DIY ESS - Soldering of the PWM kit and Using it ... for the Fan Speed Control

Last sunday, I finally took some time to solder the PWM kit I got few weeks ago

A little test with a 12V AGM battery and a small motor

It worked !

But when I tested it instead of the capacitor and resistor on the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA, then I got smoke and blew the 2A fuse on the 24V line ... after hearing the contactor having difficulties to close properly with its usual big clap. There must have been too much consumption from the coil to close I guess and the MOSFET was burning hot !

So I kept the resistor & capacitor Economizer solution for the Kilovac, tested for sevral weeks now, and   used this PWM kit for the fan speed control on the metal cabinet, manual control that is for now

After long tests with the fan at different speeds, nothing was over heating, and it seemed like a good match

So I plugged it on 24V line of the ESS to further test it with the voltage it will get when mounted in line on the switched 24V

24V taken at the source, right after the 2A fuse

PWM Kit received for the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Look what came in the mail yesterday :-)

A small PWM kit I ordered few days ago to replace the resistor & capacitor used as an economizer for the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA that requires one

This resistor & capacitor have been doing the job, except that the resistor is burning some energy in heat  and this is maybe no the best way to handle this problem

Now, I just have to switch on my soldering iron and put all this components together on the PCB ...

Link to this item: http://boutique.rhaaa.fr/49-kit-r%C3%A9gulateur-pwm.html

DIY ESS - Charger Side New Design tested with 6 Chargers

Last night, after wiring the last Grid Tie Inverters AC cables, and triple checking the leads polarities, I finally tested the new Charger Side design with 6 Chargers in parallel using the Forced Charge Mode of my LiFePO4 DIY ESS

Everything went  fine

6 Chargers Stack

Control Board overview

LiFePO4 DIY ESS overview

Wattson Anywhere Power Usage during the charge: one hour from 22:45 to 23:45

Dual Relay Programmable Voltmeter: voltage goes up nicely

and we are charging at 556.5W (/6 = 92.75W per charger, so a little less than a 100W)

New negative battery pack charger lead

CALB CA180FI Battery Pack with its protective see through lid 

ESS - Kilovac mounted on Control Board & first test

Now the EV200A1ANA is screwed on the Control Board and wired to the charger side command relay

First test on video

The resistor and capacitor are not soldered yet because I am not sure of the best location

I positionned them next to the other Kilovac EV200AAANA, because there is a hole on top of it - toscreww battery cables - and the heat generated by the 10W resistor will be able to get out of the enclosure  through it

The 6 chargers leads will be connected this week end

New charger side Tyco Kilovac Contactor positionned on the ESS Control Board

Work in progress ...

Last night, I removed the automotive 24V relay on the charger side and looked in to mounting the Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA contactor on the Control Board of the ESS

Also a one inch M6 bolt to hook all the negative leads of the 6 chargers to the negative of the battery pack 

The two contactors will be side by side, almost touching each other

The resistor and capacitor will be mounted on the side, vertically  

Electronic Parts Store : 2 Capacitors, 2 Resistors & more

Saturday, I finally went to an electronics dealer in the southern close suburb of Paris and found some resistors and capacitors of different values to test in my search of a decent Economizer for my Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA Contactor

As I was there I also got some wide Heat Shrink, and a Solder sucker

82 and 68 Ohms 10W resistors

3300uF and 2200uF 35V capacitors

And back home, I tried every combination of resistor and capacitor and finally found out that the 82Ohms resistor along with the 4700uF capacitor was OK, especially at - low - 25V starting voltage - when the pack is empty -

and comsumption is quite low, around 0,3A at 25V, which should be around 8W

So these are the components I will mount on the ESS Control Board along with / next to the EV200A1ANA contactor, as soon as I find time for this  

Economizer test under 24V for Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Last night I continued my resistor value testing this time with 2 12V AGM batteries wired in series to get a voltage similar to what I have on my ESS battery pack: more or less 26V (open circuit)



Trying different lengths of resistive wire, I test oif the contactor closes and stay closed, if it does not, I simply put less resistive length, meaning less resistance
Here I got a good result and the current going through the circuit is only 0.3A => power used = 0.3 x 26 = 7.8W

I then measure with an ohm meter the resistance value and will try find one approching this figure, here 86 Ohm
Of course, as the resistor uses current, the voltage drops, and the relay / contactor will eventually open, so I have to lower this value; Finally I decided to get a resistor of 75 Ohm after several tests

Low Cost Coil Economyzer Test for Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

I am still in search of an economizer for my new Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA

Last night, I tested different resistor values along with this 4700uF capacitor - I got for my Grid Tie Inverter repair previously - and found that the simple economizer described in this DIY Electric Car thread


seems to work . I could not find a resistor that works so I used this air dryer resistive wire again - alreday used on my mini bottom balancer - and cut a piece that was 10Ohms;

Closing the circuit bypassing the economizer, the relay closes and is using 3,5A

With the economizer, the contactor is closing and only 1A is going through the circuit - instead of 3,5A with no economizer -   

1A at 12V = 12W

I will have to try with 20Ohms and see if what it does ... The idea is to leave the relay closed using minimum current, thus minimum power

Testing Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA coil with 12V Battery

So this new Tyco Kilovac EV200A1ANA contactor requires an economizer to avoid coil overheating and getting damaged

Talking a lot on the phone and by mail about it with my dad, he told me to see if the coil was realy overheating and that is what I did using a small 12V AGM battery as a 12V source and also wired an ampmeter - in series - to see the current going in 

3,5A showing here and 3A after few minutes

Not showing on this picture but the temperature went up to 30°C when I left the power - 12V @ 3,5A - on the coil leads for more than 5 minutes, so it is getting warm and consuming some power - 36W or more -

I am still reading einteresting stuff online to make a simple economizer with a simple resistor and a capacitor ,in parallel, wired in series with the coil : http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/evdl-coil-economizer-13711.html