Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[bigh]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

No the control board will be different. You have to use a different microcontroller that has multiple pwm outputs and programmable dead time. I'm going to use a dsPIC30F4011, which has 40 pins available for whatever. It's going to have CANbus and RS-232 serial interface. I can't wait to test CAN to like 1Mbps. It's important to send messages like "display the letter r" in a femtosecond. hahaha.

Also, it will have 4 isolated dc-dc supplies instead of just 1 like it is now. The high side and low side have to have their own isolated supplies.

Paul - you've probably already been asked this, but i couldn't find it in this thread. Have you considered using futurlec's prebuilt controller boards? it could be advantageous to base it around one, as all of the support electronics are already built onto the board. you'd only have to make an interface to the pins you wanted, onto your own board. I'm not sure how open source their boards are though. But i've got the MEGA32 board and its so easy to use. would you consider having a pic dedicated to just running the motor, and another one that runs all the inputs, maintaining constant communication between the two and again making it more modular?

dsPIC30F4011 Controller

By using a prebuilt board for the controller, it would mean it could be re-used if upgrades to your controller occurred.

Im trying to think if it would be possible once the motor speed sensing is completed to have some behavior like this occur.

I was wondering if there would be a way we could improve the speed of shifting in clutchless setups, ie: Work out a way that the gearbox could report (or heck have what gear the car is in manually set by the driver). if the car is put into neutral and the accelerator is pressed match the motor rpm to the correct gearset rpm for the next gear up to allow easy shifting without a clutch. I haven't worked out what the best way to get the controller to sense it was in a downshift yet - maybe a button or pressing the break or something?

[davidrrrd]

hey hers a link to a you tuber who showes how to etch bords if anyone would care to check it out , will this work for the motor controler bords?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWnfnt2rNO0&feature=sub

[mora]

Originally Posted by davidrrrd

hey hers a link to a you tuber who showes how to etch bords if anyone would care to check it out , will this work for the motor controler bords?

Yes, it should work. I've done lots of boards using the same method but with different hardware. Instead of ferrichloride we've used sodium sulfate. You can heat up the mixture carefully to remove copper more quickly. Also applies to ferrichloride. Keeping the board in vertical position and circling the mixture by pumping air to the bottom of the container also makes the process faster.

[E Vdubya]

Ben

I can always use another coffee mug. BTW I did not see the Value T-shirt on the site.

John

Never mind I just found the shirt. I still need a coffee mug....

[bennelson]

Open ReVolt value t-shirts are at:
Value T-shirt > EV T-shirts

You have to scroll down a bit in the main list to find them. I am not sure exactly how to make that product the very first item!

I tried adding a coffee cup, but it was being finicky. I'll make sure to do that later.

-Ben

[MPaulHolmes]

Hi Bigh! I haven't considered those boards. The SR version isn't going to be very compatible with that though I think.

Hey! I got Hondo's controller, and figured out the problem he had (I think). It was in a very heavy vibration environment, and I forgot to glue down the poly caps, and one of the gate resistors didn't have any give p[l;././///..//.//'/
//
/?/'/'/'./'.;/./../';..,.,,,.,,,,,,..,,.,.,,,.,,..,.,.,,,,,,,m,,,,m,, .,.,m.kmkmmkkkkmkmkk:turtl e:

My son wrote the rest of that message.

[jackbauer]

Had a thought (I know I know!). One of the big concerns with a dc controller is a short circuit failure in the power section leading to a runaway motor or vehicle. What about having a section in the micro firmware where by if the throttle is at zero and the ramp down period is over it looks at the lem. If the lem reports a significant current flow then open the main contactor. Obviously have a little bit of a time delay and some self checking built into the routine. Thoughts?

[MPaulHolmes]

The engineer that did the control board layout for me asked me to add that feature (more or less) to his software. I think it's a really good idea. Why control the main contactor if you aren't going to take full advantage of controlling the main contactor!? This might be more useful in the IGBT case, because the little puny mosfet source legs get blasted off to kingdom come when the mosfets get shorted (like a very very very expensive fuse).

[E Vdubya]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Open ReVolt value t-shirts are at:
Value T-shirt > EV T-shirts

You have to scroll down a bit in the main list to find them. I am not sure exactly how to make that product the very first item!

I tried adding a coffee cup, but it was being finicky. I'll make sure to do that later.

-Ben

Ben

I see they do bumper stickers and oval stickers too. I wonder if we could get some to paste on the top of the controller. Ya know...give it some identification. What do you think?

John

[jackbauer]

So is it something that you'd be willing to do?