Electrical & electronic
Electrical and electronic automotive parts.
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Airbag Systems
Car Airbag Systems explained An airbag is a vehicle safety device. It is an occupant restraint system consisting of a flexible fabric envelope or cushion designed to inflate rapidly during an automobile collision. Its purpose is to cushion occupants during a crash and provide protection to their bo ...
Alternator
Car Alternator How it works The alternator produces electricity used to maintain battery storage charge and to help run all the electrical accessories, including the ignition and the engine control systems. It is belt-driven by the engine and produces an alternating current (AC), which is converted ...
Anti-hijack system
Car Anti-hijack system An anti-hijack system is an electronic system fitted to motor vehicles to deter criminals from hijacking them. Although these types of systems are becoming more common on newer cars, they have not caused a decrease in insurance premiums as they are not as widely known about a ...
Automatic vehicle location
Automatic vehicle location Automatic vehicle location (AVL or locating; telelocating in EU) is a means for automatically determining the geographic location of a vehicle and transmitting the information to a requester. Most commonly, the location is determined using GPS, and the transmission mechan ...
Battery
Car Battery The battery is a storage device, currently 12 volts, used to start the engine and help operate the electrical accessories installed on your car. The battery consists of six cells of stacked positive and negative lead plates, separated by insulators and immersed in electrolyte, which is ...
Contact breaker
Car Contact breaker explained A contact breaker (or "points") is a type of electrical switch, and the term typically refers to the switching device found in the distributor of the ignition systems of spark-ignition internal combustion engines. Purpose The purpose of the contact breaker is to interr ...
coolant temperature Sensor
Car coolant temperature sensor explained The coolant temperature sensor is used to measure the temperature of the engine coolant of an internal combustion engine. The readings from this sensor are then fed back to the Engine control unit (ECU). This data from the sensor is then used to adjust the f ...
Crankshaft position Sensor
Crankshaft position sensor A crank position sensor is an electronic device used in an internal combustion engine to monitor the position or rotational speed of the crankshaft. This information is used by engine management systems to control ignition system timing and other engine parameters. Before ...
Daytime running lamp
Daytime running lamps A daytime running lamp (DRL, also daylight running lamp or daytime running light) is an automotive lighting device on the front of a roadgoing motor vehicle, installed in pairs, automatically switched on when the vehicle is moving forward, emitting white, yellow, or amber ligh ...
Defogger exlained
Car Defogger A defogger, demister, or defroster is a system to clear condensation and thaw frost from the windshield, backglass, and/or side windows of a motor vehicle. For primary defogging, heat is generally provided by the vehicle's engine coolant via the heater core; fresh air is blown through ...
Distributor explaned
Distributor explaned A distributor is a device in the ignition system of an internal combustion engine that routes high voltage from the ignition coil to the spark plugs in the correct firing order. The first reliable battery operated ignition was developed by Dayton Engineering Laboratories Co. (D ...
Driving lamps
Driving lamps "Driving lamp" is a term deriving from the early days of nighttime driving, when it was relatively rare to encounter an opposing vehicle.Only on those occasions when opposing drivers passed each other would the dipped or "passing" beam be used. The full beam was therefore known as the ...
ECU Programmable
Aftermarket Programmable ECU A special category of ECUs are those which are programmable. These units do not have a fixed behaviour and can be reprogrammed by the user. Programmable ECUs are required where significant aftermarket modifications have been made to a vehicle's engine. Examples include ...
ECU Understanding
Understanding the ECU Modes of Operation When you first turn the key and the engine is cold, the coolant is cold, the fuel is cold, the oxygen sensors are cold and the engine just isn’t in its happy spot. This is called cold start mode. In this case, the ECU has to squirt a different amount of fuel ...
ECU Workings Explained
Workings of a ECU An engine control unit (ECU), most commonly called the powertrain control module (PCM), is a type of electronic control unit that controls a series of actuators on an internal combustion engine to ensure the optimum running. It does this by reading values from a multitude of senso ...
Electrical Current terms
Electrical Current terms The three main terms used in electricity are; (1) Ampere or Amp, which denotes the measure of current flow. (2) Volt, denoting the measure of electrical force or pressure. (3) Ohm, a measure of electrical resistance. The relationship of these is expressed in Ohm's Law which ...
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