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Hi Adam! The software is actually quite a bit different. The parts that are similar are the PI loop, and some of the error modes, like bad throttle and stuff like that. It can control 3 contactors/relays, has CANbus, and RS-232. It also has the usual control board undervoltage protection, hardware overcurrent shutdown, and 2 temperature sensors. No pack voltage sensing, since it was designed with the idea of running with a BMS that communicates over CAN, which means the controller gets the voltage of each battery anyway, just a little more indirectly.
Hi Montgoss! Yes, you can use it as a 500amp control board with the old power section if you want to. In that case, you just leave a chunk of the board unpopulated (the synchronous rectification part), and just use freewheel diodes instead.
Hi John! Yes, you can use the board as a charger board. Hey! I hadn't really thought about that. Hmm... Just different software. The control board doesn't know if it is a high side driver or not. It has 2 separate isolated 15v supplies, either one of which you can use to drive your "mosfet" or "igbt" or whatever. In fact, you can make a SR charger. That would be cool!
The cost to populate the board is about... Let's see... I would guess around $40 or $50. The 2 expensive things are the isolated DC-DCs. The infamous VLA106-15151. One thing to consider is that I only have a few of those parts, and you have to buy them in groups of 12, which is sort of annoying. We may have to organize some sort of group buy for that part.
Another thing to consider is, the 200v 230amp gigamos mosfets have a different gate charge. Their legs are rated at 160amp. I didn't want to do false advertising, but I bet you could push 130 amps or so through those things for a short period of time. So, you could possibly get away with using only 7 or 8 of them instead of 10. I'm not sure how well 10 will be driven with a single VLA106-15151. I think it will be OK, but there's nothing like actually trying it.
You would also have to use a different sort of current sensor, since the LEM only goes to like 900 amps. I believe those surface mount ones will work fine.
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