Hey everyone! I'm a mechanical engineer venturing into a new project, and I'm looking for a microcontroller to help automate the firing sequence of air pistons for shifting gears in a car. I've used Arduinos before, but I'm concerned they might not handle the shocks and vibrations in an automotive environment reliably enough. Ideally, I want something a bit more robust but still affordable compared to industrial-grade options. I also prefer to stick with Arduino/C++ compatibility to avoid learning a new programming language and want an easy way to upload code. Any suggestions? Thanks!
5 Answers
Consider getting a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 and making sure those connections are soldered well. It’s got dual-core processing power which might suit your needs.
While Arduinos are great for development, the microcontrollers themselves (like those from Atmel, now Microchip) are often used in harsh environments where heat and vibration are concerns. My suggestion would be to start prototyping with an Arduino but consider creating a custom board later to eliminate those friction connections from breadboards.
I get what you're saying, but it's worth noting that Arduino is more than just a single board; it consists of various development boards and libraries that can help.
You can definitely find Arduino boards where you need to solder your connections, which will solve the friction issue you're concerned about.
I've had a lot of success using the Adafruit Feather M4 in my automotive dashboard, and it's been really reliable with zero failures. It might be exactly what you're looking for!
Awesome! That Feather M4 is exactly what I needed. Thanks for the tip!
That's interesting! What are you using it for in your application?
There are plenty of automotive-rated microcontrollers available that don't break the bank compared to standard options. The success really lies in how you design your circuits to handle the environmental stresses. If you're more comfortable with C/C++ from Arduino, most modern microcontrollers support it too, so you won’t have to start from scratch.
That's great info. I planned to isolate the circuit board with rubber mounts, but also worried about the Arduino chip on the breadboard. It seems using a chip directly on a board is a better option, though I’m unsure about my skills for that. The Adafruit Feather sounds like a solid middle ground!
I've used ESP32 and ESP8266 in pretty demanding settings, and they’ve held up well. Just be sure to solder everything. They are fully compatible with Arduino IDE and are faster too—definitely a budget-friendly option!
Absolutely; the RP2040 core is quite powerful!