6th Gen Steering wheel in 5th Gen?

[slonison]

https://youtu.be/F5QihxcscBc

[slonison]

Alright, a couple things uncovered since this morning.

First, let's start with the audio switch. As you can see in the video above. Proof of concept is basically done. I'm waiting on the quad analog logic gates. Once those come in, I plan on going full steam designing the prototype module and doing some tests in the actual car. Ironically, this is the best news.

The bad news, so try as I might, we have two problems on the cruise control side.

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I'll repeat it again. The 5th Gen uses a resistance ladder for cruise control. However, the system uses a hard physical cutoff by means of a rocker switch. Anyone who has the 2011-2015 steering wheel will know what I'm talking about. There are two problems with the 2016+ wheel. Firstly, on the non-heated wheels, the cruise control on off switch is a momentary switch. Meaning, you press it once and it returns to its normal position. This means that the resistance ladder is ALWAYS active. If we replace the resistors (which is my plan) we end up with a setup where the on-off button doesn't do anything at all. The resistance ladder is always connected and therefore, cruise control will always be.... "Primed" if you will. Ready to be activated. It won't take control of the car, but it won't be off... And you'll always have the cc symbol. I actually have an idea to fix this but to be honest, it's all in my head. I ordered a switch though, just to do some testing so maybe I can hand over this solution to the others on here. But wait, it gets worse. On the hated wheel, the switch module opts to nix the cancel button and move the on off button to the center. This means that we have the same exact problem as above. Though we also lose the cancel button. I don't care about the cancel button, but it gives us even less options for a latching tactile switch.

I have dug and dug and dug. Reviewing all possible steering wheels available and unfortunately, while the right side has a 5 button D-Pad., the left side was never offered with a 5-wya D-Pad style switch. As far as I know, the switch is only available through Chevrolet. I have worked with suppliers form china in the past to make custom housings for pcbs, but this is just one I don't want to get that deep in.

So.... Where does that leave us... I've been thinking through a few things. Perhaps a sliding toggle where a theoretical "left" or "right" button would have been is one option. Just leaving cruise control active is another option.

Anyway, in the mean time I will wait for the logic gates for the audio, but the cruise control is going to be the worse of the two based on where I am.

[camguynj]

Progress! What will be the POC approach for the heated wheel button?

[slonison]

Originally Posted by camguynj

Progress! What will be the POC approach for the heated wheel button?

The heating element and controller is, ironically, the easiest of this entire thing and mainly based on my experience with the mustang. You see, with the mustang. The Heated Steering Wheel Module (HSWM) is located beneath the dash. This means, that in the mustang there are literally 6 wires that needed to go through the clockspring.

Heated element wire
Heated element ground
Thermistor wire feed
Thermistor wire ground
Switch wire feed (well technically not be side the 2022 had it in the digital head unit)
Switch wire ground (same as above)

However, the Camaro is much easier. The module actually lives inside the steering wheel. Meaning nothing needs to cross the clockspring. The only different is that I simply need to source a 12V power source for the heating element. Which will be a walk in the park.

It's always getting the rest of the biz to work.