Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [automotive]

Questions about the design of electronics for use in an automotive environment. (Questions about the installation and use of automotive electronics are unlikely to be appropriate for this site.)

An application field of electronics that requires high reliability and fail-safe systems. Applications can vary widely in temperature ranges and have a wide voltage range, typically 12 V (or 24 V) while off, and higher when on.

Automotive-grade parts are typically better than consumer and commercial-grade parts, near equal to -grade parts, but not as high quality as military or aerospace-grade parts, though this varies based on manufacturer. Military-grade parts are often mandated by law or government regulation/standards.

Questions about connecting electrical devices to a car, or about car repair, may be better suited to the Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair Stack Exchange.

973 questions
27
votes
1 answer

What is the polarity of a car cigarette lighter adapter?

There is a center pin, and two outside tabs. Which are positive and negative?
Mark Harrison
  • 10,651
  • 27
  • 70
  • 99
7
votes
11 answers

What are the ways to allow/prevent a car engine from starting up?

Assume that I do not want to replace a factory Engine Control Unit (ECU) with a custom ECU. What are the other possible intercept points that I can use to allow/prevent a car from starting up? I only want to allow/prevent starting up. I can think of…
sybreon
  • 1,601
  • 1
  • 13
  • 13
6
votes
3 answers

Is the 42V car dead?

I was rather curious about why many buck converters and linear regulators were rated up to 42V, or close to it. It's a rather strange voltage to stop at, after all - why not 40V or 45V? I read that it was due to an idea in the late 90's to early…
Thomas O
  • 31,786
  • 58
  • 184
  • 322
6
votes
2 answers

Automotive electrical system. How does everything work?

I recently grew a big interest into the electronic world. I also love auto/mechanics, and I’m trying to understand where these two wonderful areas meet. I’m trying to understand the fundamentals of how an automotive electrical system works, and I’m…
amalik
  • 69
  • 1
  • 4
3
votes
1 answer

How many amps can I route through the automotive chassis?

I am working on an electrical installation in a truck which will operate as a mobile office. I am wondering if it is possible to only route a 12V positive wire, and use the chassis for ground? Basically to save on cable costs. Typically a car…
user95482301
  • 1,130
  • 3
  • 15
  • 37
2
votes
1 answer

What is this connector called? (automotive blu-ray unit)

I have an automotive grade blu-ray unit and I'm missing a cable to connecti it to a second screen. The cable is the blue one I'm showing in the pictures (LVDS) and it is a universal FAKRA type, however, I do not know what the connector type itself…
dukeofgaming
  • 635
  • 1
  • 6
  • 13
2
votes
1 answer

Fitting home made circuit on petrol scooter

I have an old honda scooter which has bulbs in all lights. Also, they are driven by AC voltage. I made sequential led indicator circuits(four of them) using 74HC595. The working voltage of the circuit is 5V. The total current draw is less than what…
Vinodvnmy
  • 43
  • 6
2
votes
3 answers

Short circuit in Vehicles

I wanted to know what are the techniques employed in heavy vehicles to avoid short circuit or protect if short circuit happens? Since the batteries in heavy vehicles are highly powerful and short circuit will be very dangerous I think. please…
rajesh
  • 437
  • 4
  • 16
2
votes
1 answer

Simulating a load dump circuit

I am trying to build automotive load dump circuitry to bench test my inverter design. I would like to know if anyone has any experience building something like this. I need to create a 172V spike that stays for 400ms.
EE_Ami
  • 21
  • 1
  • 2
1
vote
0 answers

How to create a load dump test setup using two power supplies?

I have a Keysight N5771A which goes up to 300V but the response time is not fast enough to be used for the load dump test. So I use it to supply the 202V and another power supply to supply the 24V. Here is the circuit: simulate this circuit –…
Hanna
  • 11
  • 2
1
vote
3 answers

How do cars know the position of the side windows?

I'm in the middle of making my own comfort module for my car based on Arduino. I've ported most of the stock features, including controlling the windows via a switch, but I want to add auto-closing feature when my rain sensor detects rain, and…
dante3
  • 13
  • 4
1
vote
2 answers

Automotive IO electrical levels standard

Is there a standard that propose voltage/current thresholds for GPIO in automotive ECUs. Something that would define ViH, ViL, Iil, IiH, etc for 12V or 24V networks. I have good intuition of what is needed by working with different types of…
Pier-Yves Lessard
  • 519
  • 3
  • 10
1
vote
1 answer

Stabilizing the 12 volts from a car battery

I'd like to put a small gadget that I made into my car and power it from the car battery. The gadget works on 12 volts and the car provides 12 volts also. And the consumption would be somewhere around 2-4A. However as I understand those 12 volts…
LachoTomov
  • 209
  • 3
  • 11
1
vote
1 answer

Detecting whether a car is running

I need to design a circuit that will operate in a car, and the circuit needs to know when the vehicle is turned off. The circuit will run from its own battery, and it will basically be an alarm to alert a driver he/she needs to remember to do…
Randy
  • 3,245
  • 3
  • 22
  • 39
0
votes
1 answer

What causes the background hissing in car speakers?

My knowledge of electronics is very limited, but I think I should be able to understand the answer to this. In a car, if I turn the volume up as high as it goes with the auxiliary cable plugged in, I can get a constant, quiet, hissing noise to come…
user25228
1
2 3