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Thread: How to build a professional motorsports quality wiring harness

  1. #21
    I think the point you may be missing, Wesley, is that FSAE is far less about building a race car than it is about learning how to design and build a race car. You can either buy a harness from one of about three guys I know who build top notch ones, you can just buy a car loom and dash/data logger from Pi or similar, or you can learn how they did what they did and do it yourself. I have a nice Pi Pro dash system sitting on my desk, with beautiful Lemo connectors, and in my three race cars I use 1/4" spade lugs. Two ends of a spectrum. FSAE could use either - if it was jusifiable and it made sense!

    Brian

  2. #22
    Its the same old argument: Do you want to learn as much as possible, or do you just want to go fast on the track?

    the same old argument is also off topic....

  3. #23
    You can learn a lot and still go fast on the track. It takes good preparation, good notes from year to year, good leadership/mentors, and most importantly attention to detail. Building a good harness doesn't necessarily take a long time. It usually will if you don't know what your doing which is why I think a lot of people come here and ask for help.
    ----
    Mike Cook
    It's an engineering competition, not an over-engineering competition!

  4. #24
    Hi Guys,

    I hope I'm not posting in the wrong thread, but I'd like to ask a question re: crimpers.

    We are keen to purchase a new crimper for our connectors (mainly DTM and deutsch Autosport). I have looked through the website for dmctools, and have decided to buy the AFM8. Does anyone know which positioner I should get to go with this crimper?

    I've looked through all the datasheets and now I'm even more stumped than before!

    Thanks!

    Richie Wong
    Electron
    University of Auckland FSAE
    Richie Wong
    Electrical Team
    University of Auckland Formula SAE
    www.fsae.co.nz
    Photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/wongmsr/...eat=directlink

  5. #25
    lozo,

    I had some trouble with this myself. I would contact Deutsch or your local distributor directly and ask for them to specify the DMC part numbers for the correct positioners. You could also try asking DMC, but when I tried that, I ended up with the wrong positioners. You may have better luck. I believe the AFM8 is good for size 20 and smaller contacts. The AF8 is nice because it is available with a turret head that adjusts to different sized contacts. I don't know if they have an option that would work with all of the contacts that you will be using, but it is worth asking about.
    Damon Pipenberg
    gt motorsports 2006-2010

  6. #26
    Dan G,

    I stumbled across this page today while looking for some connector info. Lots of good tips for doing sensible aircraft wiring (splicing, connectors, wire sizing, crimping, fuses vs circuit breakers, etc) which could easily be applied to a FSAE car. Sure, it's not quite an instruction manual on building a modern "motorsports" harness, but if it's reliable enough to keep a plane in the sky, it ought to suffice for a FSAE car. The articles actually go into some technical (but easy to understand) detail, unlike most of the home-brew stuff you find on the web.

    http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles.html
    Courtney Waters
    UC Davis Formula SAE Alumni

  7. #27
    Excellent resource, that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Thanks Courtney, keep them coming!
    __________________________________________________
    UMich-Dearborn '04-'06
    Carnegie Mellon '99-'03
    [url=http://eVileNgineering.com][b]eVil eNgineerin

  8. #28

  9. #29
    I have build the harness for the delft team for three years now and made a lot of mistakes, but right now we have a harness which didn't fail once although we tested for hunderds of miles.

    What I found out is that most of the time it is worth it to spent a few euro's more on a connector that can take the abuse. We design our harness to have as few connectors as possible in the first place, and than go on by looking which connector to use for the different purposses.
    Make sure you know how high the currents are in your harness and use that to choose the the appropriate thickness for your wires. Ohms law shouldn't be to difficult for an engineer I hope...

    Most important though is fabrication. A well designed harness is worthless if someone is not able to crimp the pin on right. So make sure that no pin is crimped on a wire which is not easy to reach. Also soldering is nothing to be scared of. We solder every single connection on top of the crimping. It's all in the strain relief. Fix your harness every 10 to 15cm, of course away from any sharp edges.

    One more thing: If your team runs a single like we do. Make sure that you spent at least twice as much attention to your harness than the four cylinder guys do. Belief me, you'll need it.

  10. #30
    Probably not a problem with the DAS type/MIL spec connectors as the contacts are effectively shielded from heat, but soldering crimped connections generally isn't best practice. High current = heat & can tend to melt the solder and then interesting things can happen. Something to be aware of
    Shifter, team Swinburne

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