and pull the unit back in.
https://scientificsonline.com/product.asp?pn=3081342&bhcd2=1252686778
I just need to find out the size of this.
Please let me know what you guys think.
Thank in advance