newbie starting ev #2

[billhac]

hello all, as you can tell from the title im new to this site, I have been posting at DIY for a while, but I like the diversity of this site better so I thought I would start a thread here about my second EV conversion. first I have built and drive a 96 dodge neon EV, and I love driving it everywhere, but so does my son. I would say I have a bit of a dilima, because now that he has a license, he is allways gone in it. So, i thought it whould be a great time to build #2, i would like to do a ranger, but any small truck will do, and I have allready been gathering parts. at this time I have started on anothe one of pauls controllers, because the one on my neon has worked so well that a second one is a must. I have also been tinkering with Igbts, not faring to well with them though. I will build my own charger, and today i got the motor that I want to use in the truck. It is a GE 48v motor from a hyster forklift. it is about 8" x 13" or so the pics tell it better. so as I go I will post progress here, and am open to any suggestions.
thanks for reading and looking at the pics, first one is my nEon. the rest are the motor that i plan to use.

[billhac]

sorry the pic of my neon id not come through the first time so here it is.

[jackbauer]

I followed some of your progress on diy. I thought your aircon solution was excellent. What problems have you had with the igbts? I would also say that an 8" motor is a bit on the small size for a truck. Just my thoughts.

[billhac]

well I wasnent sure, but I thought it was very heavy so ill give it a try, besides it was the right price, free is always the right price. the ac is still going strong, allthought it hasent been getting used latly. I think the problem with the IGBTs is operator error, iv been diong some reading and, maybe it gate memory, but it seems like the gate keeps sticking turning the igbt on all the time, may be its just the circuit im using, its 324 based with current limit and uses a 4421 igbt driver to drive the gates, iv paralelled two 500 amp mosfets and it has happend twice. while im talking to you jack, in an earlier post about IGBTs you said you were using something like mg400qus41 and that you could use the diode in it as a freewheel diode, i would like to know how to do that, I put seperate diodes on mine for freewheel diodes, ill look for that post and read it again.

[jackbauer]

The parts i'm using most these days are powerex cm400du-12f. They have 2 igbts in the one package. For a controller we use the low side and tie the gate and emitter of the high side together so its always off. that way the body diode acts as the freewheel with the added advantage of very low inductance between diode and switch. Actuallt in the car i'm using two rather old fuji 800amp 1200v single devices. One as switch and one as diode. Driven by a standard revolt control board.

that said its not ideal and we do have an igbt driver board just coming available as far as i know.

[billhac]

yes, and I will get a couple when mr bigh is ready. Iv been looking for those dang vla500-01s and no luck excpt richardson.

[billhac]

as far as the IGBTs hummmm...... I will have to try that, but right now I want to get started on a controller that I know works.

[billhac]

I really appreciate your in put jack thank you, I really like playing with the IGBTs but man i must be doing something wrong.

[billhac]

today I wanted to show everyone the cover for my revolt controller, its not quit finished yet but you get the idea. I did it in aluminum to maybe get more heat sink ability when its bolted to the base plate.
thanks for looking

[MPaulHolmes]

Wow! Such precision cutting on it. What did you use?