[EVDL] Auburn Controller Problem

828 Views 4 Replies 1 Participant Last post by EVDL List, Nov 13, 2010

EVDL List

Discussion Starter · Nov 7, 2010

Hi folks,

After about 10 years of flawless service in my Civic conversion, my
Auburn Kodiak WC600-144 has developed a problem. Basically the
controller cuts out and shuts down a moderate to heavy throttle when
taking off from a stop, such as starting on a hill. Shutting off the
power and giving it a few seconds off time then switching it back on
will reset it and put it back in operation, but unless a very light foot
is used it will likely cut-out again. I am running a 156 Volt nominal
system, so I am well above the low voltage cut-out of 55 Volts.

History wise, this Auburn has been around a bit. Originally it was a
the backup controller for an S-10 conversion shop in Arizona, then it
spent a few years under the hood of John Wayland's Blue Meanie, then it
went into my Civic. I managed to cross connect it one day a pretty well
fried all the guts, but David Luiz was able to rebuild it, in the
process upgrading it to the PMW version.

Before I pull anything apart I thought I might as well ask the List if
there were any thoughts on what could be causing this issue. Does
anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,

--
Mike Chancey,
'88 Civic EV
Kansas City, Missouri
http://evalbum.com/106
EV Photo Album at: http://evalbum.com
My Electric Car at: http://evtinker.com
Mid-America EAA chapter at: http://maeaa.org
Join the EV List at: http://www.evdl.org

In medio stat virtus - Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme
position. (Horace)

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Discussion Starter · #2 · Nov 7, 2010

Sounds like either current or thermal cutout

Bob Sisson
1993 Geo Metro Convertible Project
Gaithersburg MD

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf
Of Mike Chancey
Sent: Sunday, November 07, 2010 3:56 PM
To: EVDL
Subject: [EVDL] Auburn Controller Problem

Hi folks,

After about 10 years of flawless service in my Civic conversion, my Auburn
Kodiak WC600-144 has developed a problem. Basically the controller cuts out
and shuts down a moderate to heavy throttle when taking off from a stop,
such as starting on a hill. Shutting off the power and giving it a few
seconds off time then switching it back on will reset it and put it back in
operation, but unless a very light foot is used it will likely cut-out
again. I am running a 156 Volt nominal system, so I am well above the low
voltage cut-out of 55 Volts.

History wise, this Auburn has been around a bit. Originally it was a the
backup controller for an S-10 conversion shop in Arizona, then it spent a
few years under the hood of John Wayland's Blue Meanie, then it went into my
Civic. I managed to cross connect it one day a pretty well fried all the
guts, but David Luiz was able to rebuild it, in the process upgrading it to
the PMW version.

Before I pull anything apart I thought I might as well ask the List if there
were any thoughts on what could be causing this issue. Does anyone have any
ideas or suggestions?

Thanks,

--
Mike Chancey,
'88 Civic EV
Kansas City, Missouri
http://evalbum.com/106
EV Photo Album at: http://evalbum.com
My Electric Car at: http://evtinker.com
Mid-America EAA chapter at: http://maeaa.org Join the EV List at:
http://www.evdl.org

In medio stat virtus - Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme position.
(Horace)

_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev

_______________________________________________
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| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
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Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 7, 2010

Mike,
I have seen similar symptoms before. In that controller one of the
several paralled output semiconductors was open due to internal failure.
That resulted in increased current in the other output semiconductors, but
they would easily overheat when Pushed, and as one overheated a ripple
effect caused the others to also overheat, internal overheat protection in
each device shut them don to protect them and the EV coasted to a stop. a
few minutes of cooling and it would go again, until it warmed the
semiconductors again but if kept down to about 50% of normal amperage it
seemed to work fine...fix the controller. I suggest replacing all of the
paralleled output semiconductors as a set as they have been
thermal-stressed.
Regards,
Dennis Miles
==========================================================

Mike Chancey <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> After about 10 years of flawless service in my Civic conversion, my
> Auburn Kodiak WC600-144 has developed a problem. Basically the
> controller cuts out and shuts down a moderate to heavy throttle when
> taking off from a stop, such as starting on a hill. Shutting off the
> power and giving it a few seconds off time then switching it back on
> will reset it and put it back in operation, but unless a very light foot
> is used it will likely cut-out again. I am running a 156 Volt nominal
> system, so I am well above the low voltage cut-out of 55 Volts.
>
> History wise, this Auburn has been around a bit. Originally it was a
> the backup controller for an S-10 conversion shop in Arizona, then it
> spent a few years under the hood of John Wayland's Blue Meanie, then it
> went into my Civic. I managed to cross connect it one day a pretty well
> fried all the guts, but David Luiz was able to rebuild it, in the
> process upgrading it to the PMW version.
>
> Before I pull anything apart I thought I might as well ask the List if
> there were any thoughts on what could be causing this issue. Does
> anyone have any ideas or suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Mike Chancey,
> '88 Civic EV
> Kansas City, Missouri
> http://evalbum.com/106
> EV Photo Album at: http://evalbum.com
> My Electric Car at: http://evtinker.com
> Mid-America EAA chapter at: http://maeaa.org
> Join the EV List at: http://www.evdl.org
>
> In medio stat virtus - Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme
> position. (Horace)
>
> _______________________________________________
> | REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
> | Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
> | UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
> | OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
> | OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
>

--
Regards,
*Dennis Lee Miles* (Director) *E.V.T.I. inc*.
*www.E-V-T-I-Inc.COM <http://www.e-v-t-i-inc.com/> *(Adviser)*
EVTI-EVAEducation Chapter
*
Phone (813) ID4 - E V T I or (813) 434 - 3884 (I think word phone
numbers can be fun and good mnemonics aid memory.)
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Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 12, 2010

I finally got time today to dig a bit deeper into my controller issue.
As before under modest load it worked fine, but as soon as a heaver load
was applied it would shut down. Testing by taking off from a stop in
the driveway showed in first gear it would work fine even if the
throttle were punched, it second it would work with a light foot, in
third it would immediately shut down.

After the last shut down I noticed a thin wisp of SMOKE coming out of
the front contactor box. I opened the main circuit breaker to cut power
to everything and the smoke stopped. I then disconnect the E-meter and
disconnect one battery cable to make absolutely sure the circuits were
not live. When I opened the contactor box I found the pre-charge
restistor was blackened. Checking the wiring showed no issues. I then
tried powering up the system again. When I turn on the "ignition" key
and the pre-charge relay closed the per-charge resistor started glowing.
It is a 100 Ohm, 50 Watt wire-wound resistor. The controller never
sent the contactor enable to by-pass the resistor and energize the system.

This sounds to me like this is indeed an internal problem inside the
controller and has now moved on to total failure mode.

Does anyone know the current email address for Dave Luiz? All I have is
the pacbell address, and I don't think that is still valid.

I really wasn't planning on a controller upgrade,

Thanks,

--
Mike Chancey,
'88 Civic EV
Kansas City, Missouri
http://evalbum.com/106
EV Photo Album at: http://evalbum.com
My Electric Car at: http://evtinker.com
Mid-America EAA chapter at: http://maeaa.org
Join the EV List at: http://www.evdl.org

In medio stat virtus - Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme
position. (Horace)

_______________________________________________
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev

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Discussion Starter · #5 · Nov 13, 2010

Mike,
The controller's input capacitors which the pre-charge resistor is supposed
to charge are usually electrolytic as they are the smallest and cheapest for
amount of capacitance. but they do sometimes fail as a short, might be just
one, or same symptom if contact that bypasses the resistor is bad and that
can be an intermittent situation, either bad contact or bad actuating coil
is much less expensive to replace than the controller so it is worth
testing...
Regards,
Dennis Miles
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike Chancey <[email protected]> wrote:

> I finally got time today to dig a bit deeper into my controller issue.
> As before under modest load it worked fine, but as soon as a heaver load
> was applied it would shut down. Testing by taking off from a stop in
> the driveway showed in first gear it would work fine even if the
> throttle were punched, it second it would work with a light foot, in
> third it would immediately shut down.
>
> After the last shut down I noticed a thin wisp of SMOKE coming out of
> the front contactor box. I opened the main circuit breaker to cut power
> to everything and the smoke stopped. I then disconnect the E-meter and
> disconnect one battery cable to make absolutely sure the circuits were
> not live. When I opened the contactor box I found the pre-charge
> restistor was blackened. Checking the wiring showed no issues. I then
> tried powering up the system again. When I turn on the "ignition" key
> and the pre-charge relay closed the per-charge resistor started glowing.
> It is a 100 Ohm, 50 Watt wire-wound resistor. The controller never
> sent the contactor enable to by-pass the resistor and energize the system.
>
> This sounds to me like this is indeed an internal problem inside the
> controller and has now moved on to total failure mode.
>
> Does anyone know the current email address for Dave Luiz? All I have is
> the pacbell address, and I don't think that is still valid.
>
> I really wasn't planning on a controller upgrade,
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> --
> Mike Chancey,
> '88 Civic EV
> Kansas City, Missouri
> http://evalbum.com/106
> EV Photo Album at: http://evalbum.com
> My Electric Car at: http://evtinker.com
> Mid-America EAA chapter at: http://maeaa.org
> Join the EV List at: http://www.evdl.org
>
> In medio stat virtus - Virtue is in the moderate, not the extreme
> position. (Horace)
>
> _______________________________________________
> | REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
> | Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
> | UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
> | OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
> | OPTIONS: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev
>

--
Regards,
*Dennis Lee Miles* (Director) *E.V.T.I. inc*.
*www.E-V-T-I-Inc.COM <http://www.e-v-t-i-inc.com/> *(Adviser)*
EVTI-EVAEducation Chapter
*
Phone (813) ID4 - E V T I or (813) 434 - 3884 (I think word phone
numbers can be fun and good mnemonics aid memory.)
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| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
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