Ooooop's

Well today after getting home from work I was able to do some parameter changes to the controller. We have no heat sink yet or cooling fan on the controller or motor. Our runs can only be short before stopping. I was also able to figure out that the throw on the throttle was not even half what it should be. I mounted the throttle on the center hump behind the E-Brake lever and could reach back and give it full throttle. I was able to get the controller to pump out 550 motor amps max. Controller is rated for 600 amps. I also reset the parameter for the regen function to volts rather than amps and changed the motor function to speed vs torque. Being that one of the problems was just low throttle I will rest it to torque if possible tomorrow.

I am however thinking I either blew my motor or controller during the last regen test this evening. I was able to get some regen function and it put in about 35 amps back to the pack and slowed the car. It stopped regen at about 5 mph. The switch for regen is more or less a switch. I am using a throttle pot but it acts more like a switch in that once it reaches a point it just turns on. There is no mechanical control. It is either on or off and the amount is controlled by the setting. I first had it set to 10 then to 50. At setting of 10 it worked and dumped in about 35 amps and slowed the car to about 5 mph before the regen actually stopped. That is a know parameter of the motor and controller. I liked the regen but wanted to check more. So I upped the setting to like 50. I then took it out and did a check and it was much stronger regen but the amp meter still only showed like 35 amps. But it was noticeably stronger. I did it a second time and at about 15 mph it quit regeneration and the car was unresponsive. Both the controller and motor were hot but  the controller is not providing any error messages. So at the moment I do not know if its the motor that shorted because of over heating or if a part of the controller blew. Hard to tell. I saw no magic smoke nor did I smell any magic smoke. It was hot and there was a wee bit of smoke wafting from the motor but figured it might be the webs within the motor that were smoking. Still not sure. I allowed it to cool thinking maybe that was the issue but still no go. Still no error from the controller.

It will be an easy test to see if the controller is dead or the motor. I have another motor and can hook it up to the controller rather easy and give it a quick test. If the motor runs the problem is the old motor and not the controller. I'd be bummed if its the motor. Not so much if its the controller. The controller is a BETA unit anyway.

Remember guys this is BETA TESTING at its finest. This is what I am supposed to do. Bust things. I just need to know what. If the controller it may only be a circuit board that is easy to replace. If that is the issue I may ask for a 96 or 120 volt model of the newest SepEx and have them provide a new bit of software. If the motor is dead and the controller is still good I will heat sink it and try again with the other motor. It will be my last motor but this motor will have cooling as well. When done with this controller I will try another controller and will try it at 96 volts. Another BETA TEST. But it will be series only. I can connect the little motor up to run ilke a series but be limited on amperage to the fields. No regen will be possible with the configuration. If the controller is toast I will pop on the other controller and give the little motor a good spin.

Pete :)

So progress was made even though I busted something. I will confirm more later. The video is really just a video of the amp meter. Not terrible exciting.

I wanted to mount in the motor compartment to witness any failures. I need a GoPro Camera for that sort of stuff. Anyone want to donate one?