DIY Open Source EV Charger

[MPaulHolmes]

Alvin did it somehow (made the charger with the open revolt control board). I have no idea how though. He's basically a mad scientist.

[jackbauer]

So I'm working on a new upgrade. I call it the "supercharger" Design aim is to charge any pack voltage between 100v and 500v dc at upto 300amps. Currently running from a 415v 3 phase ac supply for tests using electric cooker heater rings. Sadly , they dont last very long at high voltage and current. Rather they glow bright orange before giving a polite fizzzzz and die. Note to self , find better load bank. Anyway I'm having a bit of trouble driving the igbt. Its a rather dated fuji 1mbi600u4d 600a 1200v device and i'm running at 8khz for testing. Its suffering from sever miller effects at turn on. Using a ACNW3190-000E 5amp igbt driver opto and a single 15v dc supply.

The photos taken on the crt scope were across C-E via a differential probe.

Any advice or comments welcome.

[Weisheimer]

Originally Posted by jackbauer

So I'm working on a new upgrade.... I'm having a bit of trouble driving the igbt. Its a rather dated fuji 1mbi600u4d 600a 1200v device and i'm running at 8khz for testing. Its suffering from sever miller effects at turn on. Using a ACNW3190-000E 5amp igbt driver opto and a single 15v dc supply.

The photos taken on the crt scope were across C-E via a differential probe.

Any advice or comments welcome.

Hi Jack,

Are you using the recommended (by fuji) 1.1 ohm gate drive resistor?
If so, the peak current will be in the 13 amp range and that driver
will fall short at turn on. IXYS makes IXDN514 series that are rated
at 14 amps peak. You could also keep the driver you have and use it
to drive a FET that in turn drives the IGBT.
Remember to keep good film/tantalum caps in the gate drive supply side
in order to deliver the current needed to turn that IGBT on.

Cheers

Mark Weisheimer

[jackbauer]

thanks Mark. Actually using a 15r resistor. I'll lookup those parts.

[gophergun]

Out of curiosity, would this be scalable down to 60V or so for an ebike, or would this be overkill for that type of application?

[MPaulHolmes]

What type of batteries are you going to charge on an ebike at 300 amps?! I think A123's could handle it. Man that would be awesome.

[gophergun]

I can't imagine, heh. I've been looking for some kind of open source ebike charger, but haven't had much luck in that regard. I thought this might offer a good start if you adjusted the current limiters, etc. appropriately, though I could be very wrong. (My apologies for sidetracking anything, just a new EV and electronics hobbyist trying to find some solid ground to start with.)

[ElectricZX2]

Hey guys, so I'm trying to make a charger a little bit simpler and as cheap as possible. So far I plan to use a variable transistor such as this: FRYS.com | PHILMORE 48-1205
coupled with a simple diode bridge rectifier to output anything between about 0 and 140 volts. I could stop there and simply adjust the initial voltage to whatever current I want to exceed and let it run, the current steadily decreasing over time (I could also manually keep upping the voltage).

Is there a way to build a simple dumb circuit to limit the output current to a specific number of amps, say 10 such that I could set the voltage dial to whatever end voltage a want and it would run at 10 amps until it tapers off at the end?

A somewhat crazier, weirder, and more complicated prospect: maybe you could have a voltmeter across a shunt on the output and have an if voltage then statement in some code control a servo to adjust the voltage dial automatically...that would be cool.

Am I oversimplifying and/or over complicating things?

-Luke

[ElectricZX2]

I meant transformer....not transistor

[ElectricZX2]

Sorry if I'm sidetracking this thread, it's my last post I promise. But what if you used a common AC motor speed control (which limits current rather than voltage) to prescribe a maximum AC current coming out of the wall, hooked a variable transformer to that to step down or up the AC voltage to what you want, hooked a diode bridge rectifier circuit to that to convert your AC voltage into DC. Presto, you have a charger that can charge any traction pack to a preset voltage at a maximum current that you set.