Public:Electrical Onboarding Fall 2026 - Revision history

Scottjg3: Add pull request tutorial

2026-09-13T04:51:16Z

Add pull request tutorial

Scottjg3: Moved pushing to github to the very end due to users not added

2026-09-12T00:03:13Z

Moved pushing to github to the very end due to users not added

Bthaik2: /* Planned Dates and Deadlines */

2026-09-08T01:39:51Z

Planned Dates and Deadlines

Scottjg3: Wording changes for Adam's challenge

2026-09-03T00:07:05Z

Wording changes for Adam's challenge

Bthaik2: Bthaik2 moved page Electrical Onboarding Fall 2026 to Public:Electrical Onboarding Fall 2026 without leaving a redirect

2026-08-30T18:15:05Z

Bthaik2 moved page Electrical Onboarding Fall 2026 to Public:Electrical Onboarding Fall 2026 without leaving a redirect

Adam Kaszok: Clarified instructions for Horns Board and provided more examples

2026-08-29T23:18:40Z

Clarified instructions for Horns Board and provided more examples

Bthaik2: /* Library Setup */

2026-08-17T03:14:46Z

Library Setup

Bthaik2: /* KiCad Setup */

2026-08-17T03:14:16Z

KiCad Setup

Bthaik2: /* KiCad Setup */

2026-08-17T03:13:55Z

KiCad Setup

Bthaik2: /* KiCad Setup */

2026-08-17T03:13:44Z

KiCad Setup

← Older revision		Revision as of 04:51, 13 September 2026
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	Visit [https://github.com/IlliniSolarCar/ElecOnboarding26/tree/irenel3_onboarding https://github.com/IlliniSolarCar/ElecOnboarding26/tree/'''<YOUR_NETID_HERE>'''_onboarding] to verify your changes were pushed properly. You should see all of the repository contents (including your changes) from your local computer now being displayed on the GitHub website.		Visit [https://github.com/IlliniSolarCar/ElecOnboarding26/tree/irenel3_onboarding https://github.com/IlliniSolarCar/ElecOnboarding26/tree/'''<YOUR_NETID_HERE>'''_onboarding] to verify your changes were pushed properly. You should see all of the repository contents (including your changes) from your local computer now being displayed on the GitHub website.
		+
		+	=== Making a Pull Request ===
		+	Now that your changes are on GitHub, you need to make a '''pull request''' (or a merge request) to integrate your changes into the main repository branch. Typically, after you've made a pull request, an electrical lead would review your firmware/PCB edits and, if they look good, merge or integrate your changes into the main branch - this is the code/hardware that is actually used in production and goes into the car. For onboarding alone, we won't actually merge your changes into the main branch, but we want you to get used to making pull requests now so you know what to expect after becoming a full electrical team member.
		+
		+	Follow the video linked [https://youtu.be/IB8o54GDJ5s here] to make your pull request - make sure to write a descriptive message about your changes so we know what you've been working on.
		+
		+	In general, the steps are:
		+
		+	# Open the repository you want to make the pull request in.
		+	# Open up the "pull requests" tab and select your branch on the right side '''OR''' click on the little popup that tells you your branch can be merged into main (if you get one)
		+	# Write a brief description of why you're making the pull request

	'''You're now finished with your onboarding projects!''' Let one of us know you're finished so we can take a look and give feedback.		'''You're now finished with your onboarding projects!''' Let one of us know you're finished so we can take a look and give feedback.

@@ Line 88: / Line 88: @@
 ##Run <code>git checkout -b jdoe2_onboarding</code> (replace jdoe2 with your NetID [your illinois email without the @illinois.edu]) to create the branch
 ##Run <code>git status</code> to ensure you are on the correct branch
 #Start working on the Onboarding Projects! We created a series of projects to act as goals to progress yourselves with KiCad. We have 1 required project and one harder one for you to choose from as your third project. '''You are required to complete at least one advanced project, either hardware or firmware. We'll be there to help you, so don't worry about the projects being too hard, just do your best!'''
 #'''While working on the onboarding projects''' take a look at these useful guidelines.
@@ Line 303: / Line 302: @@
 Once again, you will be instantiating a pin object. However, instead of a DigitalOut object, you will be instantiating an input pin object for a potentiometer (hint: pay attention to the comments!). If you're not familiar with a potentiometer, it is a variable resistor. As you turn the knob on the potentiometer to reduce resistance across a path, the voltage across that path will increase (following Ohm's Law). We can read this voltage and use it to carry out a task in firmware. You will be able to find more information about the object that you should be instantiating in <code>mbed</code>. Be careful about what value is being returned by the function you are using to read your input! Once finished with that, you will write code in the <code>while (!shutdown) {...}</code> loop in '''main.cpp''' that uses the potentiometer object to modify the task rate that you used in Project 1.
 == Optional Conceptual Challenge Project (New This Year!) ==

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 A majority of electrical onboarding will be done in person in the ECEB. This will allow new members to interact with and receive advice from more senior members on the team if they need extra help with their onboarding projects. Additionally, we have online resources to assist with onboarding and provide detailed guidance throughout a majority of the process. Listed below is a general timeline of when and where meetings will take place. Make sure to show up to these and other upcoming new member events to get to know more returning members and become more comfortable with the team. We have included every day of the week at least once to make sure as many people as possible get a chance to show up.
-'''Meeting Schedule''': Mon 9/7, Wed 9/9, Fri 9/11, Tue 9/15, Thu 9/17 ALL BEGINNING AT 7pm
+'''Meeting Schedule''': Tues 9/8, Wed 9/9, Fri 9/11, Tue 9/15, Thu 9/17 ALL BEGINNING AT 7pm
 '''Location''': ECEB 3017 (other rooms as needed depending on capacity)

@@ Line 305: / Line 305: @@
 == Optional Conceptual Challenge Project (New This Year!) ==
-If you managed to complete one or both of the challenge projects, there is another thing for you to do! This year we are introducing a challenge project which requires you to think of the car as a whole while applying some basic circuit skills. To complete this project, you will be using [https://www.falstad.com/circuit/ Falstad Circuit Simulator] an online tool which we do not use directly, but can help with visualizing and modeling circuits, and will also be used in ECE110.
+Once you've managed to complete one or both of the challenge projects, we have an optional challenge thing for you to do! This year, we want to challenge you to think of not just individual PCBs in the car, but how each of those parts as a whole in the vehicle while applying some basic circuit skills. To complete this project, you will use [https://www.falstad.com/circuit/ Falstad Circuit Simulator], an online tool which we do not use directly (but can help with visualizing and modeling circuits), which you will also use in ECE 110.
-Here is the situation you are going to simulate:
+Here is the situation you are challenged to work with:
-Delos is driving down the Great River Road in Minnesota. Our battery charge is near its max, and the great weather means that the solar array is charging our battery at 10 amps! As we approach a large downhill, we notice a problem: the regenerative brake along with the array will cause our batteries to be charged beyond a safe value. As such, the car needs the ability to switch off charging. Your challenge is to simulate the battery pack, motor and array in Falstad using current and/or voltage sources, resistors, or any other component available to you in Falstad. You must use switches to create a simulation that can switch between regular driving mode (batteries powering motor, while able to also charge from motor and array), charge OFF mode (batteries still powering the motor but cannot charge), and battery shutdown mode (batteries no longer powering the car).
+Delos is driving down the Great River Road in Minnesota. Our batteries are almost fully charged (the pack's voltage is near its maximum), and the lack of cloud cover weather means that the solar array is charging our battery at 10 amps (which is really good)! As we approach a large downhill, we notice a problem: when the motor's regenerative braking (which recharges the battery with energy recovered from the car's spinning wheels) activates, the excess power it and the solar array pushes into the batteries may '''overcharge the pack to an unsafe level'''. To prevent a possible battery fire, we need to "switch off" the battery charging and stop the excess charge from flowing into the battery.
-This will be quite challenging, especially if you have little experience with electronic components, so try to work with others as much as you can and ask questions!
+Your challenge is to simulate the battery pack, motor, and array in Falstad using current and/or voltage sources, resistors, or any other component available to you. Then, use switches to create a circuit that can switch between regular driving mode (where the batteries power the motor while able also receiving charge from the motor and array), charge OFF mode (where batteries still power the motor but cannot be charge), and battery shutdown mode (where batteries no longer power the car).

@@ Line 72: / Line 72: @@
 #Open KiCad. Start these Instructions from the home screen
 #Click on ''Preferences --> Configure Paths...''
-#Add a new path (press "Add") with the name <code>ISC_SYMBOL_DIR</code> and insert the path to the Libraries in your repo: <code>PathOnYourComputer\ElecOnboarding25\Hardware\Libraries</code>
+#Add a new path (press "Add") with the name <code>ISC_SYMBOL_DIR</code> and insert the path to the Libraries in your repo: <code>PathOnYourComputer\ElecOnboarding26\Hardware\Libraries</code>
 [[File:Kicad symbol path.png|center|thumb|590x590px|Your environment variable should look like this]]
@@ Line 133: / Line 133: @@
 *Make sure you have KiCad v9 downloaded. You'll have a hard time opening any files if you don't.
-*In your File Explorer, you'll want to navigate to the folder you copied the Onboarding Repo into (make sure that you copied the ElecOnboarding25 Repo when setting up Git rather than the B-fw or PCB repos).
+*In your File Explorer, you'll want to navigate to the folder you copied the Onboarding Repo into (make sure that you copied the ElecOnboarding26 Repo when setting up Git rather than the B-fw or PCB repos).
 *In the Hardware folder, you should see a Dev folder. Navigate into that and then go into the Template_v0.0 folder. There is another folder named Lights_Onboarding_v0_1 that has a developed project inside that you can take a look at, but for right now you won't be needing it.
-*Select everything in the folder and copy/paste to a new folder in the Hardware directory (two folders back); you can name the folder something like "prog1" to differentiate that it is your first hardware project!
+*Select everything in the folder and copy/paste to a new folder in the Hardware directory (two folders back); you can name the folder something like "proj1" to differentiate that it is your first hardware project!
 *Now you have a couple of files in your folder. These should be the seven files you see: (don't worry about the v7 tag, you should be able to open these files)
 *#fb-lib-table (your footprint libraries table, this is crucial to making your layouts exist and print properly!!)
@@ Line 189: / Line 189: @@
 *We will have 2 of these horns  in series, so it would be nice to add the link to the specs
-*We will have 2  main High-Level Requirements
+*We will have 2 main High-Level Requirements
 **A Horn On/Off which will be a digital signal for whether or not it should be on
 **A Horn Output which will output 24V at 150mA
 *As far as communication protocols, we use a digital GPIO to switch the horn
 *We will have 4 connectors for the board
-**Power in
+**Power in (INPUT: where the board gets power from)
-**Horn Control
+**Horn Control (INPUT: where the digital On/Off Signal is received)
-**And then 2 Horn outs linked in series
+**And then 2 "Horn Outs" linked in series (OUTPUT: the signal the board is sending to the horns)
 *There are will be no ICs
 *You can choose to add a Button that would be used to debug the board
-*The power system is 24V from the LV Bus
+*You can add test points to any net you would like (these are little points of exposed metal that you can probe with a multimeter to diagnose the circuit)
 *You can add LED Indicators to any net you would like
@@ Line 207: / Line 206: @@
 *The first thing to set up for the schematic is the connectors
 **You will need a 1x3pin connector for power, we use 3 pin connectors for Power so that they do not get plugged in backwards. We put +24V in the middle and two GND pins on the outside
 **You will want a 1x2pin connector for Horn Control. We want 1 pin to be grounded and another to be connected to a "Net Label" (Click L to add one). Give it a meaningful name
-**You will want two 1x2pin connectors for Horn Out. You need to link them together in series, from HORN_IN to 24V.
+**You will want two 1x2pin connectors for Horn Out. You need to link them together in series, think, there needs to be one path that current can take and it needs to be through both horns starting at +24V and ending at a net we will call "Horn In" (we will come back to this).
 *You will next want to add a way of switching from "on to off." To perform a switch at this level, we use a MOSFET. We recommend using the IRFR010PBF (this is the MPN), but you can go to octopart.com to find replacements.
-**Source should be tied GND, Drain should be tied to the HORN_IN of the series connectors, and Gate should be tied to the horn control net label you created earlier.
+**Source should be tied GND, Drain should be tied to the "Horn In" net label you created earlier, and Gate should be tied to the "Horn Control" net label you created earlier.
 **You will want a 1k ohm resistor and a .1uF capacitor between HORN_CTL and GND before it reaches the MOSFET to help with noise reduction.
-**Between the MOSFET and the connectors, add a 2A fuse.
+**Between the MOSFET and the connectors, add a 2A fuse
 *The next thing to add are capacitors between +24V and GND
 **We recommend adding 3 .1uF capacitors, 2 1uF capacitors, 2 10uF capacitors, and 1 100uF polarized radial capacitor in parallel
 *Finally, you will want to add a rectifier diode from HORN_IN to +24V to ensure we do not short power to ground. You can use ES2DA-13-F or find an alternative from octopart.com.

@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 #If you still have issues, follow the '''Initial Setup''' instructions [[Public:GitHub/PCB|here]]. (The page is setup for using the PCB repository. Don't use that! We are using the new Onboarding repo this year for an easier work space. Please follow all the instructions but use the Onboarding repository instead.)
 #Setup KiCad by following the [[Public:KiCad|KiCad]] '''First Time Setup''' instructions.
-#*Note: We use KiCad v8. If there are any files in the future that are in previous versions, just save them as v8. Anything v5 and below will have a libraries issue that can be resolved by copy/pasting the lib files from a v8 project into that folder.
+#*Note: We use KiCad v9. If there are any files in the future that are in previous versions, just save them as v9. Anything v5 and below will have a libraries issue that can be resolved by copy/pasting the lib files from a v9 project into that folder.
 ===After Completing Setup===

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 KiCad is an electrical CAD software that our team uses to design the custom printed circuit boards (aka PCBs) for the solar car. All of our designs exist on the [https://github.com/IlliniSolarCar Illini Solar Car GitHub page] in the PCB repository. You will clone this repository later and any hardware contribution you make to the team will be in here.
-#First download KiCad onto your computer from [https://downloads.kicad.org/kicad/windows/explore/stable here], use version 9.0
+#First download KiCad onto your computer from [https://downloads.kicad.org/kicad/windows/explore/stable here], use version 9.0.9
 ===Library Setup===
 ''Note: This applies to KiCad v6+ projects on GitHub since''  isc-hw-libs#84.''This should cover most projects, and all new projects. But if you need to view older projects please update them following the instructions at [[Viewing KiCad v5 Projects]]''