More Controller Goodies

I now have most of the controller working on the proto board, but the new design has a duty range from 8% to 95% which is good enough for me. My problem I have right now is designing the proper current limiting circuit so I don't over load the motor. I also have some problems actually putting this circuit on real hardware as my solder is ancient and does not really work on the boards I am using. So I need to acquire new solder with rosin core and then I can put together a pleasant looking prototype and do some testing on the motor. I will have a before and after photos of the controller, before being the prot0 board version and after being the nicer looking version.

The semester at school has started up again, which means mother loads of work, but I think I will be able to use my resources to build other aspects of this controller, and maybe even the machine shop to build my adaptor plates, motor coupling and battery boxes.

EVC-X104

The EVC-X104 is what I am calling my custom controller. It stands for Electric Vehicle Controller Experimental #4. The first prototype (X101) was not very effective and had a very small Duty range. (Around 80 to 95%) The second (X102) was a slightly better design, but I under estimated the current draw of the motor at 12 volts on the bench, and I ended up fusing my protoboard to some components! The third version (X103) worked great, but was very simple and had no current limiting or any of the features I wanted in my EV, so I moved on to X104 to start to add the great features I want. As I right now, I have my PWM control system and my Basic Stamp controller. Using the Basic Stamp controller as the PWM system takes too much out of it, so I have made a dedicated PWM controler circuit, and the Basic Stamp is going to control the throttle, current limiting and LCD display. The LCD display will give info such as Volts, AMPS, estmated range left at the current speed and a basic battery monitoring system.

Here is the basic specs I want out of this controller:

24 to 84 Volts
350+ AMPS
Inexpensive to build
LCD Status w/Volt and AMP meter built in
Current limiting
Cruise Control
Low/High Temperature Shutdown

Motor Has Arrived!!

The motor has arrived, and I did a bench test and everything seems in order. The motor appears to be in a new condition like stated, and sounds like nothing is wrong. I tied it down to a bench, and then used jumper cables and connected them to the motor and a 12 volt deep cycle battery. The battery is pretty shot, it has been sitting in the basement for at least 4 years, and had a charge of 1.5 volts when I found it. I have been attempting to revive it, and now it holds 40% of its charge, but it might need a water fill up and a few days on the charger to get anything else out of it.

I also have been working on a PWM controller, and I have enough of it done to work on a small 12 volt fan. I will be scrounging for more parts, and I might take another trip to Radio Shack to pick up some higher amp transistors and regulators so I can hook this thing up to the K99 for a real test run.

Now that the motor is on its way, I need to carefully consider the controller. The problem I am having is that none of the controllers I am finding really suit my need. I need to be able to set an idle speed for the motor to keep the auto tranny happy, so I am considering building my own. I know the basics of a PWM controller, and I have an idea on how to build one, but I need to find some 400 AMP transistors and diodes. I will be making another visit to Radio Shack to gather the smaller parts I need, and will start on it.

Motor Choice, for Real This Time...

Well, after more searching and an e-mail from a fellow EV'er, I have chosen an ADC K99-4007, and ordered it. There was a great deal on it, and its identical to the K91 except for a different shaft, that I should be able to use just as easily as the K91 shaft. This motor is a surplus, but apparently brand new in box and never used. This motor will fit fine in the Civic, and is more powerful than the A00 by a longshot, so it should work just fine. I can run this motor at 84 volts, which I think I shall do since thats the max of the Kelly Controller.

Charger Update

Well I finally have the charger all wired up for a test fire, and it worked! I got a constant 92.6 Volts from it with no load. Right now it looks very messy, with tons of excess wires hanging out and no place for the resistors to be mounted. My next part of this is to neaten up the mess, then create a box for it, build a housing for the resistors that also acts as a heatsink, and then build the charge controller. I am still figuring out the charge controller, but my uncle says he can help my with that part. Hopefully I will have a picture in a few weeks of the completed charger, but I have finals coming up and Christmas, so who knows how much time I will have to work on this.

Measurements...

Well, all I have to say is that's its a good thing that I have not purchased any main parts yet. I decided to take some measurements of the engine compartment, and to my dismay the L91-4003 DOES NOT FIT! There is only 19 inches from the tranny to the wheel well, and the motor itself is 18.57 inches, and that does not include the adaptor plates and coupling, which is at least an inch, and I think 3 inches will be the real plate.

So, I am sticking to the A00-4009 as it is the only affordable motor I can find that will fit. I have also decided on AGM batteries for the fact that they are maintenance free, and also they are safer in case of an accident. I just need a Costco trip to check battery prices and see what else the offer that might help me out.