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Old 08-01-2011, 02:49 PM   #5029 (permalink)
ElectricZX2
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Posts: 53

ElectricZX2 - '98 Ford ZX2 Cool Coupe
90 day: 140.91 mpg (US)
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Thanked 12 Times in 8 Posts
Update on 1000amp Beta Unit:

Controller worked great....very smooth throttle. I drove it for a mile or so at 134 volts nominal around my house, then switched to highway mode for my trip to work (148 volts nominal). Total pack voltage was 156 volts when starting. I kept it below 450 amps. The trip was about 13 miles to work, 10 of which were 65-70mph in 4th gear at 250ish motor amps. The temperature out today is 90 degrees (and humid ugh). When I got to work the heat spreader was pretty toasty....I have a couple of big heatsinks underneath but I'm not sure I have good contact...will try to get better conduction later on. Probably avoid highway on return trip to keep power level lower. I need to hook up some sort of display to show controller stats including temperature. Any ideas?
Higher motor current than I'm used to I think is due to the high kv rating on the new motor (oh yea...I fried my old forklift motor recently by running 148 volts nominal and had to put in a loaner impulse 9). With the impulse 9 vs. the old 9 inch motor currents are higher (and motor voltage lower) at a given rpm because the new motor makes about 170 lbft torque/1000amps vs. about 220 lbft for a full size nine. Everyone always discouraged me from putting in an impulse rather than a warp 9 because the price isn't terribly different and the warp has more torque. But what they didn't tell me was the impulse is like a freakin turbo motor. It has less torque off the line (although 1000amps should be enough regardless) but as the revs build it starts to pull like a banshee. On 148 volts I could hold 450 motor amps all the way to 6000 rpm and it just kept pulling harder and harder (and theoretically I should be able to hold 1000amps to around 5800rpm at this voltage). With a warp 9 or similar motor on this voltage it has great torque but the power falls of rapidly after 3000rpm. It's like the difference between a harley and a sportbike. 220 lbft at 3000rpms is 125 horesepower, 170 lbft at 5800rpm is 188 horsepower. Helps that my car is light and doesn't need the starting torque.
Anyways, I'm really loving the impulse 9 and 1000amp combo and will update soon. Hopefully I don't blow it up again....sorry paul, I have my hand glued on the kill switch). Can't wait to turn up the juice-I'm just hoping my coupler can handle the 3500 pounds of twisting force at the interface point...
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