Micro Lebowski Controller - DIY 3kw

Another comment is that I don't spend long hours on it, you can't since the paste doesn't last a long time, you put down the paste, sit the components on, and fire up the heater, wait a couple of minutes, wash the hot air over the board for another minute or two, and it is done. But in any case my head is much more upright than with regular soldering.
 
I don't spend long hours on it,
Click to expand...
my head is much more upright than with regular soldering
Click to expand...

Agreed, when I was using it to populate boards, it was always batch runs, soldering all day and no Paste / heater, all work was with an iron and fine solder.

Anyways, none of the components have arrived yet, perhaps this week.

Andy
 
at Teslanv's 12FET IRFB4110 Sine Wave Controller Review
Lebowski said:
arkmundi said:
The Infineon would be one option. But we want an affordable sine wave controller and it has to be smooth, so I applaud your looking. Starting with a MXUS supplied option is just a good starting point. I encourage you to look further and find us the right controller for the MXUS 3kw. The specs on this controller is exactly what I'm looking for: sine-wave, 12fet 60amp 72V with all the controls. Keep us posted. Thanks. :mrgreen:
Click to expand...
Howvabout this project ?
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=65297
Click to expand...
... bringing us here. How hard/costly would it be for a small production run of this controller for the MXUS 3K crowd, group buy style? And who has the equipment/skills/know-how to pull it off? :?:
 
I've got 5 sets of boards, complete bill of materials. I'm waiting on the last of the components to arrive so I can populate 2 sets and test.

I could easily build up the other 3. Or even buy in larger quantity for a group buy of 10.

BUT.........

I haven't tested it yet. Or even built one yet. So it's a bit premature to be talking about a group buy. If I did do it id be thinking $300 USD plus shipping to make it worth my time ball park...

Andy
 
I've got bare boards, and a bunch of resistors, caps, diodes in bags.. plus your controller IC and a few other bits and bobs, but nothing significant. I'm actually very disappointed with Element 14 this time, usually it's overnight for everything, but this has been almost a week and they've got it coming in about 10 different deliveries of random parts. very uneconomical in my opinion. but whatever.

I ordered the FETs and a few other IC's from UT Source, a long time ago.. and it hasn't arrived yet. once I've got all the parts I'll test fit everything then start populating. no point in getting half way through and finding out I've got some pins in the wrong place.. :oops: hopefully that won't happen of course.

Andy
 
Ok, so I have all the parts. I'll do a stock take to make sure I have everything I need and start soldering. will begin with the CPU board powersupplies and go from there..

Might update the Title: Micro-Size Lebowski Controller - DIY ???

IMG_20150205_133234.jpg
IMG_20150205_132431.jpg
IMG_20150205_132614.jpg

Andy
 
I'm excited for you to built it and test this beautiful unit already. :) Seeing the boards now gives better perspective on how tiny this unit is.
 
Update
Yet to be tested fully, I tested the powersupply stages before populating the full PCB I get a constant 15V and 5V on the rails, with very small current draw off the powersupply. nothing heats up so it's looking good so far. I'm planning on powering up the CPU board alone and accessing the menu through the computer to test function.

But I have had enough for one day. maybe tomorrow. or later today I'll power it up. Time now to play with my son. he says "run around on the grass dadda?"

IMG_20150208_170843 (Custom).jpg
Andy
 
OK so I powered up one of the Controller CPU boards tonight. Tadaaa!!! it works.. I am pretty happy.

There was a minor hitch. Yesterday I tested the USB - Serial converter IC (FTDI) which I got from UtSource. Sad to say I was concerned about it from the start, the pins looked dirty and the stamping not like the others that I had from another project. (lucky I had others). So anyways I took a punt and soldered the UTSource FTDI chips to the board and they failed to install drivers or even detect at a USB device.. I removed them (carefully) and soldered on my genuine chips from Element14. and whammo, they installed drivers straight away. That was yesterday

Ok so today I applied 32V to the board and connected it up to the PC running Putty Terminal. THis is the result:

[youtube]WzgwbmHPwr4[/youtube]
Sorry for the shi1tty quality but you get the idea.. the point is that the CPU works...

I am pretty happy that it works as expected. That was just one board, but I am confident the second CPU board will work the same. Time to solder up the driver boards and test some outputs...it took me an afternoon to solder up the two boards.

Andy
 
Looking good, thanks for the updates!

What sort of testing do you plan to do when you get it all together? One thing I'm curious about is the 15 V supply, since that's a fairly significant change from the original design - might be interesting to see what kind of ripple you get when the gate drivers are pulling the charge.

The USB is certainly a nice addition - glad you got that problem sorted without too much trouble. Did you consider powering the brain board from USB so you could adjust MCU settings without having to connect to a battery?
 
there are a lot of counterfeit FTDI chips on the market. for sure more then original ones. if you can't make the usb driver recognize the chip it's a good idea to use the OLDEST driver you can find, as the newer ones have anti pirate mechanisms included.
it's been always a nightmare to make those usb serial devices work as you can't tell from the outside what chips are installed. :(
great to see that board working!!! looking forward to some motor testing.
 
I considered powering the MCU from USB via a switch. But figured there was no real advantage. Once in the bike just connect the battery for power and the USB cable.
I don't own a scope but there are a few at work. So i was going to build up the driver board and do some pwm tests. Also populate the current sensors and make sure the cPu is reading all the correct input voltage. Then populate the FETs and test it in a small motor.
QUESTION any reason why I can't test it with a small hobby brushless? No halls but it'll tell me if it can drive a motor
Lastly. I'm not going to bother with those ftdi chips. I will send to utsource for a credit. Because of a faulty product. That's it for now.
 
Animalector said:
Well that concerns me with the FETs. Which also came from utsource. Oh well we can always replace the FETs quite easily. Time to get a motor
Click to expand...


Anything we can do to help you get a motor? Want to give you paypal addy for anyone who like myself is excitedly watching your project?
 
Anything we can do to help you get a motor?
Click to expand...

Thanks, but I'll get my act together and find something. I just haven't had a chance yet. There's one local E-Bike guy I'll go there and try get something... I appreciate the offer, but rather i find something myself otherwise I'll feel guilty about any small delays in finding one.

I've been a bit busy these last 4 days. I Had to fly down to Brisbane (1700km) on Friday straight after work to do some work on my house to get it ready for sale. Had to:
clean the oven,
clean the fireplace,
repair some tiles with tinted epoxy,
replace the external garage door,
paint the laundry, (including the ceiling),
paint the ensuite (including the ceiling),
paint the master bedroom (you guessed it including the ceiling)
paint the wardrobe doors (x3), ensuite door and master bedroom door.
Unfortunately I ran out of time to do the door and window trims, because one coat wouldn't have been enough, and I didn't have time for two coats.
That plus two trailer loads of yard trimmings to the dump (including lopping some overhanging branches off a tree). So glad I had a mate there to help me (he's a member here with a 2000W MAC / Jamis Dakar) couldn't have done it all without him (and his awesome tools - Thanks Nips)

So.. for that reason.. no I haven't got a motor yet or finished soldering up the boards. hopefully this week I'll get a motor and this weekend I'll finish the Driver Board so I can test the PWM functionality.

Cheers guys / gals

a very tired... Andy :shock:
 
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