“Electrical systems in travel vehicles keep getting more complex, but not everyone has studied electrical engineering.
Martin Henning – Technical Development, tigerexped
DIY builders face a real challenge here, and we want to help.”
Ever since tigerexped started developing a modular electrical system,
the problem Martin describes here has become more and more noticeable in our customer support and technical teams. A package of components put together individually by a professional and simplified wiring diagrams are a great thing, but the ever-
growing range of functions in today’s electronics still requires more and more basic knowledge (which is often missing).
Besides missing know-how, the biggest drawbacks are the time and space required. Building a system from a multitude of busbars and fuse holders, where you end up having to resort to “case-by-case custom solutions”, costs the professional manufacturer many hours of labor – and drives DIY builders up the wall.
Following Good Ideas Through to the End
Of course, we are not the first to do product development in this area. The power distributor that we used in our module system after intensive market research,
provides a good foundation, but in the end it was missing key functions that would make the whole thing really worthwhile.
So what would this product have to be able to do, thought through to the end, to connect a large electrical system with minimal installation effort and in a technically optimal way?
“First, we sketched a rough design based on existing examples, including all the improvements we wanted, and sent it to our experienced development partner and manufacturer.”
… says Martin, who was able to feed his know-how as an electrical engineer into the design
just as much as the support experience of the tigerexped technical team.
The first 3D implementation, however, left no doubt that this was not yet the final answer
– a box of 36×24 cm is hardly an innovation in space saving.
Saying “well, then it just isn’t possible” was not an option, though. Over the following months, the CAD software for 3D models ran hot on the computer. There had to be some way to compress it without losing any functionality.
And there was.
After countless night shifts shaping the busbars and arranging the cable connections, a component with an extraordinary design had emerged. In our world, used to rectangular components, would travel vehicle builders give a UFO-shaped object a chance? Seen from the technical side, the advantages convince you immediately, so we simply HAD to try it.
A big step in the development had now been taken. But before the first TEXU400 (TEX = tigerexped,
U = UFO, 400 = max. amps) would be installed in a travel vehicle, there was still a long road with ups and downs ahead, and question after question to answer.
Question After Question
How can a closure be designed that is operated with one hand and has no loose parts that could get lost? And how do you seal both so that they are ignition-protected for use in explosive environments, as required for the targeted ISO certification?
How do resistors and diodes have to be wired so that LED indicators on the consumer side do not glow when used with high voltages of up to 48 volts?
And which injection molding manufacturer can even produce the demanding base plate?
The development of the TEXU400, which we lovingly call our UFO, caused overheated wiring in the heads of everyone involved.
Through constant optimization, which in part
also included borrowing manufacturing processes from other fields,
the process was driven forward step by step.
Tests in Electrical Hell
The production of the first prototypes finally led to extensive test series – and, for the
UFOs, to the chamber of horrors for electrical components: the oven.
It turned out that simulating a complete travel vehicle electrical installation under absolute maximum load with the highest current flow of this magnitude is not that easy to reproduce in an oven. But the effort of more than 25 test series paid off with sometimes surprising results and the improvements derived from them.
Surprises Lead to Optimized Solutions
None of the specialists involved in the development had expected, for example, that the
heat buildup with and without the cover would hardly differ. Instead of the
expected thermal radiation, the greatest attention had to be paid to heat conduction in the cables
coming from the fuses.
Hotspots had to be avoided under all circumstances for safe operation of the UFO and the entire electrical system. With the insights gained, we therefore developed our own rules for dimensioning busbars and cable sizes. Thanks to larger cross-sections than commonly used, installing a UFO guarantees the highest operational safety even when powerful consumers overload the system.
Incidentally, printing 3D models not only brought beads of sweat to the brow of our accounting department, but also led to the exciting realization that certain corners and edges can only be recognized “in the hand”, not on the digital model.
New, Helpful and Stylishly Finished
Market novelties such as the shunt bridge and the MEGA fuse with a double connection were finally realized – and of course it also had to look good. A mix of glossy and satin surfaces and, for example, labeling stickers that are not carelessly stuck on but set into matching recesses in the cover do not make the development effort any smaller, but they do make everyone enjoy the product more.
The packaging design provides the matching frame, and it can hold a few surprises as well. With a weight of almost 3 kg, the UFO had us rework the packaging several times. After all, it should not only be made from sustainable materials, but also make sure everything arrives safely at the customer’s and that eyes light up when unpacking. Who likes to buy something that looks carelessly made?
“You eat with your eyes first” applies not only to cooking.
So that the sparkle in your eyes does not fade after unpacking, we also put a lot of thought into the instruction manual. Problems during installation should be anticipated and spared the customer from the start.
In the end, though, the functional design of the UFO already puts so much system know-how into one product that the usual sources of error regarding the assignment of connections no longer exist in the first place.
Eliminating 50% of all cable crimps makes the whole thing safer and more convenient once again.
In the end, with the UFO we achieved our goal of offering professional vehicle manufacturers and ambitious DIY builders the advantages they can expect from a true central electrical unit as the heart of their systems:
A fast, error-proof installation that also takes up little space and saves costs compared with buying individual components. In addition, the failure indication with the cover closed makes fault tracing much simpler even for laypeople, and gives the manufacturer uncomplicated, time-saving support.
The TEXU400 has meanwhile proven itself excellently as a solution to the problems of larger installations. Thanks to the experience gathered during a year of work on the product, we can now, after only half of the original development time, proudly announce the landing of the 200 UFO and so let builders of smaller travel vehicles benefit from the UFO series as well.
Installed a UFO? Show Us!
As one of our absolute pet projects, we are of course especially happy to see TEXUs in action! We love getting pictures of your installations on social media, and we are glad to feature them on our channels if we discover them through a link or tag.
Feel free to use our channel tigerexped or the hashtag #rumtigern on Instagram directly.
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