Forum - Recent Threads

Pontiac firebird 88 board.

jonazz — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 15:59:47 GMT

Hi Community

I have some few q´s about a board there inside this vintage car.

My car have the digital dash

The board have a broken componet that i can´t find out what is so i have replace it:

Here it is? what is it? where can i buy a new one?

Sits there with five legs.

i want to keep the electronics alive for longer and now its starts to become old so want to replace what needed to be replaced.

can the community help me telling me the componets so i can buy new ones.

Hope you alle can help me.

//Jonas Villadsen

Will this BMS design work?

yanagibashi — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 14:43:19 GMT

I have been working on this design for the past month or so but i am unsure if it will work, so I am wondering if anyone can point out any mistakes I made in the design.

I based my design on the Analog Devices DC2259A

EDIT: added design and link

Message was edited by: Mason Rollins

Attachments:

community.element14.com/.../Slave-Rev10c.pdf

Slave Rev10c.pdf

Cypress’ new EXCELON F-RAM for Next-Generation Automotive EDRs

cypresssemiconductor — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 07:15:15 GMT

Event Data Recorders (EDRs), commonly called “black boxes”, are systems installed in automobiles or heavy vehicles to log and capture technical vehicle and occupant information before, during and after a crash. The data collected by EDRs serve as a strong evidence in accident investigation and legal proceedings, such as defending against lawsuits or recovering costs incurred due to an accident. EDRs are commonly attached to Engine Control Modules (ECM), Airbag Control Modules (ACM), electronic control modules or other systems that store critical vehicle information.

EDRs are rapidly being integrated into camera-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) Vision Systems to enable some of the most important functions like collision avoidance, and minimizing crash impact and harm to the driver in the event of an accident. EDRs in ADAS Vision systems become even more critical in fully autonomous cars, which are no longer a far-fetched idea, but are rapidly approaching the market place. To enable high-reliability EDRs, automotive manufacturers need high-performance, low-pin-count non-volatile memories to log user and sensor data continuously and to instantly capture system state data, in the case of power loss. Cypress’ new Excelon^TM-Auto family of Ferroelectric RAMs (F-RAM) is purpose-built to meet these challenges and offers a high-speed interface, fast writes and instant non-volatility.

Excelon^TMF-RAM Development Kit to Get Started

The Excelon development kit is a low-cost hardware platform that enables design and debug with Excelon F-RAM using the industry leading Cypress PSoC 63 Line of MCUs. With the on-board low-power PSoC 63 controller and BLE connectivity, the Excelon development kit provides the key components needed to develop a secure and low-power IoT system with local, energy-efficient data-logging with Excelon F-RAM.

Availability

Visit the Excelon^TMF-RAM product page to learn more.

Engineering Sample Availability: 27 February 2018

Excelon^TM F-RAM Development Kit Request: 27 February 2018

Production Availability: Q3’2018

PI 3 for my car

vetteandgolf — Wed, 20 Sep 2017 02:52:35 GMT

Hi, very new to pi 3 and electronic stuff and have installed everything to make the PI 3 work, now I want to use it to control everything in my project 1981 corvette. (windows, headlamps, windshield wipers ect) What coding and hardware should I use. I want to buy a starter project kit to learn but not sure on what to purchase. Thanks

A Faulty Solder Sucker From Element14 ?

TaylorTronics — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 14:19:49 GMT

I have never bought anything from Element14 that was shoddy or bad, until now!

Welcome to the SOLDER SUCKER from hell.

I have marked the bad bits, A and B.

The A bit, the bit that you unscrew to remove cold solder, removes itself, usually in the middle of a suck.

The other bit, marked B, the bit that you take of when the piston gets jammed with cold solder, also removes itself, usually while I have my glasses in one hand, a wire in my mouth, solder in the other hand, and a 40 pin chip hanging precariously off my strip board.

Element14, you have done yourselfe a disservice, and whoever the idiot was that purchased this product for your company, should take up a hobby, like ELECTRONICS

Peter Taylor

Attachments:

Blog on TI Behind the Wheel: 360 degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings

Jan Cumps — Sat, 31 Oct 2015 08:07:55 GMT

There's a new post on the TI Behind the Wheel blog:

If seeing is believing… Surround Viewing is experiencing!

The blog is good a start point to learn about video supported driver assistance.

Japanese Engineer Creates the World's Smallest "Car"

spannerspencer — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 08:03:06 GMT

Japanese engineer Kuniako Saito has built a tiny, li-pol battery-powered personal transporter that he's calling "the world’s first car in a bag".

It's a kind of variation on the typical skateboard, and weighs in at around 3Kg (depending whether it's the indoor or outdoor version) and has a distance of about 12 kilometers on a three hour charge.

Okay, at first glance this looks a bit useless and more of a gimmick, but after I watched the video I had to admit -- I was pretty impressed! Particularly the bit where the guy with a trolley full of boxes coasts up a hill with such ease. The designer also mentioned that it'd be useful for people who are pushing a wheelchair, which is an interesting application.

www.youtube.com/watch

Considering there are a lot more ramps everywhere these days, I actually think this could work. Looks like it'll be going to Kickstarter shortly, and I reckon it'll do well (price depending). Check it out, and give us your thoughts below!

Raspberry Pi Car PC

Former Member — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 18:27:57 GMT

I recently purchased two raspberry pi's and I wanted to have one to play with in my home and one to run a basic in car pc.

I've loaded a media center os (the name of the os has slipped my mind) and now I'm trying to figure what else I'm going to need to get this to work. I currently have a portable hard drive that I have hooked up to my Pioneer deck but it's a pain to sort through all of my music usig the single din deck.

I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of LCD I can use with the pi. I need a raw screen that I can mold into my dash for a built in effect. Also, does anyone know of any power source that I could use that would help with shutting down the pi when I turn off my car?

Train Detection and light signal processing board

iexpress — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:11:03 GMT

Hi,

I'm working on a board for train detection and light signal processing. The board will be able to sense 6 trains and handle about 32 LED' signal lights.

The sensors will be bi-directional so the unit will be able to tell if the trains are sending or receiving voltage depending on which way the trains are going.

I was trying to create a solution for block signaling, especially for turnouts.
I'm testing on an Atmel board, but have it sensing if a train is on certain sections of track and it can tell if the train is staying on the main track or turning out to go onto another track without changing track polarity.

After sending, I'll be telling 4-16 address decoders which LED's to light up based on which sensors are activated, and which direction the voltage is traveling through the GPIO pins.

PCB design: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur_H5-q-nNs

Main Project for detection: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L7Vu76L6ng

Optoisolator Question

Former Member — Sat, 11 May 2013 04:30:19 GMT

Okay, so I already know this is a stupid question, but I want to double check.

I want to control a N-Channel using a FPGA. VDS of the mosfet will be connected to a 15 V 9AH battery. To control the mosfet, I was thinking about using this optoisolator http://www.vishay.com/docs/81314/vo3120.pdf. to turn on/off the gate of the mosfet. I'm assuming it's not safe to connect VCC and VEE of the optoisolator to my battery because of the high current? If so, then what voltage regulator could I get can handle the high current rating.

Sorry for the stupid question, but I do not want to burn any components during this.

How can we use the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi an integrated CAN or LIN BUS controler?

toof2000 — Wed, 01 May 2013 10:18:18 GMT

How can we use the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi an integrated CAN or LIN BUS controler?

Wher can I find an integrated and relaible solution?

Where can I get an ideal current source device ?

TaylorTronics — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 03:03:31 GMT

The following diagrams show how an inductance can be driven at any current and voltage above the source voltage, using a switched ideal current source running at resonance. It can be used to drive a high voltage DC motor (designed for 36V), from a low voltage high current battery (parallel connected 1V2 lithium-ion batteries).

Is there an ideal constant current source device that will work if the voltage polarity on its two terminals appose the current flow?

A BJT will work while the capacitor voltage (green trace) is positive, and the C-E voltage is positive, but not while the C-E voltage is negative. The current must continue in the same direction. A MOSFET won't work, because it is not a constant current device. The diagrams show: the LCR circuit; circuits showing two capacitor voltage half cycles using a BJT current source; the initial waveforms over several cycles using an ideal current source (the black trace shows the current source and the phase relation to the other voltages and currents); the same waveforms showing how the voltages and currents build up to scary levels.

Any answers would be much appreciated.

*Note: simulations and diagrams are from '5Spice Analysis'

For those that can't read the axis, the left current axis on the last diagram goes from -1.00 kA to 1.00 kA, and the right axis goes from -2.00 MV to 2.00 MV (yes, read Mega)

Question about possibilities of the raspberry pi

Former Member — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:53:37 GMT

hi i am mark (28)and kind of new here. Through make magazine i got interested in the raspberry pi. I just wondered if the ideas i have are possible with the raspberry pi.

I am thinking automotive and was thinking about my car.

1 - I wonder if the pi can be used with 1 touchscreen (input, and main) and 1 or more output screens (speedometer etc, and other info on the second or more screens). Screensize of main would have to be roughly 6or 7 inches i think maybe (indash dvd player size). the other screens showing info kinda of dependents of the available sizes. I would have a couple of places in mind. But i have absolutely no clue of where i could get what sizes.

2 - Could this same pi also coordinate my light. (I have many leds build in my car, have a couple of remotes. but wish to change over to rgb. in which case i need to know if i could use this pi to set colour scenes.

I have finished an ICT education and worked as all round it manager. but to be honest. i almost never played with linux. thats because i grew from dos5.0 to windows 2.1, 95 xp etc basically worked with every version of windows out there. except win 7 and 8 (hated vista and xp has always worked great for my pc.

As i already figured since the pi works with and ARM based system that means i would not be able to use x86 based systems. but does linux provide enough possibilities to achive that what i was brainstorming about.

Basically trying to figure out what the possibilities are and if i should use the pi or start thinking of another mini pc (nano itx board or something)

thnx in advanc4

A week of automotive Ethernet-based networking

MAb — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:01:45 GMT

Source: Automobility blog in Freescale.com by Axel Streicher

As a founding member of the OPEN Alliance SIG (One-Pair Ether-Net Special Interest Group), Freescale hosted the second 2012 Promoter and All Members face-to-face meeting in its Munich, Germany, facility this month.

A decade ago, an initial assembly of companies formed in the same Freescale building. This group became known as the FlexRay consortium. At the time, BMW was the leading car OEM driving the FlexRay protocol as a high speed communication standard. In 2006, BMW introduced it into production in their X5 model. As a result of the rapidly increasing bandwidth requirements for multimedia and ADAS systems, BMW is now spearheading the deployment of Ethernet networking in the vehicle. By 2013, we’ll see the first cars on the streets with Ethernet-based connectivity.

Freescale shares the vision of global standards. By hosting the OPEN Alliance meeting, Freescale re-confirms its long standing commitment to drive and participate in global standardization efforts. The interest in this meeting was overwhelming: Based on attendance at previous OPEN Alliance meetings, about 50 participants were expected. Instead, the meeting drew in close to 100 attendees—representatives from companies that supply semiconductors, connectors, cables, tools and test equipment attended, as well as TIER1s and OEMs from all global regions—on site at Freescale, which demonstrates the broad interest Ethernet has gained within the entire automotive supply chain.

The Promoters and All Members meeting at Freescale was followed by the “Second Ethernet & IP @ Automotive Technology Day” at the University of Applied Science in Regensburg. The conference hosted 450 experts from 142 companies engaged in Ethernet-based automotive connectivity. Among the broad range of presentations, Strategy Analytics’ Ian Riches moderated the panel discussion “OEMs’ Visions for Ethernet-based Communication in the Car.“ Spokespersons from Hyundai Motor Group, Ford, BMW, GM and Volvo Trucks confirmed that OPEN Ethernet networking is globally considered as cost-efficient solution to the challenge of ever increasing network bandwidth requirements in the vehicle.

The OPEN Alliance, a non-profit organization, enables wide scale adoption of Ethernet-based automotive connectivity, establish industry standards for Ethernet connectivity over single pair, unshielded cable and enable migration from closed application to open, scalable Ethernet-based network. To date, 14 promoters and 66 adopters have joined. For more information, visit www.opensig.org.

Why will we need battery sensor (Xtrinsic) in our car soon?

MAb — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 14:57:49 GMT

Source: Automobility blog from freescale.com by Cherif Assad

Sensors are proliferating in our cars. According to IHS, the MEMS sensor market continues to grow strong in automotive applications with compound annual growth revenue (CAGR) of 10% within the 2010-2015 timeframe.

With the emergence of electrification, the 12V battery (also known as a low voltage battery) is more and more solicited by the electronic equipment of the car and has to handle all modes of operation (drive, start, stop, and standby). The risk of shortage becomes real with unavoidable leakage current when the car is not in use. To mitigate the battery consumption when the car is stopped and the engine is switched-off, all ECUs (electronic control unit) connected to the battery are limited on a maximum stand-by current in order to not discharge the battery in a short time.

Usually, a sensing point translates a physical measure in a signal wave. Freescale has defined Xtrinsic sensing solutions as a new generation of sensors that extract the contextual sensing from the application environment and combine it with logic capability to bring greater value and decision making to the sensing solution.

For the battery, the contextual sensing is about voltage, current, and temperature measurements. On one side, an analog die handles accurate building blocks to sustain each operating mode, power management, clock generation, and wake up options. The processing unit calculates data characteristics like dynamic internal battery resistance and supports customizable software tools to allow modular design and to increase levels of integration.

The stop/start function is currently expanding at OEMs with new car models. They know the battery needs a specific monitoring to guarantee some charging level to perform the stop/start function during idling and cranking modes. With the upcoming car electrification to lower the fuel consumption and comply with emission regulations, a second battery may also be necessary to handle the energy requirements. A battery sensor makes sense and fulfills Freescale’s Xtrinsic concept. The Xtrinsic MM912J637 intelligent battery sensor has been developed in that spirit, as well as the foreseen successor.

9 of 10 drivers want assist technology, but fewer than half want self-driving cars

iLOVEautomotive — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:34:40 GMT

Do you want a car with the latest in lane-departure warning, parking sensors, and the like? According to The Detroit News, interest in active safety features like those does not necessarily mean you want a self-driving car.

The paper cites a study of more than 2,500 drivers over the age of 18, commissioned by Ford, which found that nine out of ten drivers were interested in active safety tech.

According to the study, 60 percent of drivers blame blind spots for accidents, while 40 percent are actually afraid of parallel parking. Additionally, nearly half of the drivers surveyed have admitted to falling asleep while driving or know someone who has.

The study was conducted by market-research firm Penn Schoen Berland, and found that while drivers want driver-assist technologies, many are not aware of some that are already available.

Since Ford was the automaker to commission the study, it was quick to point out that the 2013 Fusion offers 10 such driver aids, such as lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and a rear view camera, among other features. It should also be noted that many of these features are also available on new Nissan, Chevrolet, Honda, and Toyota vehicles.

As for the self driving car? The people have spoken, and more than half are interested, but only 39 percent said they could be comfortable driving an autonomous vehicle.

Would you feel comfortable driving an autonomous vehicle?

Source: Autoblog

Low cost CAN 8/16/32 bits microcontrollers : more than 100 products to chose from

MicrochipRTCfr — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 19:42:07 GMT

Looking for low cost CAN microcontrollers ?

Microchip offers more than 100 microcontrollers with 1 or 2 CAN interfaces and multiples LIN interfaces.

These products can be selected here.

The CAN design centers enable quick selection of products, tools and boards to get started immediately.

They all share the same free multiplatforms development environment MPLAB X (Linux, MAC , Windows).

Free versions of the C compilers can be downloaded here (Linux, MAC , Windows).

A low cost CAN analyzer ( ref APGDT002 ) help designers fasten CAN applications development.

Attachments:

community.element14.com/.../Automotive_5F00_Brochure_5F00_01320c_5F00_1202.pdf

Automotive_Brochure_01320c_1202.pdf

MOST : un réseau à 25/50/150 Mbits pour l'automobile

MicrochipRTCfr — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 20:09:16 GMT

Destiné aux réseaux multimedia dans les véhicules, le bus MOST (haut débit) fonctionne sur des bus physiques de type électrique (unshielded twisted pair) ou optique.

Plus d'informations sur le regroupement des sociétés qui développent autour du bus MOST ici : http://www.mostcooperation.com/

Ces très hauts débits permettent d'implémenter différents types d'application dont les besoins en bande passante sont important :

* Analog Audio Gateways

* Analog Video Interface

* Digital Video Display Interface

* Consumer Device Gateway :

USB to UART

Former Member — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:15:07 GMT

Hello,

I'm working on a simple project to comunicate with an motorcycle ECU. I'm using a USB to UART will talk to the ECU, I know were the Rx and Tx pins are on the ECU connector, but I dont know which one is which. The ECU is fully poted. I am tring to avoid cutting the poting away to follow the traces. Is there a Way to determine whitch pin is Rx and which is Tx with a DVOM, or should I hook them up one way and if no communication swtich wires? I was concerned about damaging the ECU or PC interface using the second method. The pc interface is a Silicone Labs CP2102 EK

Will Wireless Electric-Car Charging Be The Next Big Thing?

iLOVEautomotive — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:33:30 GMT

How will you be charging your electric car in future? In your garage? At work? At a rest stop somewhere with a fast charger?

Or will you be using a wireless charger, embedded in a parking spot somewhere, that you can simply park over and forget about?

It's a question many are asking, and one Evatran, a Morrisville electric charging startup, is trying to answer.

Evatran is betting on wireless charging being the next big thing with electric cars, and according to the Charlotte Observer, the concept has already been adopted by tool and appliance chain Sears, which plans to sell and install garage-based versions of the wireless system.

Wireless charging is a simple concept. Also known as inductive charging, electric coils mounted in the ground pad and the vehicle create an electromagnetic field which is converted into electrical current, charging the battery.

The ground pad can be mounted under flooring, protecting it from the elements, and deterring thieves. The distance between floor unit and car is around six inches, and charges at 240 volts.

It's all about convenience, according to Evatran. Not just from being able to park and forget with its Plugless Power system, but also to avoid having to handle dirty or damp charging plugs--or avoid spending a minute fumbling with the cord in a rainstorm.

The company also wants to beat the rush towards new technologies, too. By testing and introducing the system now, it's more likely to be ready as electric cars get more popular.

Several companies are already testing, or about to test Evatran's system, including Duke Energy, Google, Clemson University, Hertz Rent A Car and others.

At the moment, the system is only compatible with the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf. That's not proving to be too much of a barrier it seems, as Evatran has already received 180 online reservations for its Plugless Power units. Auto dealers would be required to install the car-mounted part of the unit.

The unit is expected to retail for less than $3,000, not including installation. That's significantly more than conventional rechargers, but Evatran expects that the convenience factor will draw in the buyers.

So is wireless charging the future of electric cars? Or should some other aspect of electric ownership be prioritized first? Let us know in the comments section below.

Source: Greencarreports

Is it possible make a plasma propulsion system for a glider

Former Member — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:15:36 GMT

It would need to make 150 to 250 pounds thrust and will have to run for a minimum of 5 minutes.

Is it possible to fly a glider with a plasma propulsion system.

Former Member — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:12:22 GMT

Is it possible to fly a glider with a plasma propulsion system.

Google’s autonomous car crashes

Catwell — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:51:25 GMT

One of Google’s autonomous cars (Toyota Prius model) was in a little fender bender on Friday, August 5^th. The twist is, the car was driven by a driver at the time of the accident.

Google released this statement, “Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car. [The autonomous cars] have now traveled more than 160,000 miles without incident.”

One of Google’s autonomous car effort project leaders, Sebastian Thrun, said an increase in the accuracy and safety of the car would come from a networking of all cars on the road. He said at the TED conference this past spring, “Do you realize that we could change the capacity of highways by a factor of two or three if we didn't rely on human precision on staying in the lane but on robotic precision, and thereby drive a little bit closer together on a little bit narrower lanes and do away with all traffic jams on highways?"

I do not know a single person who has not been involved in a driving incident. Though giving up control to be the safest one can be will be hard to sell to the general public, I do hope to see computer controlled streets in my lifetime.

Cabe

National Semi to provide ICs for 2012 Audi A3 Infotainment modules

GardenState — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:39:07 GMT

The 2012 Audi new car models will be the first following National Semiconductor’s arrangement with Audi AG to provide analog integrated circuits (ICs) and subsystems for Modular Infotainment Device technology for Audi’s next-generation vehicles.

Building on an existing relationship – National’s FPD-Link solution for car infotainment is already in use across the Audi vehicle lineup – the fruits of this agreement will first be seen with start of production of the 2012 Audi A3 model, expanding in subsequent years to include additional Audi vehicles and models.

Working with National’s engineers, Audi selected the National FPD-Link III Ser/Des automotive infotainment chipset. It allows uncompressed HD video from the Audi MMI’s central processing unit to be distributed to the high-resolution displays spread throughout the front and rear of the vehicle. By enabling a protected digital signal, the content (for instance, a Blu-ray movie or three-dimensional map data) may not be hacked or infiltrated.

National’s FPD-Link III Ser/Des chipset transports HD digital video, audio, clocking and encrypted key exchange for content protection over a single twisted pair cable. The FPD-Link III technology also has been accepted by the Digital Content Protection (DCP, LLC), the licensing body for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) as an approved HDCP technology.

The FPD-Link III family extends beyond Infotainment to include automotive-grade chipsets for Audi’s driver-assist video cameras. That technology improves driver safety and response time, helping drivers monitor road conditions, detect hazards and avoid collisions.

CMU Develops Autonomous Car Software That's Provably Safe

squadMCU — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:31:45 GMT

It's one thing to ramble on (like we do) about how autonomous cars are way safer than human driven cars, but it's another thing to prove it. Like, mathematically. A research group at Carnegie Mellon has created a distributed control system for autonomous highway driving and then verified that it's safe. In other words, the software itself provably cannot cause an accident.

To do this, the CMU group started with a simulation of just two cars (equipped with sensors and short range inter-vehicle communications) in a lane, and then proved that their software kept those cars from having an accident 100 percent of the time. With this as a base, they slowly expanded the simulation, adding more and more layers like multiple cars and lane changes until they had an entire complex autonomous control system, each module of which is definitely safe.

Read the full history on IEEE Spectrum Automaton blog

Forum - Recent Threads

Pontiac firebird 88 board.

Will this BMS design work?

Cypress’ new EXCELON F-RAM for Next-Generation Automotive EDRs

ExcelonTM F-RAM Development Kit to Get Started

Availability

PI 3 for my car

A Faulty Solder Sucker From Element14 ?

Blog on TI Behind the Wheel: 360 degree view of the vehicle’s surroundings

Japanese Engineer Creates the World's Smallest "Car"

Raspberry Pi Car PC

Train Detection and light signal processing board

Optoisolator Question

How can we use the Arduino or the Raspberry Pi an integrated CAN or LIN BUS controler?

Where can I get an ideal current source device ?

Question about possibilities of the raspberry pi

A week of automotive Ethernet-based networking

Why will we need battery sensor (Xtrinsic) in our car soon?

9 of 10 drivers want assist technology, but fewer than half want self-driving cars

Low cost CAN 8/16/32 bits microcontrollers : more than 100 products to chose from

MOST : un réseau à 25/50/150 Mbits pour l'automobile

USB to UART

Will Wireless Electric-Car Charging Be The Next Big Thing?

Is it possible make a plasma propulsion system for a glider

Is it possible to fly a glider with a plasma propulsion system.

Google’s autonomous car crashes

National Semi to provide ICs for 2012 Audi A3 Infotainment modules

CMU Develops Autonomous Car Software That's Provably Safe

Excelon^TMF-RAM Development Kit to Get Started