Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[MPaulHolmes]

I think that's a good idea Ben. Just a basic control board with the thermals added around the ground plane holes and larger isolation gaps would help people that are new to soldering. Maybe a help file dedicated to correctly soldering the control board. Pictures of each component one at a time? There have been several people that have soldered the diodes in backwards, since they just thought the diodes were black resistors. It would take me about 3 days of only working on that to do the schematic and lay it out and route it. Maybe over Christmas break.

There are probably some good how to solder links we could add to it. I use a $600 soldering station, so it seems easy. hehe. Maybe I should buy a $5 iron to gain some empathy.

[order99]

As a member who quite frankly gets confused at the differences between Electronics and Black Sorcery, I must agree! A build as simple as possible(with advanced options for advanced users in its own sections) and perhaps a few different programming modules for those of us who haven't graduated past the GUI yet...

After that. i'll just need to worry about the money and tools-the 'skill' section will be at least partly bridged!

[MPaulHolmes]

I don't know if the mosfet based assembly process will ever be truly accessible to a complete novice. The soldering isn't trivial, because it's so unforgiving of any errors. 50 amps going through each mosfet tends to show where the weak links are. A predrilled baseplate, wave soldered control board, and igbts seems to be the most foolproof approach.

[mrbigh]

Originally Posted by LouMan

MrBigH how can I get in on preordering 2 of those boards & drivers for that fact,
let me know what you need.

The IGBT driver board will carry to 2 VLA500-01 integrators and I'm thinking that each VLA500-01 will drive 2 IGBT's with out any problem and signal loss.
On my future SR controller assembly, it will have "4" 300amps/1200v Powerex IGBTs being driven by one driver board with 2 VLA500-01's.

Some pictures of the build progress............

[mrbigh]

Originally Posted by LouMan

edit: I don't know is anybody else seing MrBigH's pic with mine? I didn't add them in anyway don't know?

Yes, you are right, my pictures showed with yours, is got to be the electronics cousings thingy.
How did you chained all the elcos togheter?

[MPaulHolmes]

mrbigh, you weren't joking about being ready for a board. hahaha. Awesome job!

[mxcape21]

Originally Posted by bennelson

MXCAPE21:
Don't be tricked. I have NO electronic experience, and I built an Open ReVolt control board. It was easy. Like paint by number easy.

Mostly because Paul made a 47 page PDF file with LOTS of photos taking you through every step.

I think that one of the problems with this project is that there are both entry-level folks involved, who just want to build one, and more advanced "designers" who continue to think of better ways to do things, and add more features.

Ideally, we would have a REALLY simple, easy to build project, with the option of adding more complicated/cool features to it.

It's good to hear the assy. was easy.
I have plenty of soldering experience and dont think I would have any problem with the assembly. I plan to build one soon so I will be following this thread very closey.

[mxcape21]

edit: I don't know is anybody else seing MrBigH's pic with mine? I didn't add them in anyway don't know?[/QUOTE]


Yep it's showing mrbigh pics also, both of them are sweet, that is some very nice looking work mrbigh and LouMan.

[mrbigh]

Originally Posted by LouMan

GOT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,TO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,HAVE, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,DRIVER,,,,,,BOARDS,,,,,,,

I can hear you!!!...me to.

[DJBecker]

Originally Posted by snakub

Well it seems to me that if the Darlingtons couldn't handle the frequency they simply would not have operated correctly and would have been either full on or just off ...

I was traveling and missed this post the first time around.

If the Darlington pair couldn't handle the frequency, or were not driven strongly enough to put the output into saturation, they wouldn't be full on or full off. They would be somewhere in the middle. It doesn't take long for them to effectively melt -- enough internal dopant diffusion happens for them to become low value resistors.

Once this process starts, it continues independent of the control input. The controller can only detect the fault and blow the contactor (if it's designed to do that).

The same things happens to MOSFETs, although they tend to pop their cases apart a more often. That's why there is always a fuse in the system.

I've never seen a battery boil dry from a short. I've seen melted lead posts several times, and the batteries reportedly pumped current through the molten lead. One event, on a friend's new sail boat, lasted for well over a minute until they understood what was happening and physically knocked the cable loose from the battery post. When I saw it the molten lead had solidified into tracks it had melted into the side of the battery, but otherwise the battery was still "good".

Originally Posted by snakub

As the mosfet was switched by the control board it sent a positive +12 volts was sent to the bases of the Darlingtions turning them on and off. I still think it would work do you recommend anymore tests?

Was this the same circuit that you used with the 555 timer? Keep in mind that the original NE555 could drive 200mA, while modern versions can usually source and sink 500mA with some driving over 1500mA. The MIC4451 could probably match that, but the DC-DC converter that the Cougar uses will fall down long before.