Quote:
Originally Posted by e*clipse
How 'bout this - I mean he is doing the testing in a pretty cold place already; use it to your advantage! 
- bolt the stuff to a big aluminum plate - that battery pack one would be good.
- Set all of it out in the driveway
- Wait 'till about midnight, when it's nutty cold, then start testing. The dT between a worrysome 50*C component and an ambient of -40*C is pretty huge. That alone might work - you won't need much of a heat sink.
If it starts snowing, you may want to stop.  -
- E*clipse |
Good ideas.
There are some issues, though. When you put stuff outside to cool off, the humidity condenses on the surfaces - water right now and frost a bit later. No big deal for the battery base. Not so great for the controller. So I think I'll bolt the controller to the cold base after bringing the base in from my driveway.
It's not yet (thank goodness) -40F outside. More like 35F. But that's still enough for my first set of tests. So I'll try that out.
I'll likely funnel distilled water into the motor water cooling connections and let the load on the motor warm up the water as the motor is used. That should be enough cooling for 30 minutes. I will be monitoring, so if it isn't enough I'll change something.