Controller Purchased!

I finally ordered up the controller! Instead of trying to get the bank/debit this sorted out (which they couldn't do anyways...) I used PayPal to purchase the controller. So now I just need to wait for it!

I started to plan out my front battery tray this afternoon. I have to clean up the engine compartment more, rearrange the wire harness and motor cables. It's going to be a tight fit, but I found a picture of another 95 Civic with 5 group 31 deep cycles batteries in the front, so it is definately possible. My card board battery model is taller than the real battery, so that is throwing my off a bit.

This weekend I am going to a family yard sale to sell off old stuff in the name of my EV. Hopefully I will make a few bucks to start paying back the cost of the controller. Then I will be getting to work modeling the front battery rack.

Small Snag

I finally get enough money to order the controller (from family donations) and I find out my freaking debit has a limit and the controller price is $15 over it because of shipping. So I head on down to the bank to get it lifted. I fill out the forms, sign away my soul and then I am told it might not be implemented until Saturday. And I wanted to order it today. Just peachy.

So while I wait for the forms to go through, I am going to get to work on the front battery rack. My dad found some old L metal peices I can use to create the template for the front rack. I am going to try and get 4 batteries in the front, but three will suffice. If I can get 4, I will replace the small car battery with another deep cycle.

Motor/Battery Pictures

It finally stopped raining long enough for me to get a few pictures of the motor mount and the rear battery rack. The rear battery rack isn't finished yet, but the you can see five of the batteries installed for testing. I was pleasantly surprised how easily the batteries fit, and there is plenty of wiggle room on both sides for the stiff foam box I am going to build around it.

I haven't worked on the EV at all since last week, mainly because I was trying to figure out the controller deal. Now that I have decided to buy a controller, I can start to find the money for it and then get back to finishing the battery racks.

Some Changes

I have decided to add a PayPal Donations button to my blog. I thought about doing it months ago, but had no real need until recently. My search for a decent temporary controller has been a bust, and my homemade controller is running into supply problems. That, and college classes take up most of my time and I have been draining away what cash I had left for the temporary controller to gas. :(

So I have decided to start to save up for a 96 volt controller that will meet my needs until my homemade controller is complete. I need about $600 for a Kelly KDH096400 96 Volt 400 AMP controller, so I am hoping anyone out there willing to spare a few bucks will.

I am also long overdue for come pictures of the rear battery rack and the front motor mount, so I will try and take some if the rain ever stops.

Quick Update

So I am feeling the pressure from my family to get this EV going soon, and my custom controller is taking way too long so I have started searching Craigslist for a cheap 48 volt controller just to get the EV moving. I have had a few hits, and the lastest sound promising so we will see.

As for my own controller design, I have my current sensors arriving today and I am still working out a few problems in my design. The design itself looks fine, but the 15 volt source I need doesn't. I was going to use a LM317T adjustable voltage regulator, but it is only 1.5 AMPs max and my math says I need at least 4.5 AMPS for the IGBT driver.

I have a computer gig to do this afternoon, so hopefully that will pay for the temporary controller.

Controller Autopsy

After many hours or analyzing, the problem ended up being the flywheel diode. It was way undersized and because of that, a large voltage spike went through the controller, blasting parts away as it went.

The second generation controller has many new features and fixes, such as a microprocessor, 16KHz freguency, IGBT driver, Hall Effect current sensor and a large freewheel diode. Eventually I will hook up an LCD display to it and add some more feaures. This controller is still early in it's development, with parts being ordered this week. I have lots of work to do on this software for it, creating IDLE control, Performance/Range settings and what ever else I can thing of. I have gone through this particular design a few times, and showed to some professionals and it should work perfectly fine. Ideally I would want to make this as customizable as possible, and maybe make a small side business in the EV controller market, but that is probably a few years off.

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

Well, I moved the car today! But not all went as planned. My basic controller had a problem with the driver for the IGBT and cooked it, so the motor went racing full on as I backed down the driveway. I was actually made aware of this the day before, but we were unsure how much of a problem it would be. Now we know.

But the car did move under it's own power! Tomorrow I am going to make sure nothing happend to the coupling because there were some loud sounds from that area when I jammed the car into park and shutdown the motor.

The second gen controller has a true IGBT driver, and should be ready to test this weekend. It will be getting a go over from a few professors and IGBT experts tomorrow.