# Zapi H2B - good or bad?



## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

Hello electro-addicts,
just bought everything for my EV and was about to purchase a new curtis controller but the sales man said he had a Zapi H2B for 250euro, second hand repaired - 80V 450A.

After saying curtis cannot cope up with their orders and said 2-3 months I'm somehow considering the zapi option althouth I know nothing of them. 

Reasearched the forum here and some say it's good some not. If the only problem is the regenerative breaking making it blow off I'm ok cause I won't be using it.

If anyone can enlighten me on what am I looking at would be very thankful!

Regards


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2011)

If I am not mistaken the Zapi H2 is a sepex motor controller. If you purchased a sepex motor then the Zapi will do you just fine. How much are they asking for the Zapi? Is your motor a SepEx? What is the cost of the Curtis? Why go with a low amperage controller? Why not spend the extra money on a better controller designed for automobiles rather than industrial equipment. 80V system seems rather low. I started with a 72 volt system and it was just about as anemic as a local golf cart. I am now up to 120 volts and quite happy but would love even more. 

Back to the Zapi. Zapi controllers are usually quite expensive anyway but over here in the States are almost nonexistent and near impossible to have someone fix them. They work great but are in my opinion old and outdated. You must have a special box to configure them and when I last checked on price so I could do the changes myself the cost for the console was $500 bucks. Otherwise your stuck. 

Get a controller you can configure yourself at home with your computer that will not cost you anything extra. A couple come to mind. Zilla, Soliton1, Synkromotive, Curtis, Kelly. Kelly is at the bottom of the heap at this time for many of the controllers offered. Fine for golf carts and industrial equipment but not so hot for heavy on the road cars. Curtis is next in line. The first three listed are designed for cars and not industrial equipment. 

In a nut shell, Stay away from Zapi. Not that they are bad but for the same price I'd almost bet you could get much better. I'd also say don't bother with low voltage for an on the road car. You will want better right away and the problem will be you just spent your money and now you must do it again. Don it once, Get the what you want not what you can afford. You can always save but spend once not twice. 

Regen even with a Zapi at highway speeds can kill either the motor, controller or both. for low speeds its fine. AC motors are best for regen. Curtis has an excellent setup for an ac system if your vehicle is light enough. Like a fiberglass replica porsche. Then low voltage and the curtis AC system would be great. Not killer speeds but still worthy of doing if you have the money. Pricy but not out of the world pricy. 

Pete


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## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

My motor is Kostov 80V from an old forklift - series wound motor. The Cost of the zapi is 330$ (about 225 euro). In the zapi H2B manual at page 5 I can see:*DC wire wound serie 4 cables* so it should be ok. They guys said it was repaired - which means it once got broken 

For the curtis 120V (400-450A) the cost is 1000$ witout VAT (meaning 1200$). And 2-3 months shipping is just silly.

My project would be something similar of the forkenswift. Daewoo damas from the scrap, nicads SAFT SBM 112 from the scrap (but look quite new), semi-assembled charger from Valery and somekind of cheap controller.

The bus would be just for the city so no need beyond 35-40 mph. And actually it's just and experiment.

Last chance would be Paul and Sabrina but not sure if I would be able to assemble it...


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2011)

Well it sounds like a very good matched setup. Guess the H2 is series and not sepex. I think the problem will be with the charger fir your saft batteries. They require a proper algorithm. Good batteries. Look up on how to revive them and care for them. See if you can find a proper used charger. Are these nicad cells? I am assuming, yes.


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## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

yes nicads flooded. 

I've already purchased the semi-assembled charger. I know they need a special algo, hope Valery has done it good. The charger is with arduino so I guess will be able to modify it for max performance although it's not very clear in the battery manual how to charge them exactly. 

So the Zapi H2B is suitable for me? Do you think it would have a reverse so that I won't use a gearbox? Or the car won't take the uphills?(about 2500lbs)


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Hi

This controller at this price seem a good option for you.

The only really important thing you need to understand is:
With this controller, your peak power at motor shaft will be around 26 Kw (35 hp) if your battery can provide enough power and probably around 10-15 Kw continious..... well, you need to know if that power will be enough for you.

I think you need to compare with the original engine power of your bus to know if that will be enough to achive your 35-40 mph goal.


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## Guest (Jun 1, 2011)

For reverse you need reversing contactors set up on your rig. Chances are good that the motor is neutral timed too which is good. Other wise use your transmission which I fully recommend anyway. Low voltage systems benefit from using the transmission. The easy way is just use your transmission. Less complex electrical setup. A 2500 lb vehicle is not terrible at all. I built my first EV using a VW Ghia and 72 volts. It would do 65 mph and did well up to about 45 mph when it would then take a bit before it would reach 65. It could with a touch extra distance make it getting onto our freeway. Around town it did great. Not quick but would keep up good enough with traffic. Best to use about 96 volts minimum if you can. I think your setup may be a bit lethargic but it might prove OK for your needs. Hard to say. It will however move. 

The charger will be the biggest issue. Nicads require specific needs for charge function but its more to let the charger know when to stop charging. Nicads are different than lead or lithium. Similar to NiMh and NiFe. Excellent batteries for what they are and they should provide good life and decent power. Not race car class but good. The benefits of nicads are long life and easy to revive from dormancy. Read up on it. 

http://www.evdl.org/lib/index.html

Scroll down to nickel based batteries and read it all. Then re-read it then re-read it. Be sure you know what your doing. 

Pete


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## Mad Professor (Dec 18, 2010)

Have you seen and or read my post here: http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56757

I will also be using a Zapi controller but it is only the 48volt version.

I also put up on youtube a little video of me testing the zapi and motor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pxRu1JyMWM


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## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

thanks for the link gottdi! I already have it. I might consider putting the transmission as it would save me some money on contactors and cables.
Will make sure to take a good care after the batteries.

If I have a 80V controller how many cells should I put? (1.2V nominal each). 72V nominal? 72/1.2 = 60 cells? Would it be a problem if the voltage of the battery pack goes beyond the 80V? Books say voltage will be fluctuating between 1.0-1.6V.

Mad Professor, quite impressing you've managed to evade those 400 pounds . I hope I won't be needing to edit any settings. If I do, you might share some info on the serial cable 

Thanks Guys!


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## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

ok I got this motor turning. I had quite a luck with that one cause one guy gave me the same 80V zapi h2b (but blown) with the contactors and pedal for a bottle of wiskey.

The zapi has a contactor check so without its contactors it's flashing 8 times the led and doing nothing. They are 80V contactors. If you don't have them I guess you will need to run it into pump mode but you will need a gearbox and a programator as usually they are set in regenerative mode.

I'm hoping to fix the blow off zapi and have a spear part or use it for another project ... let's say an E-buggy 

Unfortunatelly I will need to invite the forklift specialist to program the controller according to my needs - another bottle of wiskey... omg why do we use money at all?

Some say these controllers are trash some say it's just that they are more complicated to use.

Btw after we checked the setup of the contactors we saw that 2 cables were switched and I guess this was the reason the zapi has blown off.

The only thing left is the charger  anyone having a spare *MG400Q1US41 IGBT Module? 
*


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## alexcrouse (Mar 16, 2009)

bgoner said:


> The only thing left is the charger  anyone having a spare *MG400Q1US41 IGBT Module?
> *


I actually have 4 of them, I'm using them for my senior project. I got them off eBay for 25$ each from CTR_Surplus. Send them a message, Amanda will hook you up!


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## bgoner (Feb 16, 2011)

Thanks alex, actually I just ordered one few hours ago. Had trouble cause they wouldn't send it to Bulgaria and made it through a friend in the US. Despite this I will have it for future reference!


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