Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[mora]

I asked exactly the same question few days ago. Paul said this one should be good:

Digi-Key - TLP227GAF-ND (Manufacturer - TLP227GA(F))

It's a bit more expensive, but not much.

[teraamper]

Hello
Finally managed to start the construction of controller.
But I have a problem at the beginning. I hawe download the FW in the hex file from the adam's internet page. I hawe the ponyprog program and the stk200 programer. I hawe successfully put the program in the atmega8. But rs232 doesant work. I hawe no idea how to program procesors.
I m working on 500A motor controler

Can someone write a manual how to program the processor.

Thanks

[flores]

Does the green led flash?

[teraamper]

Yes it flash with 1Hz. But I hawe just put together only the rs232 part, temperature part, and potentiometer. I didn't conect the curent part.
For the load I just conect some LED.

The first time that I power on the circuit, the green LED was continuous on, and if I rotate the potentiometer the LED for the load was slowly lit. But when I disconect the power and put power back, from then no longer works.

Just flashing greed LED.

Sorry for my English, its not prfect, but I'm trying.

[mora]

Did you remember to set fuses while programming with PonyProg? I had similar problems as chip ran with its internal clock instead of external crystal giving clock signal. Be careful with fuse settings as you might render chip useless with some wrong options enabled.

I wrote down correct fuse settings for atmega168 when I programmed my chip for a first time. Now I can no longer find them. I should have posted them here right away.

[flores]

1Hz flasing is too slow.. should be flashing faster.
The solution for this problem is a few pages back.. you can search for it.

As for the serial connection, are you sure you are using the right caps for the signal converter.. there are some differences between the chips and the BOM has listed different types.. The solution for this is also in the tread.. search for MAX232

[flores]

Answer from PaulH I was referring to:

The default frequency of the chip is 1 MHz I think. But it should be 16 MHz. Make sure it's extended high low of F8 DC F7 when programming. The blinking light should be about 10 times per second, but since the chip is running 16 times slower, it blinks at about every 1.6 seconds.

[teraamper]

hello
I don't hawe any option for the changing frequency. I hawe allredy build hex file, and I just flashing in the atmega8 with ponyprog program.

And if I tested some older FW, and the green LED is allveys OFF. No blinking.

What is the difrerence between the FW:
coug-nocrc-16k.hex
coug-unified-16k.hex

[MPaulHolmes]

I'm not sure what software version you have, but 1.11b or later won't fit on the atmega8 I believe. You need the atmega168. And in ponyprog, the fuse bits shoud be:
extended high low = 08 dc f7, but in AVR Studio, it should be F8 DC F7. haha. Changing the fuse bits changes the frequency (and it changes other things too). You should transfer coug-unified-16k.hex in ponyprog. It has both the bootloader and the main program in one hex file.

HEY! I tested all 3 1000amp controllers on teh electric bike. haha. I need to test it in the car I guess, or just ship the dang things once I add the enclosures. Voltage monitoring works nicely. I added a variable that allows you to trim the voltage monitoring circuit so it will be perfectly accurate. They were all within a few volts before tuning it, but now it will be perfect. hurray! Also, it's just another programmable variable.

Also, the precharge circuit stops when the capacitors are full, so I did away with the precharge timer. Once dv/dt is less than 1 volt per second, and if the voltage is at least 24v (so it's not a shorted mosfet situation) and less than max_voltage, it closes the main contactor. max_voltage (default of 185v) is also programmable through the serial port. If the voltage just keeps climbing because some little stinker is trying to run a 300v pack, once the precharge gets past max_voltage, it opens the precharge relay, and freezes the controller, never closing the main contactor.

[MPaulHolmes]

Man, it took all day to get the automatic precharge working right. everything is good now. I need to make a video:



Those blue things are resistors that can handle huge amounts of energy: