While the mechanical team has been hard at work getting components and designing the structure of the car, our electrical team has been working just as hard by designing the individual components of our electrical system and planning how they will all come together. 

E-ink display

OLED Display

In working on our steering wheel, we found the display that we will probably use for our car. Initially, we planned on using an E-ink display because it would be easier to see when driving under the sun compared to the LCD display in our old car. After testing it we decided that it did not meet our needs because it did not update fast enough. We then tested an OLED display and decided that we would use it as it could update faster, but would still be easy to see under intense sunlight.

In addition to working on the physical components of the steering wheel, we have designed the wiring of the steering wheel and included it in our electrical diagram. As detailed in previous blog posts, work on the battery and solar panels are coming along. We are continuing to test batteries and will be choosing battery cells in the coming weeks. Some new members are practicing soldering solar cells. Some other new members are using Arduino kits to work on individual projects to learn about them.

Steering wheel in electrical diagram

Testing setup for the 5V relay with the LEDs

There is still a long road ahead, but with individual members/groups each individually working on components and a couple members working on bringing it all together, we should be ready to finish up the electrical system when the physical car comes together.