[david85]

Honestly I got better service from china, europe, and australia. Customs cleared all of them much faster in all cases. Heck they even cleared the battery shipment that was labeled "motorcycle engine parts". Have to tell them not to do that next time LOL! but it worked.

Its something about that 49th parallel. Maybe the total trade volume is higher there, I dunno. But something is defiantly wrong when it takes longer to ship something across the continent than half way around the world.

Maybe we just take canada/usa trade for granted.

[Dave Koller]

This is all too good David!! Have you checked that "pedal" for a glitch?
I looked back - musta missed how it works - three wire pot or other? That machine should scream

[david85]

Pedal seems to work correctly. 5V reference and I think its a 9000ohm pot. I'll have to dig out the old analog meter to really test it and verify that there are no dead spots in the travel.

Don't know if it will scream, but (here I go again) I am thinking the controller has been detuned and might try to modify it eventually. Can't help but wonder if I might be able to have my cake and eat it too. As it is, these batteries will not be working at all to push this car around. I will barely even pass the constant C rating with the carpet squeezed down under the pedal.

Even as it is now, it has some getup, but that power cut out is a kick in the teeth.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by david85

... but that power cut out is a kick in the teeth.

David, You bought something like 25 or 30 kW nominal? That's what I remember.

Accoording to their website the peak is double. So you have peak power for an unknown time of 50 kW.

Acceleration costs a lot of power. Especially going up a steep drive way. I wouldn't be surprised if you use 40 or more kW so now and then.

Maybe you bump into that unknown period of peak power time. That unknown period of peak power could be surprisingly short.

And there is another thing I find strange about their motors. The air cooled motors are lighter per nominal kW than the water cooled. Normally it's the otherway around. Because with water cooling nominal power can be much higher for much longer.

But they don't seem to take that into account. Or there motors have another problem...?

[david85]

Their website is not well organized. I wouldn't put too much stock in what you see there other than they have a wide range of options. Mine was made from scratch from what they said and they can do custom motors. However, you are correct that the peak power is generally twice the rated power.

Power is supposed to be 20kw constant and 40 peak. But if I find that its not enough then I may have to take "action". That power cut out has to stop though. Not just annoying but unsafe. I won't have it simply loosing all power in traffic like.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by david85

Their website is not well organized. I wouldn't put too much stock in what you see there other than they have a wide range of options. Mine was made from scratch from what they said and they can do custom motors. However, you are correct that the peak power is generally twice the rated power.

Power is supposed to be 20kw constant and 40 peak. But if I find that its not enough then I may have to take "action". That power cut out has to stop though. Not just annoying but unsafe. I won't have it simply loosing all power in traffic like.

20 kW is maybe enough to maintain a reasonable speed with your car design. But accelleration or climbing usualy needs a lot more. It seems to me their peak power time is very short. And the way they handle the cut back, is also not so very nice. I hope you can adjust that. And tell us how.

I know they're flexible, I tried how far I could get considering weight with a 45 kW nominal motor. Not so far as I hoped. Maybe you can show us that a lower rated motor can be poked a litle up towards its peak.

[david85]

In theory, brushless motors are limited by heat more than anything else. Thats true for brushed motors too, but they also have brush arcing to contend with if you overpower them for brief periods. Since I know this motor and controller are still running cold whenever it cuts out, my feeling is it can put out a lot more than the current settings will allow.

I think I have a basic idea of how this controller operates to manage the current to the 3 phases. If I can trick it into seeing smaller current than is actually moving, then I can increase the power. That may, or may not however cure the cut out problem depending on how that feature is managed.

My guess right now is they use current sensors and processor to calculate how much amps can be put out over a given amount of time. I'll still have to verify this theory before I do anything, and that might not happen this year.

[Dave Koller]

David - how many blades are on that fan? Reason is if it is 6 the same pickup I use for the tach may work direct to your dash tach --

http://www.saturn.offical.net/?q=node/304

or better

http://www.saturn.offical.net/node/326

(had trouble getting this url on here!


Might help as a diagnostic tool... Can you get your video camera on those leds when all of this power outage occurs? Bungee it to look in there?

I believe you said you had to leave soon ... So maybe you might not want to get into that one lol .....

[david85]

The fan on the motor is plastic, so that wouldn't work. Maybe possible to have a metal clip on a few of the blades though (preferrably something that won't fly off). So six pulse/rev will plug direct into the dash tach? Or does it still require some sort of conversion chip?

Looking at my own pictures on page 12, post 119, it does seem to have a 6 blade fan.

The camera is small enough to be mounted under the hood......that would allow for a real world test while filming the controller in action.....hmm

Not sure if I can squeeze it in before I leave.

[Dave Koller]

Yep - snip the white wire (to the tach direct) off the PCM ( bypass the PCM study the links I gave you..) use the pickup with 6 (yes six! ) pulses per rev ... and do a duct tape of the camera to the controller before you go !!!

You headed down-under