Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[E Vdubya]

Paul

I would be interested in the board if I can use it on the charger.

John

[MPaulHolmes]

Hi Adam! The software is actually quite a bit different. The parts that are similar are the PI loop, and some of the error modes, like bad throttle and stuff like that. It can control 3 contactors/relays, has CANbus, and RS-232. It also has the usual control board undervoltage protection, hardware overcurrent shutdown, and 2 temperature sensors. No pack voltage sensing, since it was designed with the idea of running with a BMS that communicates over CAN, which means the controller gets the voltage of each battery anyway, just a little more indirectly.

Hi Montgoss! Yes, you can use it as a 500amp control board with the old power section if you want to. In that case, you just leave a chunk of the board unpopulated (the synchronous rectification part), and just use freewheel diodes instead.

Hi John! Yes, you can use the board as a charger board. Hey! I hadn't really thought about that. Hmm... Just different software. The control board doesn't know if it is a high side driver or not. It has 2 separate isolated 15v supplies, either one of which you can use to drive your "mosfet" or "igbt" or whatever. In fact, you can make a SR charger. That would be cool!

The cost to populate the board is about... Let's see... I would guess around $40 or $50. The 2 expensive things are the isolated DC-DCs. The infamous VLA106-15151. One thing to consider is that I only have a few of those parts, and you have to buy them in groups of 12, which is sort of annoying. We may have to organize some sort of group buy for that part.

Another thing to consider is, the 200v 230amp gigamos mosfets have a different gate charge. Their legs are rated at 160amp. I didn't want to do false advertising, but I bet you could push 130 amps or so through those things for a short period of time. So, you could possibly get away with using only 7 or 8 of them instead of 10. I'm not sure how well 10 will be driven with a single VLA106-15151. I think it will be OK, but there's nothing like actually trying it.

You would also have to use a different sort of current sensor, since the LEM only goes to like 900 amps. I believe those surface mount ones will work fine.

[mrbigh]

Paul, how about the pre-ordering of this boards?
I'm awaiting to send some mula through Paypal.

[esoneson]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

Hi Adam! The software is actually quite a bit different. The parts that are similar are the PI loop, and some of the error modes, like bad throttle and stuff like that. It can control 3 contactors/relays, has CANbus, and RS-232. It also has the usual control board undervoltage protection, hardware overcurrent shutdown, and 2 temperature sensors. No pack voltage sensing, since it was designed with the idea of running with a BMS that communicates over CAN, which means the controller gets the voltage of each battery anyway, just a little more indirectly.

Paul,

Is this still open-source for both software and hardware? If so, can you provide a link to source code, development environment (tools) and schematics for the board? If not open-source then congratulations and good luck on your new venture!!! Really, with all you put into these projects you deserve financial rewards. Sure would be nice to have BMS coordinate with controller. Any information on what CAN messages will be sent from BMS to contoller?

Thanks again for helping the DIY folks.

Eric

[jackbauer]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

It can control 3 contactors/relays, has CANbus, and RS-232.

That would be ideal for my series - parallel setup.
I'll update my order for two boards if you dont mind?

[MPaulHolmes]

Hi Mr. Bigh! I got your order. I just need to wait a day or 2. Adam brought to my attention a possible issue with the gate driver. I might need more than one for driving 10 of those 230amp mosfets, which would mean adding another high and low side driver. So the rest of you might want to wait too until that issue is sorted out.

[mrbigh]

Paul, no problem.
I did want to have my order in. I'm waiting since 4 months already, a few more days won't make a difference.
A related question, are you guys, Paul and Sabrina, will make available a parts kit for this controller also? SMT pasive devices, LED, transistors and IC's?
I know that DC-DC converters are pricey and we can order these by the single piece; in that way your parts stoking will not be a gigantic money burden.

[MPaulHolmes]

If it works well, we'll definitely add a 1000amp kit.

[apowers]

I passed 1000 miles on my controller last week. I don't drive much I guess.
No problems and I am very happy with it. I have not used the RTD yet. Is there a specific USB adapter for Windows 7?
Thanks
Alvin

[Nevyn]

Paul - Count me in for one of the 1000 Amp Beta boards. Email sent.