Another ESC bites the dust... in a hellfire inferno

AlexLTDLX

AlexLTDLX

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That's right, my $1,700 APD ESC died after less than a second of run time. I'll pull together a video shortly (I actually got it at least partially on video this time - at least until I threw the camera down to grab the fire extinguisher). Until I get the video done, imagine what it took to generate this puddle of molten aluminum:

AluminumPuddleSmall.jpg

The other impressive part - the batteries dropped less than a volt doing that. At least I think I'm good for batteries for a while...

I should add I'm lucky the car isn't destroyed and my house didn't burn down. Just a reminder that this is pretty darn dangerous.
 
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It was fused - the fuses show some signs of heat, but they didn't blow. WB Projects showed me a fire extinguisher he was given as a gift on the zoom call last night - I think that's what all of us should be asking for this Christmas. I know I'll be stocking up. It really reminded me just how dangerous these things can be - remember my stick welding video where I couldn't keep the arc struck because the current was too high? Imagine twice the voltage, with a plasma arc inside a small, billet aluminum box. You can hear it in the video (but alas, you can't see it, because I was too busy trying to keep my car and house from burning down).

I'll try to shoot/edit the rest of the autopsy tonight. Suffice it to say, I'm seriously considering a different vendor after two failures. Thankfully, I wasn't driving the car at the time.
 
The plasma arc damn near sawed the bottom half of the case in half. The irony - everything else still works and appears to be fine. Even the motor.
 
It was reeally painful to watch this video!
But certainly the PAIN is on your end MUCH higher. Sorry for that, Bro!
 
Sorry for the disaster.

Could you have a look at the ESC from the VESC project of Benjamin Vedder? It has one model rated for 75V/300A & another for 100V/250A. I am not trying to sell you anything, just looks that it has better build quality and that guy Benjamin Vedder has a youtube channel too and shows how he developed the ESC!

One other thing the fuse ratings should have been of 300A for a start. Fuses don't just blow up instantly!
 
I've already been emailing with Frank over at Trampa about that ESC. It's too small for my application; since we saturated the TP Power motor at 14kW, I'm switching to an LMT 30100; rated at 40kW. He did inform me that there's a bigger ESC coming out soon. We expect to push 550 amps continuous through the new motor (we were pushing 340 amps continuous through the TP Power motor on the battery connections; 281 amps per phase). Obviously, a 300 amp fuse would be inadequate. Then there's voltage drop across the fuse to take into account. A 300 amp fuse would cause excessive voltage drop. Interestingly, in my plasma tests (I did try stick welding with one of these packs); we hit peaks in the 230 amp region; using that benchmark 300 amp fusing wouldn't have helped anyway. These are fast-blow type fuses, fwiw - not saying they blow right away, but there's no delay in them. Finally, the fuses are there to protect against pack failure - which can deliver 900 amps continuous - and catastrophic failure; like a direct short. Not ESC failure. I can't think of a scenario where 300 amp fuses would be a benefit (or not blow during a normal pass, for that matter, particularly at the 550 amp level).
 
I guess the ESC rated at 800A from MGM-Controllers does not fit your build because of your battery pack voltage 70V. If only Benjamin Vedder could be interested in designing a higher amperage rated controller!

What is your horsepower goal at the V8 crankshaft, is it still between (600 and 700)Hp or has it moved up to 1000Hp?
 
I can pull 1 cell from each pack and be at 62.4 volts at my desired cell charge voltage (2.4 volts per cell) - that's actually not a big deal. The VESC, while rated at 75 volts, is supposed to run at 67 volts or less, due to voltage spikes - that's per Frank at Trampa.

I don't so much have a goal in mind (though beating a Tesla Plaid would give me a warm and fuzzy feeling) as much as I'd like to max out this compressor. Vortech rates it at 775hp; but because I'm starting with a good deal of power N/A, 825-850 hp should be achievable, though it starts entering the choke area of the map at that point. It's made close to 900hp at the crank before; this was about 875 with the Whipple (in the beginning of the video; racing a motorcycle):


Keep in the mind the Whipple's only rated to 725-750; but I was overspinning the hell out of it. The IATs were so high it would melt 10-15lbs of ice in 1 pass (A/W intercooler).
 
If i was you id buy one of these. This looks like it could actually achieve your goals. i really like the double cable terminals everywhere. And hay if it can only work at 50% of the 800a ( like every other ESC ) then you should still be good for 400A ish.

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