#TransformationTuesay with Mary's Rear Wiring Harness

Mary the Malibu has been busy getting herself dolled up for competition lately. 

The team has been working hard on a new trunk wiring harness. Although the wiring has been functional, it was extremely disorganized and made it difficult to diagnose faults. Since we are in the refinement phase of EcoCAR 2, some of our team members suggested that something be done to clean up the wiring for serviceability, consumer acceptability also weight reduction. 

The majority of the old wiring was 20 AWG (american wire gauge) wire with thin-walled insulation. Most of the wiring in the trunk is used for signal transmission - not power - so a smaller gauge wire can be used for these connections. We purchased seven rolls of 22 AWG thin-insulation wire to replace the signal wires to reduce weight and take up less space in our trunk.

Before and after of Mary's rear wiring harness.

"I created an entirely new harness so that wire lengths could be measured away from the car," said controls subteam member Brandon Nash. "This was so I didn't interrupt the work others were doing with other parts of the car. I then created new pin-outs for every connector in the trunk as well as connectors required to make the harness fully removable." 

Once the pin-outs were up-to-date, we started to lay wire for the new harness. The final result is a smaller, lighter and entirely removable rear wiring harness. As we continue preparing Mary for final competiton, we will be able to add new wires and run them through the loom to keep them organized and as short as possible!