learning arduino at udemy for automotive project

[Tashisam]

Hi all,
I am new to the forum. My background is automotive service. Automotive systems have become increasingly automated and controlled with electronics and even control area networks. I have a basic understanding of electrical systems. Electronics is part of the training for automotive service, though practically I spend more of my time doing mechanical repair. I think having a basic electronics knowledge will be an asset for me.

I have a project in mind for arduino use in vehicle systems. A lot of the information in automotive systems is proprietary which presents a challenge when dealing with software. My project idea is to build a controller for the radio, entertainment, communication, and navigation system, and also the heating ventilation and a/c system. I could see going far beyond that into real time systems monitoring and even engine and stability systems control.

I think the arduino platform would be perfect for this. I did see one adafruit project that someone did something similar to this, but I would rather learn from the basics and not depend on someone else's design. I will refer to the project along the way. I do not want to approach it without a good understanding of everything involved.

I think it might be a project better suited for an adafruit micro processor board. It will depend on what I am going to be able to do with the vehicle computers. I think integrating other kinds of computers with an arduino might be the most difficult kind of project.

I am looking at is this course 
https://www.udemy.com/arduino-sbs/

It looks like a good resource for the price to start learning arduino.

What would anyone suggest for learning electronics basics? I just got a copy of "the art of electronics." I am hoping that will be a good general knowledge basis.

I am not sure if I will have to learn any programming language. I think
that would be secondary to knowing the electronic system and the go along with fundamentals of arduino and micro controllers. Perhaps I will come to that stage later on.

If anyone has experience with udemy I would like to know if it is worth doing.

Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated,

Thanks for being awesome I hope to learn from this great community

-Tashi

[picandmix]

Hi,

That udemy course looks quiet well presented and for  CAD $25 it would seem a fair price.

However, there are masses of Arduino tutorials out there for free , lots on Arduinos own site , which really is your starting place, and also large sites like Adafruit as you have already found.

Your long term goal is a complex project, sure others will guide you along that path, but in the mean time get yourself a Uno and start going though the basics, starting with the proverbial hello world/blinking led.

If you do not have you own 'stock' of electronics bits already, then look at some of the Arduino starter kits, either the genuine Arduino or one of the cheap Ebay clones which work well enough for beginners testing and as we all do now and then, inadvertently blown one up 

Importantly - have fun and enjoy learning about electronics

[Seekonk]

The small uno is good for directly controlling small scale projects.  It looks like you will be doing a lot of communications and display.  UNO is good to learn on but you will quickly run out of space.  Haven't played with the bigger one, there might be better choices.  Seems like a pretty aggressive project.

[rstofer]

In all probability, you will need a processor with CAN bus capability.  The Arduino doesn't have a CAN transciever so you can use this shield:
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13262

[matkar]

My project idea is to build a controller for the radio, entertainment, communication, and navigation system, and also the heating ventilation and a/c system. I could see going far beyond that into real time systems monitoring and even engine and stability systems control.

Do you have the necessary proprietary information to monitor/control all this? If not, building a controller is your last worry.

[Buriedcode]

My project idea is to build a controller for the radio, entertainment, communication, and navigation system, and also the heating ventilation and a/c system. I could see going far beyond that into real time systems monitoring and even engine and stability systems control.

Do you have the necessary proprietary information to monitor/control all this? If not, building a controller is your last worry.

This.  These days, many just import libraries, not caring about the low level, or even the protocol.  Then as they progress, start to delve deeper, and start writing their own drivers for peripherals, getting closer to the hardware.  But even if you know the bit level spec, working out all the functions and levels of a proprietary system will take a while, and be frustrating.  I have only done a bit of automotive work, and was surprised by how 'hush hush' a lot of the Lin protocol they used was.  I suspect this is because it had little in the way of security (best to not release documentation rather than do an overhaul of the standard), so perhaps it wont' be that difficult.  But for a beginner its certainly ambitious.   

Ambitious can be good - its how I started, picking a complicated project, breaking it down into smaller parts, and slowly, one by one working my way to it.