Paul & Sabrina's cheap DIY 144v motor controller

[duncan]

Well I have just spent a cold hour in my shed (winter is here - sleety snow showers) removing the old MOSFET driver and soldering in a new one

I am 90% sure that I have jiggered the board so that the new driver is NOT properly soldered in.

I cut the old IC out but I had difficulty in getting the remains of the pins out - by the time I got them out I think I have damaged the board

I will test it when my new gate resisters arrive but I think I will need a new control board

Paul could I buy a new board and the parts from you?
I think I would have been better starting again with new bits rather than trying to fix the old one

[SEBART PL]

Originally Posted by MPaulHolmes

... My guess is that 5th gear at low speeds was really hard on it.

.

Paul, yes that true but after first failure, we have changed mosfets, driver and resistors. And second time I did only 1/4 miles around block for 30 second without very high load or speed when mosfets cooked.

So now I need think or check what could couse this problem only thing what I think it could be is that one of the Mosfet was failured and blown up others but maybe there are more theory why mosfets blown up or cooked so quickly.

Another thing is have you checked other Mosfets more than 20mohm resistance how they work?

[MPaulHolmes]

Hi duncan, sure you can get a board and parts. I'll just order the stuff and charge you for what it cost me.

Sebart, I've used the 200v 230amp gigamos mosfets, and the 250v 170amp, and the 200v 130 amp ones, but never the 20mOhm ones you are talking about.

[duncan]

Hi Paul
I have had a look at the layout and the pin that worried me most (pin 3) does not seem to go anywhere - so the fact that it did not seem to solder properly may not be important
The layout shows where the other pins connect to so I will test and add extra leads if nessesary

I will try and get this board working - my cunning plan is to use the current controller until the experts like yourself come out with a more powerful controller and then use the 500 amp unit for another project

If I do fail to get this working
(which is not unlikely - I am learning a ton doing this but I am still a beginner in this electronic stuff)
then I will order a new board and bits from you

Thanks for all of the help - that makes the difference between a steep learning curve and an impossible task

[cyrusamory]

Hi

I've been lurking through this thread for a while now and I am starting the process of making a controller, Fantastic work on the controller very impressive stuff.

Does anybody have a schematic for a USB programmer for the ATmega168-20PU? getting rather confused by the information available. Or any recommended product that works?

Thanks
Cyrus

[MPaulHolmes]

I don't have a schematic for buiding one, but this works well, and is a USB programmer:

ATAVRISP2 Atmel | Mouser

[mora]

Cyrus, you can also check eBay for some really cheap clones (avr isp programmer). Compatibility with atmel software might be issue though. I wouldn't bother building one myself when cheapest ones are less than 10$ shipped.

High motor amps and slowly turning motor is bad for commutator too.

I still haven't been able to succesfully compile code for controller. Not original or modified software. I'm bad with atmel studio or whatever it is. WinAVR and command line only seems much easier, but still no success. Hehehe. I'll keep trying. I also noticed my motor windings get a bit hotter when it is being run at 8kHz. I never got above +70C before, now I've hit that multiple times.

[cyrusamory]

Thankyou for the replies and I have managed to source a schematic which will allow me to make one for £4 which is good. Is it possible to have a link for the raw code in txt format? Im trying to get a good understanding of the code and what each acronym means etc

Thankyou again.

Cyrus

[mora]

Raw code is readily available in ecomodder wiki. If you happen to know how to get it compile correctly, please let me know. I'm struggling with it. Hehehe. I know it is some user errors.

Open ReVolt/Software - EcoModder

[cyrusamory]

Thanks for the help pointing it out, been looking for it for ages. My programmer is using a RS323 connection and not too sure if AVRStudio will be happy with this but ill see what happens.

Cyrus