[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

I think this is a very legitimate and eminently reasonable question, and my answer might surprise you - if you are not interested in spirited performance from your EV then the Soliton1 is probably not worth the price.

I mean, lots of people - especially lots of people here - are more interested in how cheaply they can convert their vehicles than anything else. They don't seem to mind the crappy performance that comes from saddling a modern vehicle conversion with a "shoebox" controller that reaches current limiting from overtemp within a minute of driving. If any of those style controllers could deliver even 500A continuously they would be fine for most daily drivers... the problem is, they can't. Not a single one of them has the heat removal capability to meet their claimed current rating for more than a few seconds every couple of minutes (and some don't even come close to their claimed current rating, ever... Kel...cough...cough...ly...)

From my perspective - never having seen or tried one personally, that is - the Synkromotive controller appears to be the best choice for smaller and/or lighter vehicles like Dimitri's. There are lots of "features" built-in to the Soliton1 that make it compelling for people with LFP battery packs, and it is certainly easy to install, setup and use, but we are under no illusions here that such is enough to get people to pay $1000 more for it than a Synkro... no, the only reason you will pay that much more money is to get more than twice the power handling capacity...

I won't lie, I was one who originally wanted the EV done cheaply. However, the controller wasn't something I was really willing to skimp out on, but after consulting a few nearby EV'ers I ended up with a *Kel-ly*, because at the time they were brand new and looked promising, and most people here in MA were blowing up other brand name controllers and went with a Zilla, which wasn't available, so I decided what the heck it was the only option available, albeit untried at the time. That was about a year ago.

I needed something that could dish out 300+ motor AMPs for these hills without flinching, and I finally ordered a Synkro because it fit the bill, and my EV is only a 96 volt system, and has some serious power for what I normally do, and three weeks ago it was the only thing available. Now there are so many high powered choices I have way more to day dream about....

OK, now my point: I went into the EV world with the impression that Zilla's and the like are really only for drag racing. Then I built my EV and found that driving in MA IS drag racing, so expect really good business from anyone who even wants to keep up with traffic, even when it's a measly 35 MPH 6% grade hill...... Even check out the EV Album under Massachusetts, there are only two Curtis' and my Kelly, the rest are Raptors and Zilla's. That will hopefully include Synkros and Soliton1's very soon. (I have EV2 on my mind, and it needs to be bad @$$)

[dimitri]

Originally Posted by Lordwacky

My only question for Dimitri is, why did you end up going for such a high powered, high performance controller when clearly all you wanted was a commuter vehicle? Seems like a Curtis or Synkromotive would fit the bill nicely while saving ~$1k.

Not trying to crap on the thread, or your build by any means. I'm just courious, does the Soliton1 offer anything other then high power that would make it worth the expense to the lower power side of the spectrum? A lot of the throttle calibration/ interface features seem really nice, but I think the sykro offers similar options.

No offense taken, I know it seems crazy to get 1000Amp controller when you only need 500Amps. Like Tesseract said, I used Curtis in my first EV, so this time around I wanted something more featuristic and a little more powerful, but at the time I had to make a decision ( gee only 10 months ago , but seems like eternity in EV world ) there wasn't anything good available. My only choice other than Curtis was Logisystems, but they had many troubles back then, Synkromotive wasn't even advertised back then ( even today you still have to wait 2-3 months to get it, and I have been driving my EV for 2-3 months already ). So, I just happen to be in the right place at the right time to become first beta tester for EVNetics, since they are local to me in Tampa. Just pure dumb luck . I earned my discount as early tester, so I didn't pay full retail price.

Also, after learning much about controllers, I wanted mine to be based on large industrial size IGBTs, I didn't want a string of small transistors to power my car, there are just too many potential issues, although people can argue that its been proven by many years, I don't care. Most controller failures are due to FETs getting out of sync and blowing up in an avalanche. I don't want that.....

As for current rating, IMHO its not a good design decision to buy a piece of power equipment to always run it at its max capacity. IMHO, if I need 500Amp most of the time, I want to have capability to dish out 700-800Amps in case of unforseen situation. Afterall, would you buy an ICE car which you always have to drive in full throttle? That's crazy... I want to have reserve capacity at my foot...

If I was to make a call today, it would be between Synkromotive and Soliton1. And it would be a tough call even with $1000 price difference. Why? We are yet to see how well Synkromotive can handle its advertised current levels, no one has publicly shown that data yet, while Soliton1 data is available in nice graphs on this forum. You make your own conclusions....

Also, I don't like that Synkromotive has a large hole in it with a squirell fan. Can you imagine how much dust will be inside in 2-3 years of daily driving? Doesn't seem to be designed for harsh road conditions. I follow a blog of a beta tester with Synkro and its showing lack of cooling already in hot summer days. Well, here in Tampa, there are many many of those days, so I need good reliable cooling

I don't mean to bash Synkro, it has a great potential, but just not there yet, while Soliton1 is here today.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by dimitri

I don't mean to bash Synkro, it has a great potential, but just not there yet, while Soliton1 is here today.

I just started to laugh when I read this part, cause I am still waiting for my Synkro to arrive! So litterally, the Synkro isn't here yet and your Soliton1 is here today.

I do agree with the need to have way more power available with the pedal action. You never know when you have to out run an 18 wheeler coming off the ramp right into you, and using the brakes would be useless, the only option being to go FASTER!

I have to ask, do you climb any decent size hills at all? Like mini mountains or anything?

One thing I would like to see someday is someone do a full review of many of the similar type controllers in the same car for a week at a time, to have a good comparison. One week it's Curtis, then Logi, then Synkro, Zilla and Soliton1 doing real world driving and post data to get a good sense of what each controller is good for.

I am so used to computer hardware reviews where they through a ton of different gfx cards into the same comp, run the games at the same settings and see the outcome. I wonder how hard it would be to get a few companies to lend out controllers so someone could do full reviews on each controller with data to backup (or refute) the controller's ratings. Which I guess could be good or bad for the controller manufacturer.

[JRP3]

Originally Posted by TheSGC

Even check out the EV Album, there are only two Curtis' and my Kelly, the rest are Raptors and Zilla's.

Not sure where you got those figures, I see 732 Curtis controllers and 104 Kellys in the evalbum http://www.evalbum.com/cntrl

[JRP3]

Originally Posted by dimitri

Also, I don't like that Synkromotive has a large hole in it with a squirell fan. Can you imagine how much dust will be inside in 2-3 years of daily driving? Doesn't seem to be designed for harsh road conditions.

Might be a good idea to put some air filter material over the fan to avoid dust build up.

[TheSGC]

Originally Posted by JRP3

Not sure where you got those figures, I see 732 Curtis controllers and 104 Kellys in the evalbum http://www.evalbum.com/cntrl

I meant under Massachusetts location, I know there are rediculous amonts of Curtis's, Kelly's and Alltrax, just not here in MA.

[dimitri]

Originally Posted by TheSGC

I have to ask, do you climb any decent size hills at all? Like mini mountains or anything?

No hills here , all flat . If there were hills, I'm sure I would climb them in lower gear with appropriate reduction in range due to high current.


Drove 30 more miles today, throttle response is decent enough, although clearly not as linear as I wish. I can maintain 150-200 cruising amps at 60 mph for many miles and get to 400 amps during acceleration.

[Tesseract]

Originally Posted by dimitri

No hills here , all flat . If there were hills, I'm sure I would climb them in lower gear with appropriate reduction in range due to high current....

Well, there is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge... about 1 mile at 4% grade. That surely counts as a hill, at least

[dimitri]

Originally Posted by Tesseract

Well, there is the Sunshine Skyway Bridge... about 1 mile at 4% grade. That surely counts as a hill, at least

If it was within my range I would definitely give it a try, but its just a bit too far from my home

[dimitri]

EVNetics just sent me next version of the controller software which has a real nice feature we have been discussing in the past, ability to "bend" the throttle curve, to allow smooth power control in the first half of the pedal range and more aggressive in the second half so you have to "floor it" to get max power. So you still get the same power, but its dished out in a configurable non-linear "curve". Its meant for linear throttles, but it helped a lot with my crappy Curtis as well. I set the value of "half throttle" to 20%, which means first half of pedal movement will control 20% of total power and second half will control 80% of power. Default value is 50% which makes it a linear control "curve".

First off, Soliton1 software upgrade is very easy, you just press update button on the Web page, browse to the file you got from EVNetics, click Update and wait 2-3 minutes, during which the error light is flashing, indicating progress. When done, light goes off, you recycle power and now the page shows new version and new features are available.

After some playing around I settled on 20% value for half throttle and it made my pedal response much smoother than before.

I still want to get EVNetics throttle assembly though, I think it will make control range even better.