Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

MPaulHolmes · 03-17-2012, 02:03 PM

I added the push-pull feature in the software so that if a couple pins stop going high and low at 16kHz, the hardware will disable the mosfet driver, since that would most likely happen if the microcontroller crashes. It was just a single line of code that's required to run at 16kHz, so it eats up almost no processing power. I was going to add a "microcontroller_crashed_fault in the code", until I realized, the micro wouldn't know if the micro crashed! hahaha.

I also added programmable max current. the variable is called max-current. haha. You can input anything you want in the range 0-9999 real life amps. That means if you set it to 120, full throttle will be 120 amps. I double checked all the pins to make sure everything is good.

The controller is 99.9% done:

It's 6 isolated supplies, so 6 separate pwm signals that all have their own shielded twisted pair (with ground) cable going right to the input of the respective optocoupler.

I think someone was asking about the schematics. I'll post everything once it's all working. The wiki is seriously jacked up right now though. It's been taken over by a weird spam-bot.

I've got an updated schematic and layout that removes the VERY EXPENSIVE DC-DC converter (like almost $18) which feeds the inputs to the 6 line filters, and replaces it with a homemade DC-DC based on the very popular MC34063

The careful observer will note that it costs like $0.63 cents. hahaha. The rest of the nick-nacks you need to make it work are another $2-$3 or so.

03-17-2012, 02:03 PM	#5572 (permalink)
MPaulHolmes PaulH Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Maricopa, AZ (sort of. Actually outside of town) Posts: 3,832 Michael's Electric Beetle - '71 Volkswagen Superbeetle 500000 Thanks: 1,368 Thanked 1,202 Times in 765 Posts	I added the push-pull feature in the software so that if a couple pins stop going high and low at 16kHz, the hardware will disable the mosfet driver, since that would most likely happen if the microcontroller crashes. It was just a single line of code that's required to run at 16kHz, so it eats up almost no processing power. I was going to add a "microcontroller_crashed_fault in the code", until I realized, the micro wouldn't know if the micro crashed! hahaha. I also added programmable max current. the variable is called max-current. haha. You can input anything you want in the range 0-9999 real life amps. That means if you set it to 120, full throttle will be 120 amps. I double checked all the pins to make sure everything is good. The controller is 99.9% done: It's 6 isolated supplies, so 6 separate pwm signals that all have their own shielded twisted pair (with ground) cable going right to the input of the respective optocoupler. I think someone was asking about the schematics. I'll post everything once it's all working. The wiki is seriously jacked up right now though. It's been taken over by a weird spam-bot. I've got an updated schematic and layout that removes the VERY EXPENSIVE DC-DC converter (like almost $18) which feeds the inputs to the 6 line filters, and replaces it with a homemade DC-DC based on the very popular MC34063 The careful observer will note that it costs like $0.63 cents. hahaha. The rest of the nick-nacks you need to make it work are another $2-$3 or so. __________________ kits and boards Last edited by MPaulHolmes; 03-17-2012 at 04:05 PM..