Shielding through connectors

[Nevalite]

deleted post

[Repmud]

It really depends mostly on how you defined your noise thresholds for the critical equipment in the various spots of your car. It sounds like you haven't a clue what is going in your car electromagnetically. Depending on the location of the sensor, do you even need shielding? Regardless, it's quite a simple process to figure out how much shielding is required. Any half decent EE should have at the very least developed a 2D (plan view) electromagnetic plot of the car prior to designing the electrical system and again iterating throughout the design phase. It can get a little tricky to optimize in some areas when considering other factors (cost, weight, effects of routing orientation, interdependence, etc.) but once you input the models from your EE into your lapsim, Game Over...

I cringe when I see how some teams place their sensitive electronics/route their harnesses. You would also think conductor selection would be one of the easiest part... Remember, Rule A1.3 - Your car is expected to be designed in accordance with good engineering practices.

Since you're probably a mechanical student who hasn't taken any courses about the basics of electromagnetics, the following link from the 80's might give you a nudge in the right direction to perform some elementary calculations and increase your 'common knowledge'.

http://www.analog.com/static/i...s/41727248AN_347.pdf (http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/application_notes/41727248AN_347.pdf)

[Dylan Edmiston]

On a physical wiring standpoint, I'd give yourself more than 3-4 inches from sensor to connector. The minimum I do is 6-8 inches. Especially if you are putting a boot on your connector (for strain relief and water sealing).

[Cardriverx]

Depends on where the sensor is. Does it need shielding? Is it near devices that could produce high levels of noise? Is the sensor a millivolt output sensor that would be greatly affected by noise?

Ideally the shield would run all the way up to the sensor. It is not like its hard to run a shield through a connector anyways. Look up solder sleeves for a great way to wire shields. And don't forget to only ground on one end!

[TMichaels]

It also depends on the type of signal as Cardriverx already mentioned:
If you have a ratiometric analog signal or a differential analog signal, you can usually skip shielding and just use twisted pair/triple.

As Repmud suggested it also always the better choice to stay away from noise sources instead of trying to shield against them. Remember: 1/(r^3)