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I've been thinking about what components would be on the logic board and what would be mounted on the power section of the controller.
Are the current sensor and the thermistor the only components that would be on the power section?
Using the modular approach we would need some I/O connectors to plug the two together. Does anyone have some suggestions? I guess we would need +5V, ground, current sensor, thermistor and PWM 12V. That's 5 wires, correct? I would think some standard 5 pin connector would work. Should it be a water-proof connector? Sheilded?
We also need a 12V power input connector, 2 wire throttle input connector and motor speed sensor input How about pack voltage? We discussed having the controller lower the current limit if battery voltage got too low. I think that was one of the reasons for stepping up to the ATMega16. I also suggested a tachometer driver option. That may need to be run through an opto-isolator to prevent ground fault. Also, let's not forget about the RS 232 connector as was suggested.
Details, details. I geuss the connectors don't need to be physically on the board. Just have solder points to connect the wire. I like the idea of keeping the logic board in its own seperate box. It would be nice to package the board and connectors all inside a nice water tight box. One of my pet peeves about the Zilla design is that it is really not water-proof. If you want your EV to be an all weather design, I think it should be designed to take a splash or two.
One other comment on the copper heat spreader and bus bars. I have heard it suggested that leaving copper bare will lead to corrosion problems down the road. Maybe plating the copper with a thin coat of zinc or gold (if money's no object) would be a good idea. The Zillas bus bars are plated copper. Not sure what they are plated with.
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