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Old 06-06-2009, 06:28 PM   #1586 (permalink)
NiHaoMike
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Quote:
Originally Posted by slurryguy View Post
DEATH WISH 9
Starring Paul "Charles Bronson" Holmes.


*****WARNING!!! EV Enthusiasts and Electronic Geeks should ask small children to leave the room before reading further. This list gets pretty ugly. Adults with weak stomachs may not want to read it at all. The writer of this list is not responsible for any angry rages by overly sensitive readers or for anyone losing control of their bowels. Each reader is responsible for cleaning their own pants if they lose control. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!******


Following is a list of the most common, most horrendously abusive ways I could think of that might possibly KILL a controller (and/or other expensive parts of an EV.) My questions to Paul "Charles Bronson" Holmes, is how would the controller handle each situation? Will the controller fail? If the controller fails, will it fail safely?

1. Installer mistakenly hooks the tracktion pack up to the controller with reverse polarity.

2. Installer mistakenly hooks the Accessory Battery up to the controller with reverse polarity.

3. Installer mistakenly hooks traction pack voltage to the Accessory Battery input terminals.

4. Accessory Battery (or traction battery) accidentally hooked up to the throttle input terminals.

5. Installer mistakenly shorts the motor cables to each other by attaching both of them to the same terminal on the motor. Somebody gets in the car, turns it on, and FLOORS IT for 30 seconds.

6. Installer mistakenly hooks the motor to the battery input terminals, and the traction pack to the motor terminals. (or any other possible screwed up combination of connection FUBAR.)

7. Somebody turns on the car, leaves the parking break fully engaged, puts the car in gear, and floors it for 30 seconds.

8. After watching a Football game with a group of guys everyone is getting in their cars to head for home. Of course... the EV driver can't just drive away. He must try to show off. He turns on the car, and tries to do a burnout (it's a testosterone thing) by riding the brake and flooring the accelerator simultaneously.

9. While waiting at a stop light, an extremly attractive girl walks by. Instinctively the guy that's driving decides to show off and rev the motor while the car is sitting in neutral. (It's a testosterone thing.) This person floors it for 30 seconds. (Motor grenade alert?)




I'm confident others may come up with other horrific possibilites that could be added to this list. Feel free to do so.

I think it's very reasonable to think about what happens to the controller when it gets abused in any of these ways.
Why bother trying to protect against all kinds of installation errors? It is the mechanic's responsibility to check to make sure everything is correct. If a mechanic forgets to refill the oil in a normal car and burns up the engine afterwards, should we argue that the car should have protected itself from this mistake? What about accidentally installing the timing belt a few notches off?

The faults that actually should be protected against are those caused by component failure and possibly some driver-related mistakes.
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If America manages to eliminate obesity, we would save as much fuel as if every American were to stop driving for three days every year. To be slender like Tiffany Yep is to be a real hypermiler...

Allie Moore and I have a combined carbon footprint much smaller than that of one average American...
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