And for my next trick.....BANG!

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aminorjourney
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And for my next trick.....BANG!

Postby aminorjourney » Mon Jul 30, 2007 3:33 pm

It appears my City El's controller is no more. It is an ex-controller.
I was climbing a steep hill and running my heater to drain my batteries and the car stopped. Everything checked out, including the fuses etc. But the controller was very very hot.

I've taken it off and it rattles, which according to the engineer at Curtis means the MOFSET and probably a diode has blown inside.

It was a 1204x -4201 model; rated as a 24-36V controller.

Now apparently normally that's okay for a 42V City El but my controller didn't like the extra voltage. So I'm replacing it with a second-hand (factory checked) 1204x-5203; an identical controller but one rated to 36-48V.

Nikki.
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:00 pm

Oh no! what a shame :cry: You mean we could have seen the fun had it been cold at Ditchling :wink:

Glad you have a replacement sorted out. Makes me worry a bit about my little project now as John's got it in mind to put more volts through that one too, although we'll not have a heater so it should be ok. Shouldn't it ????

Hope you get it running again soon. You seem to have been having so much fun in it of late. Although all the talk about wheelspinning it and turning it over makes me wonder if perhaps you ought to put another wheel on it or just go the whole hog and buy a Zest :wink:
Last edited by qdos on Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Mon Jul 30, 2007 4:02 pm

I'm sure your controller will be fine. :) I was lucky and got a replacement for about half the price of a new one.

Hopefully it'll just plug and play too! I'm also hoping that if I ever do sell the car I can sell it as being 48 V ready if I ever do upgrade my charger too!

Nikki.
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

EVangelist and Media Relations Coordinator, www.ZeroCarbonWorld.org
Host, www.transportevolved.com

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electricvehicles
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Curtis 1204

Postby electricvehicles » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:09 pm

Wish you had spoken to me before ordering a replacement. I take it the unit is a 1204 275A with a 0-5K speed input ? If so I have a few of theses that we removed from golf buggies, all are in full working order and guaranteed for 6 months.
Out of interest when you changed over to the 43V battery did you change the contactors over to match the increased battery voltage ? Have you noticed if they are running warm ?

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aminorjourney
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Postby aminorjourney » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:50 pm

Hi :)

Yes, the contactors are fine :) They don't get hot at all. The controller was a 1204x-4201 but curtis did me a very sweet deal on a 1204x 5203, which will take the extra voltage :)

But thanks :)

Nikki.
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

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Host, www.transportevolved.com

http://about.me/aminorjourney/bio

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:33 am

Cant believe you toasted a Curtis Nikki :cry:

They are pretty much thermal proof I thought ?? and would go into limitation mode etc etc until finally shutting down totally ??

And since when have curtis been friendly ?? I blew up my Fiesta controller about 5 yrs ago :oops: and to be honest found them to be a miserable bunch of un-interested idiots, just out to fleece me 700 notes for a new one :evil:

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:50 am

Ah but Chris, did you show them a photo of you and your Blingo and was it topless ?

I'm bound to get another slap now Image

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ChrisB
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Postby ChrisB » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:12 am

I can see we're going to have to start limiting your access to these boards, until you have a "proper" EV :lol:

ChrisB
I reject reality and substitute my own !!!!!!

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qdos
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Postby qdos » Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:46 am

Ah but wait and see what I'm working on. You'll all want one when we've got it built :wink:

Teslas? Pahhh! 8)

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EVguru
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Postby EVguru » Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:53 am

Curtis, thermal proof?!

The on road EV community didn't nickname them Curse-it for nothing :)

Like many controllers the Curtis 1200 series doesn't cut back gracefully as it heats up, instead it cuts buck suddenly dropping into a low frequency mode. This gives you an audible warning of an overheat and also lowers the switching losses and so reduces the heat production.

The Curtis is also short of capacity in its freewheel diodes. This isn't much of a problem to a golf cart of a fork lift. They tend to be either doing low power low speed manouvering, or travelling flat out at their fairly limited top speed. The difference on a road vehicle is that you might spend a considerable amount of time at 50% duty cycle, just where diode stress is at a maximium. The diodes sometimes fail and do so as a short circuit, that usually blows the mosfets becuase the Curtis has a rather slow current limit circuit.

Another problem is the encapsulation. The Curtis case is neither hermetically sealed or ventilated. The potted end seal usually breaks and
it can pull humid air inside where it condenses as the controller cools down.

It's a rule of thumb in electronics design that every 10 degree rise in operating temperature halves the life expectancy of a component, so keeping things as cool as possible is a good idea.
Paul

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