WOW, I totally forgot about this thread.
I actually ordered the first prototype control board for the charger monday night. It should be here in a few weeks.
Some of the preliminary features will be:
Modular design: The control board uses a remote current sense and voltage sense board that allows for high resolution measurement using an energy metering IC. You can daisy chain up to 3 of these boards to the main controller to measure all the sources inside the controller. These would be AC input voltage and current, Power Factor Corrected DC voltage and current, and the only board that is required is DC output to batteries voltage and current. These boards can measure up to 400VDc or 264VAC RMS
Modular Driver: The driver outout section is designed to be customized to your needs. You can use a board that will output an analog referance voltage, you can use a MOSFET driver or you can use the HIGH popwer VLA500-01 IGBT driver, which can also drive mosfets.
Graphic Interface The main display of the unit is a decent size graphic LCD panel. It is backlit for easy viewing. This is where you can select what you want to use for charge profile.
Simple Interface: There is only 1 user interface to the charger. This is a rotary knob next to the LCD that you twist to move the selected item on the screen. You then push to select or set that item.
BMS Input: There is an input where you can connect a simple BMS signal that can be either 5 or 12 volts. (Jumper Selectable) This can be used for stop charging when a high cell condition occures, or could transfer the charger into the next stage of charge (Top Off)
Vehicle Interlock: There is an NO/NC relay included that will brovide charger interlock feature. You will be able to wire ignation or contactor coil through this relay to disable the vehicle as soon as power is applied to the charger. Once its removed, the vehicle will function properly.
Charger Contactor Control: This will be used to disconnect the battery pack from the charger when the charger is not charging. This is a 12-15V, depending on what the board is powered from.
Ethernet Connectivity: The control board includes a 10TBase ethernet connection for connecting the charger to a home network. With this you will be able to monitor the charger from the comforts of your house. This will also provide high speed networking communication to a BMS and other items.
Software Features:
The charger is designed for convinence. You will be able to program battery pack memory's for charging different vehicles with the same charger. So if you have a lawn mower with 48V Lead batteries you can set up a memory for that, then you can set another memory for you motorcycle and another for your car! All memories can be different chemistries also.
After that you can program different locations. Since the charger cannot detect the size of the circuit you have it plugged into, you have locations to limit current to pre determined levels. So you can have a home setting where you have a 30A 240V outlet in your garage, and the charger will limit input current (more accurately with AC sense board) to 30A. When you get to towk, you might have only a 15A 110V outlet that you can only effectively get 10A. Well you select the work location and the charger will limit current to 10A. You will be able to store up to 10 different locations as well.
Well thats all I can think of for now. I will add some more details as I remember them.
-Adam