Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[electricstorm]

Sorry, I didn't know the 2D version was the AU version. Is version 2C the US version that Paul is selling on his web store?

I don't yet have enough posts to send a pm yet, anyway send it to:

jc brock 500 at gmail dot com

Remove the spaces and put in the proper symbols.
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It would be interesting to see their version. I had tried to look at the AU case also, but their website doesn't even list a case for the Cougar controller. Any info on that?

Thanks!

Jim

[ElectricZX2]

Update on 1000amp Beta Unit:

Controller worked great....very smooth throttle. I drove it for a mile or so at 134 volts nominal around my house, then switched to highway mode for my trip to work (148 volts nominal). Total pack voltage was 156 volts when starting. I kept it below 450 amps. The trip was about 13 miles to work, 10 of which were 65-70mph in 4th gear at 250ish motor amps. The temperature out today is 90 degrees (and humid ugh). When I got to work the heat spreader was pretty toasty....I have a couple of big heatsinks underneath but I'm not sure I have good contact...will try to get better conduction later on. Probably avoid highway on return trip to keep power level lower. I need to hook up some sort of display to show controller stats including temperature. Any ideas?
Higher motor current than I'm used to I think is due to the high kv rating on the new motor (oh yea...I fried my old forklift motor recently by running 148 volts nominal and had to put in a loaner impulse 9). With the impulse 9 vs. the old 9 inch motor currents are higher (and motor voltage lower) at a given rpm because the new motor makes about 170 lbft torque/1000amps vs. about 220 lbft for a full size nine. Everyone always discouraged me from putting in an impulse rather than a warp 9 because the price isn't terribly different and the warp has more torque. But what they didn't tell me was the impulse is like a freakin turbo motor. It has less torque off the line (although 1000amps should be enough regardless) but as the revs build it starts to pull like a banshee. On 148 volts I could hold 450 motor amps all the way to 6000 rpm and it just kept pulling harder and harder (and theoretically I should be able to hold 1000amps to around 5800rpm at this voltage). With a warp 9 or similar motor on this voltage it has great torque but the power falls of rapidly after 3000rpm. It's like the difference between a harley and a sportbike. 220 lbft at 3000rpms is 125 horesepower, 170 lbft at 5800rpm is 188 horsepower. Helps that my car is light and doesn't need the starting torque.
Anyways, I'm really loving the impulse 9 and 1000amp combo and will update soon. Hopefully I don't blow it up again....sorry paul, I have my hand glued on the kill switch). Can't wait to turn up the juice-I'm just hoping my coupler can handle the 3500 pounds of twisting force at the interface point...

[jackbauer]

I think we'd need to be looking at liquid cooling for these kind of power levels. My experience thus far has been nothing short of amazing. Instead of running the transistors at 60-70c and sometimes going into thermal cutback they now dont get above 23c.

Doesn't have to mega expensive with AN fittings and stainless braided hoses etc. Hell at these temps and pressures you could use aquarium hose!

[ElectricZX2]

Jack...I love your results/system!! I think I will look into liquid cooling for sure. I need to get a display hooked up so I can check out temps. I'll take it easy until I can get it figured out. The toughest part will be just makeing a cooling plate to bolt to the controller....

[jackbauer]

If you have a laptop you could run rtd explorer or build the cougar lcd display system. The chill plate is the most expensive part. I had mine custom made. That said I see a guy now selling chill plates for the Curtis 1238 AC controller for $100. Can't be much work to adapt that.

[ElectricZX2]

Hm. i might just router a quarter inch channel in a piece of half inch aluminum and then screw/jb weld a piece of quarter inch on top. put a couple of bungs on each end,bolt it to the controller and call it good....

[steiner]

ElectricZX2,

You mentioned that you are having higher motor currents that you are use to. I noticed you said you were running in 4th gear at highway speeds. Do you know what the RPM of your motor is when you are crusing in 4th gear? I have seen very few conversions that should be run in 4th gear under any conditions. Since it sounds like you have a new motor look at the motor graph and see what RPM your peak efficiency occurs at. You should target that RPM especially for long runs.

Just a thought.....

[ElectricZX2]

Yea, I thought about that....i may start using 3rd, but at 65mph I would be turning 5000 rpm. in fourth I'm at 3900 and its recommended to keep the motor between 2 and 4k for proper cooling and optimal efficiency. my ammeter is pretty cheap though so I'm going to get a laptop hooked up to the controller today hopefully. Using the torque spec of the motor and the current a rough estimate of the power while cruising is around 30hp which seems way too high because based on what i put back into the batteries it shouldn't be more than about 15kw or maybe a little more.....

[Greg Fordyce]

Originally Posted by ElectricZX2

I need to get a display hooked up so I can check out temps. I'll take it easy until I can get it figured out.

I have a display for controller info on a small lcd display http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post243046

So far it has been working fine, but I don't know if the data stream is the same for the 1000 amp controller but the source code is in the thread.

Greg

[electricstorm]

Greg,

Your CougArd Explorer, does it work on a Linux or Windows system? I hope to order the 500 amp version soon and was just wondering which platform was recommended for it. I believe RTD Explorer runs on both a Windows and Mac system (although they may be different versions of the actual software).

Thanks,

Jim