Electrical components

[macher82]

Hi i would like to ask u guys wat are the electrical components that u all would like to improve on??

Cheers

[macher82]

Hi i would like to ask u guys wat are the electrical components that u all would like to improve on??

Cheers

[Tony K]

Shifter system. For some reason, the people working on our electronic shifters have never quite got it right for one reason or another.

[Banacek]

The trick to getting the shifter right is testing, same as any other component in FSAE. Design an electronic shifter any way you want, but then set it up for automated cycles and run it overnight or something (on a simulated load like a spring, doing this on your engine may not be too good). Count failures.

The same goes for any custom electronics.

Also, most people don't design their electronics with failure in mind. It's significantly different from what you learn in electronics 101. Consider every component and look at if it's likely to short to ground, to Vbatt, to other signals. Look at EMI and communications failures if you have any significant communications between devices. If you use a microcontroller, it's not a lot of effort to put in watchdogs or otherwise get it to reset on failure.

Beware of ground loops and especially battery power spikes.

This might be turning into a rant. I'll stop.

FSAE Alum, automotive electronics guy.

[macher82]

So anything other than electric shifter?? Anyone doing up an ecu??