P&S open source AC controller and hughes Motor, (us electricar)

[CoopL]

Hey I'm 16 years old, my grandfather gave me a hughes motor from a US electricar. I am Converting a 1988 VW Cabriolet. I am looking for a dolphin controller, or technical data so that I can interface Paul and Sabrina's to my motor.

Thanks
Cooper

[thingstodo]

Originally Posted by CoopL

Hey I'm 16 years old,

It's GOOD to start young!

I am looking for a dolphin controller, or technical data so that I can interface Paul and Sabrina's to my motor.

The P&S allows you to adjust acceleration time, calibrate for the throttle signal, and stream a bunch of data. There is no speed feedback on the motor - encoder, resolver, tachometer - to interface to. The GE's I found are all Series-wound. I would expect the Hughes to be as well. So connection from the P&S output is through the field and armature in series ... you determine which way it turns by the connection between the field and the armature.

If you are using the transmission for reverse, you would only need the one direction.

Which P&S are you planning to use - the older style Cougar or the newer IGBT version?

The quick search I did gave me results for a few different GE motors but no Hughes. Perhaps GE purchased that division of Hughes and you have an early motor? All of the early ones appear to be 48V.

The contactor/series resistor setup from this EV album page

Howie's 1980 ComutaCar

is the closed thing to specifications that I found.

Or did I mis-interpret the question?

[oil pan 4]

What information is available on the motor name plate?

Also what kind of speed and range performance did you want to get from your vehicle?

[CoopL]

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it!
The motor is a 15 Kw AC motor, 50 kw peak oil cooled. Max voltage is approximately 190v.

I am looking to get 40-60 best case but 20 miles would be fine for my range. I would like to be able to reach highway speeds (60-70 Mph) I do not need it to go crazy fast or anything like that. I plan on using the transmission and clutch that was in the car.

I have been participating in the EV Challenge EV CHALLENGE at NCCAR. I think based on the cars I have seen there that the high schoolers have done this should be doable.
Currently I do not have the information from the name plate whoever I will be able to get it off of the motor very soon.

[CoopL]

The link for the EV challenge is EV CHALLENGE | Engineering Drive

My Blog is: https://evcoop.wordpress.com/

[oil pan 4]

It's 190v, so what voltage did you want to run?
190 is a bit of an odd voltage.
Higher than almost all DIY builds and a lot lower than almost all production vehicles.

[MPaulHolmes]

The easiest way if you wanted to use one of my boards is to just plug it into 3 IGBT half bridges, add a capacitor. That can be good to like 400v 400ampRMS.

[freebeard]

Thank you for posting. Here's my question:15Kw is 20.1153 mechanical horespower; do you think that's enough?

The cabriolet is a nice donor vehicle, but I'm used to 36hp Beetles that weigh 1750lb. Have you done calculations based on the weight removed vs weight added in the conversion? Have you priced out an adapter plate to fit the motor to the transaxle?

You might look at this thread from 2014-08: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mgr-29878.html

There is a crusty example on eBay right now for $200. You'd be lucky to get an adapter plate for that*. It is a single speed 68hp unit. With a single speed you need twice the hp rating (and massive cables and components) at startup so it is roughly equivalent to the 25-36hp VW.

thingstodo and MPaulHolmes have already responded in the thread, and they have more experience than me in this area.

Beyond that, when you are ready to get into aerodynamics that cabriolet body will be really handy. See the Golf GTI W12-650



*Actually, what you save on the adapter plate goes into adapting the axle shafts.

[samwichse]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Thank you for posting. Here's my question:15Kw is 20.1153 mechanical horespower; do you think that's enough?

Yes, but it's 50kw peak. Usually that's for around 30 seconds. So ~67 hp for thirty seconds should be plenty to get to highway speeds. 20hp continuous is plenty for a 60mph cruise.

Sounds doable.

[CoopL]

The motor comes from a S-10 pickup that US Electricar made in the 90's. I really appreciate all the help so far, I am still working on getting numbers off the name plate that will come shorty.

As far as voltage I am still pretty open to any suggestions but I was thinking around 144v possibly more, this also depends on how many batteries I can get.