2014 ERS External Visual Indicators

[antsyd]

Just thinking about the ERS system for next year and wondering about placing some form of external LED lights on the cars to indicate when the driver is using the system.

No Lights: ERS off
Green Lights: ERS active
Red Lights: ERS failure

Above would give the fans some additional information. Rival drivers and teams could reference these lights strategically also.

Just an idea I had, and I will leave up to you all to discuss the placement & type of external lights that could be used.

[zonk]

How about this?

[antsyd]

Im Surprised by the level of responses. Does anyone at all think this is a good idea?

[Holm86]

IMO this would remove the whole idea of the new ERS system. The idea with the ERS system is that the ICE and Electronics works together as a seemless unit. Not just as a gimmick as KERS mostly was. KERS was a push-button system only available for a few seconds a lap.

ERS will work through the entire lap and is managed by the ECU and has no push-button. So i see no reason as to why there should be indicators showing when the ERS is on or off.

[turbof1]

IMO this would remove the whole idea of the new ERS system. The idea with the ERS system is that the ICE and Electronics works together as a seemless unit. Not just as a gimmick as KERS mostly was. KERS was a push-button system only available for a few seconds a lap.

ERS will work through the entire lap and is managed by the ECU and has no push-button. So i see no reason as to why there should be indicators showing when the ERS is on or off.

Not completely true. There are some elements that make it also advantageous to use it in bigger bursts in one time.
-You can only use 33,33 seconds a laps. You don't need it off throttle of course, so it variaties per circuit. At Monaco, 45% of the lap on throttle, that'll be more or less the exact time you spend on the throttle. However, at Monza, 83% throttle, you'll be 69-70 seconds on throttle, so there you will have to allocate those 33,33 seconds to where they can be used best.
-Teams can use 4000KJ per lap, but are only allowed to harvest 2000KJ per lap. Sometimes they might want to use ERS 1 lap less to have more boost the next lap. I think we'll see it both automatically and manually controlled, adapting to the situation.

An indicator might be a nice feature after all.

[Saribro]

- You can only use 33,33 seconds a lap

..at full power.

- Teams can use 4000KJ per lap, but are only allowed to harvest 2000KJ per lap

..from the MGU-K. The MGU-H is free to harvest.

[Holm86]

- You can only use 33,33 seconds a lap

..at full power.

- Teams can use 4000KJ per lap, but are only allowed to harvest 2000KJ per lap

..from the MGU-K. The MGU-H is free to harvest.

Precisely ...

[turbof1]

- You can only use 33,33 seconds a lap

..at full power.

- Teams can use 4000KJ per lap, but are only allowed to harvest 2000KJ per lap

..from the MGU-K. The MGU-H is free to harvest.

Yeah I forgot the mgu-h wasn't limited. Point for you . Able to spread the power over more seconds, that looks like even more tactical options. You can choose between light "support power" over the whole lap, or effectively full boost when you need to attack or defend.