I worked on Western Formula Racing’s grounded low voltage subsystem from 2014 to 2017. In that time my colleague at the time and I made significant improvements to the electrical design and team. Shown below is the improvement of the harness over the years. Some significant changes made include: integration of a new engine controller, integration of a new data management system, introduction of Autocad Electrical.
The 2014-2015 harness was functional but sloppy. The wiring harness was not properly documented, wire labels were not used, and in general, the fabrication techniques used needed improvement. This was the starting point for building a professional wiring harness in the following years.
The conversion from Visio to Autocad Electrical decreased design time and increased the thoroughness of our documentation. With the introduction of Autocad we created a wiring database with every wire number, its start and end location, expected length, color, and current. As we routed the wires we labeled each one which resulted in a more methodical debugging experience when needed.
The introduction of a modular wiring harness that could be built outside of the vehicle – and taken out after – was key to the electrical team’s success. It allowed for the harness to be built before the vehicle, it allowed for removal of the harness form the vehicle for repairs, and it forced us to be clean and methodical with our routing.