Project Background & Client Profile
The Sasol Solar Challenge is the ultimate test of engineering, innovation, and endurance. Teams from across the globe converge in South Africa to pilot custom-built, solar-powered vehicles across thousands of kilometers of punishing terrain. Every watt of energy, every aerodynamic curve, and every byte of telemetry data can mean the difference between crossing the finish line and breaking down on the side of the road.
Operating within the Marine and Industrial Power sector, the key engineering challenge was to deliver a reliable, fully integrated remote control and monitoring solution that would allow the vessel operator to seamlessly control and monitor both engines from the wheelhouse.
When Mpumalanga’s own Solar Flair team geared up for the challenge, they faced a critical communications hurdle within their vehicle’s nervous system. As the official Deep Sea Electronics agents and distributors in South Africa, our team at Hagar Distribution knew exactly how to solve it.
The Challenge: A Tale of Two CAN Buses
Modern solar cars are marvels of integrated systems, but they rarely speak at the same speed. For the Solar Flair team, their critical drivetrain and energy systems were communicating via Controller Area Network (CAN) protocols, but at entirely different baud rates:
- Motor Control: Running at 250 kbps.
- Battery Management System (BMS): Running at 500 kbps.
The driver needed a centralized dashboard to monitor motor temperatures, speed, battery state-of-charge, and energy draw in real time. However, forcing a single display to interpret two asynchronous CAN speeds without a dedicated gateway usually requires clunky workarounds, custom microcontrollers, or compromised data sampling rates. Solar Flair needed a robust, off-the-shelf solution that could natively handle dual high-speed inputs and survive the harsh conditions of a 2,500 km cross-country race.
The Solution: Deep Sea Electronics M840
As programmers, we specifically recommended the M840 because of one defining architectural feature: its two independent CAN interfaces.
By leveraging the dual ARM Cortex processing power (M7 at 400 MHz and M4 at 200 MHz), the M840 can effortlessly process multiple data streams simultaneously.
We mapped the network as follows:
- CAN 1 (250k): Dedicated strictly to listening to and requesting data from the motor controllers.
- CAN 2 (500k): Dedicated to the high-density data traffic from the BMS, tracking cell voltages and thermals.
Using CODESYS 3.5, we programmed a bespoke UI that unified these disparate data streams into a single, highly legible interface for the driver.
The Outcome: Seamless Strategy and Visibility
With the M840 installed, the Solar Flair driver had an optically bonded, sunlight-readable display that provided critical telemetry at a glance. No latency, no dropped packets, and no need for intermediate CAN-bridge hardware that could introduce points of failure.
Because the screen is rated IP67/NEMA 6 and built to withstand intense vibrations and extreme temperatures, the team didn’t have to worry about the electronics failing during the blistering heat of the Karoo or the steep descents into the Cape.
By utilizing Deep Sea Electronics’ advanced hardware, Hagar Distribution was able to give Solar Flair the reliable, real-time data they needed to optimize their driving strategy and maximize their solar efficiency on the open road.
