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Soliton Continuous Current -- Motor or Battery

6K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  LithiumaniacsEVRacing 
#1 ·
Is the Solition 1000A continuous current spec for motor Amps or battery Amps? I checked the manual and here but didn't see it. Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Either/both. On p4 of the manual - Specs - it does indicate that the 1000A rating applies over all duty cycles (i.e. - 0-100%.. ok, not 0%, obviously...). I have to do a major overhaul of the manual here real soon to cover all the stuff added to the software... maybe I should change the wording to make this clearer? It seemed pretty clear to me, but, then again, it's hard to look at this from the perspective of someone totally unfamiliar with the product.
 
#4 ·
Yes, there is a big difference between the two. I had a Logistems 700amp controller and that was motor amps. When the motor is at low rpms the controller was putting out 700 amps to the motor but was drawing only 200 from the batteries. So if the Soliton is rated at 1000 amps from the batteries it could be putting out 3000 amps to the motor. If that is the case you had better triple the wire size as well.
 
#5 ·
... So if the Soliton is rated at 1000 amps from the batteries it could be putting out 3000 amps to the motor....
That is not the case with the Soliton1, however: it's rated for 1000A, motor or battery, period.

I have to admit that I am a bit puzzled, and distressed, that there is any misunderstanding about this. I thought we went to great pains to point out that if you keep the controller under 55C you can have 1000A all day long at any duty cycle you please. Batteries and motors both turn to slag when subjected to the merciless punishment dished out by a liquid-cooled Soliton1. That's how we roll :D
 
#11 ·
Not sure why this is so hard, lol. Tesseract has answered the question, several times very clearly IMHO.

1000A on the motor side at 100% duty is 1000A on the batteries.

Reduce the duty cycle and motor amps might stay at 1000A on the motor, but the battery current starts to decrease.

The max amps that the controller will ask from the batteries is 1000A. The max amps that will ever go to the motor is 1000A.
 
#13 ·
What a great thread! That is why we like/use the Soliton Controllers, the continuous amount of amps being produced! :D

Now the big question is with continuous amps being produced while racing will it create better drag times than "certain" controllers that may give you more than 1000 amps but only for short periods of time? :rolleyes:

We all know some controllers can create 2000 amps, but is this continuous? No it is not. You may "jump" to 2000 amps but will lose amps while racing. :eek:

I would love for my friends at EVNetics to produce a controller that will creat 1500 amps continuous! ;););)
 
#16 ·
Not at all. I have read the Yahoo NEDRA board and just had a long conversation with my cousin about crapping on Zilla controllers. He is not experienced in EV's, he was just firing back towards the attack on our EV Album page. He does not speak for the ECEDRA Association.

I like Zilla controllers, but, wanted to support a local company, that is why we agreed on sponsorship with EVNetics.

We may be using a Zilla 2 K controller in our 300ZX if Soliton cannot finish the BigSol. I see Jeff has posted EVNetics has no connections to ECEDRA. This mis-information does not make me happy, we have a sponsorship deal with George from EVNetics. Now if that has been cancelled we will use "other" controllers. I will be making calls.
 
#17 ·
Maybe we need to get an electrical engineer in on this discussion.

What I have learned, whether it is correct or not, is that the amps to the motor from the controller will always be higher than or equal to the battery amps. From what I have learned, amps to the motor will never be lower than battery amps.

For a controller to put less current to the motor than what is coming from the batteries it would have to increase the voltage above that of the battery pack since the equation has to balance
Voltage x amps in = voltage x amps out (minus of course internal losses). As far as I know, no controller out there does that.

So it the Soliton is rated at 1000 amps max you might as well say that is max amps to motor to avoid confusion.

For example I have an NetGain Impulse 9 in my EV. At 1000 rpm it was accepting only about 48 volts from the controller. (I had a voltmeter connected to the motor input) If my 120 volt battery pack was putting out 200 amps at max throttle the controller was putting out 800 amps which was its maximum rating. I had a Kelly 800 amp controller at that time. (not continuous).

If there is something wrong with my calculations please chime it. None of the EV books and manuals talk about the fact that at low rpm the series wound motors do not accept full battery pack voltage. The maximum current limit of the controller then become critical when accelerating from a start.

I started with a Curtis 400 amp controller and was very surprised that when starting from 0 mph, the battery pack current never went higher than 150 amps. The controller was putting out 400 amps, but only at 48 volts which means I had only 1/4 of the power I thought I would have. :eek::confused:
 
#18 ·
Exception that proves the rule: The Prius controller ups the battery pack ~200V to be ~500V for the motor.

We know Zillas can handle drag racing time scales. I believe Silent Thunder ran a Zilla on the Salt Flats -- does anyone know if they hit a thermal cutback? They were running lead acid batteries, so that was likely their de facto current limiter.

I have heard of people putting ice in the coolant for their controllers -- perhaps a Zilla could keep up full current then?

FWIW a Zilla 2k and a Soliton weigh close to the same.
...
What I have learned, whether it is correct or not, is that the amps to the motor from the controller will always be higher than or equal to the battery amps. From what I have learned, amps to the motor will never be lower than battery amps.

For a controller to put less current to the motor than what is coming from the batteries it would have to increase the voltage above that of the battery pack since the equation has to balance
Voltage x amps in = voltage x amps out (minus of course internal losses). As far as I know, no controller out there does that.
...
 
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