Lighting
From Trevipedia
Lighting requirements for three-wheeled vehicles in Australia are specified in ADR 67.
Front lights
The front of the car must have:
- two dipped beam headlamps, which must be within 400 mm of the edge of the car, not less than 500 mm above the ground, and must be visible 45° to the left and right, 15° upwards and 10° downwards
- two main beam headlamps, which may be no closer to the edge of the car than the dipped beam headlamps, and must be visible at angles not less than 5°
- two front direction indicators, within 400mm of the edge of the car, and at least 350mm above the ground
- two repeating side direction indicators
- two white position lamps, which must be within 400mm of the edge of the car and at least 350mm above the ground.
The UniSA prototype used the following lamps, donated by Hella:
| Hella part | power (W) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1029 | dipped beam | 55 |
| 2 | 1030 | main beam and position | 55 + 4 |
| 2 | front indicator | 21 | |
| 2 | side direction indicators | 5 | |
| 1 | 6001 | horn | 72 |
12 V LED front indicators were not available when the UniSA prototype car was built, and so orange incandescent indicator lamps were used instead. The prototype car was fitted with LED side direction indicators.
The Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car has LED headlights. However, LED headlights are not yet certified for use in Australia.
Rear lights
The rear of the car must have:
- two direction indicators, mounted within 400 mm of the outer edge of the car, at least 240 mm apart and at least 350 mm above the ground
- a single stop lamp, mounted centrally at least 350 mm above the ground (check this—the UniSA prototype used two stop lamps)
- two position lamps, mounted within 400 mm of the outer edge of the car, at least 400 mm apart, and at least 350 mm above the ground
- two red reflectors, mounted within 400 mm of the outer edge of the car, at least 400 mm apart, and at least 350 mm and no more than 900 mm above the ground
- one or two reversing lamps, mounted at least 250 mm above the ground
- registration plate lamps sufficient to illuminate the plate; the centre of the plate must be not less than 300 mm above the ground.
An eye-level brake light may also be required.
The UniSA prototype used the following parts:
| Hella part | power (W) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2390 | stop, position lamp | 5, 1 |
| 2 | 2130 | indicator | 5 |
| 2 | 2559 | number plate lamps | 0.7 |
| 1 | 1413 | reversing lamp | 21 |
| 2 | 2950 | reflector |
Lighting controllers
Trev has two lighting controllers, one controlling the front lights and one controlling the rear lights. The lighting controllers are identical, but the lamps (and other devices) connected to each of them are different. Each controller can switch eight circuits:
| device | front | rear | load (W) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| position lamps | Y | Y | 8 | front is incandescent, rear includes number-plate lamps |
| left indicator | Y | Y | 26 | incandescent front and side lamps |
| right indicator | Y | Y | 26 | incandescent front and side lamps |
| dipped beam headlamps | Y | 110 | ||
| main beam headlamps | Y | 110 | ||
| horn | Y | 72 | ||
| brake lamps | Y | 10 | ||
| reversing lamp | Y | 21 | incandescent |
The lighting controllers are custom built. A microcontroller responds to CAN messages by switching circuits on and off. Indicator flashing is controlled by the lighting controller software. Most circuits used 20 A MOSFETs for switching, but three 20 A MOSFETs in parallel were used for each of the headlamp circuits.
The UniSA prototype used 32-bit microcontrollers dontated by Freescale, but smaller, simpler microcontrollers will do the job easily. We should choose a microcontroller that is easy to program with readily-available tools. Candidates include:
- Arduino: Open source design, open source software runs on Windows, OS X and Linux, programmed through a USB port. Can it do CAN?
