# Recommendations for controller for a Classic Mini Countryman



## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

Hi

Evenetic builded awesome controllers (I used Solion 1) and I strongly suggest you to buy a Soliton Jr instead of a Curtis 1231. More power capability, many nice feature, newer technologie, better value...

It's sad to said, but it's the only other good choice for 120v at this moment (I excluding Kelly controller). 
Maybe other member can suggest synkromotive controller, but for me this controller don't have serious sold volume (high quality?).


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## MalcolmB (Jun 10, 2008)

Hi Mark,
I don't have any personal experience with the Soliton Jr, but I scour the forums and Evnetics have got glowing reports for quality and ease of use. Maximum current for the Junior is 600 amps, but that should be ample for your mini. I'd love to hear more about your drivetrain or even better see some pics 

Malcolm


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi Malcolm,

Your Mini is beautiful! Is it electric now?

As I said, I'm using an AdvanceDC 203-06-4001 motor. I adapted that to a 1993 Honda Civic 5 speed manual transmission. I had to do major modifications to the front subframe to get everything to fit. Attached are some pictures of the drivetrain.

Thanks,
Mark


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## MalcolmB (Jun 10, 2008)

Thanks! That looks like a very well built subframe. It makes a really neat package. Mine's still not on the road yet, but hopefully this summer. Rather than getting driveshafts machined locally I decided to buy a lathe and learn how to use it...


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

klmhayes said:


> ...
> Does anyone have experience with the Soliton Jr, and would you recommend it? If not, why wouldn’t you recommend it?...


There are a number of people on here using the Soliton Jr. Two recent names that come to mind are lowcrawler and Yukon Shane. Why not send them a PM and ask them how they like it?

Disclaimer - I designed the Soliton controllers so I am not even remotely unbiased. That said, modern digital controllers have pretty much rendered purely analog controllers like the Curtis 1231C totally obsolete.


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## Yabert (Feb 7, 2010)

klmhayes said:


> I had to do major modifications to the front subframe to get everything to fit. Attached are some pictures of the drivetrain.


Whooooo! Nice subframe. I like it.
Good work.


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## Salty9 (Jul 13, 2009)

+1 On the subframe. Elegant.


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Thanks for all the inputs. I think I will go ahead and try the Soliton Jr. 

Tesseract - The car should weigh about 2200 lbs when it is done and my wife will be using it as a daily commuter in town. She is a very cautious driver, almost timid. That said I still want the car to be fairly peppy for when I drive it. Is the Soliton Jr the best choice for your two controllers for this application? Also, do you recommend water cooling even though the controller will have good airflow around it, will be mounted in the preffered orinentation, and will be mounted on a larger aluminum plate? 

Thank,
Mark
“Little Go Green” & “Go Green 2(Too)”(coming soon!)


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

I _always _recommend liquid cooling but every installation - and every driver - is different - so try running it on air cooling alone. Collect a few log files and if the temperature exceeds 75C at any time then you pretty much need liquid cooling. Keep in mind that the largest source of heat in an EV by far is the motor itself. If the exhaust air from the motor is blowing right on the controller then don't be surprised if the controller overheats rather quickly.

A Soliton Jr will give you peppy, but not blistering, performance, but that's also because you are intending to use a fairly low pack voltage. I would consider going with lower Ah cells but more of them if you need to keep the total capacity (and expense and volume) the same. Say 46 x 130Ah cells instead of 38 x 160Ah. The higher voltage will give you a better power band and minimize the number of shifts, more than likely only requiring two gears + reverse for all driving.


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

Saw this news article about your Austin-Healey conversion:

http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=151272445&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10227


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Tesseract said:


> Saw this news article about your Austin-Healy conversion:
> 
> http://www.nwcn.com/home/?fId=151272445&fPath=/news/local&fDomain=10227


The local news reporters came by my "shop" last Saturday to interview me about building my Mini and using EVs for commuting. The interview lasted for nearly 1 1/2 hours and I talked about many more news worthy items, like EV commuting, what it takes to convert a car, manufacturer built EVs, CNG, etc. I was surprised to see that their report was the lead story that evening and even more surprised that the report was mostly about the color of the car, not using gas, etc. 

It was a nice report and I had a good time with the reporters, but I was hoping to get out a more in-depth message about "green" commuting. Oh well, I tried!

I didn't know that the story was on NWCN website. It was also on the top of the MSN.com home page last Sunday.


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Tesseract said:


> I _always _recommend liquid cooling but every installation - and every driver - is different - so try running it on air cooling alone. Collect a few log files and if the temperature exceeds 75C at any time then you pretty much need liquid cooling. Keep in mind that the largest source of heat in an EV by far is the motor itself. If the exhaust air from the motor is blowing right on the controller then don't be surprised if the controller overheats rather quickly.
> 
> A Soliton Jr will give you peppy, but not blistering, performance, but that's also because you are intending to use a fairly low pack voltage. I would consider going with lower Ah cells but more of them if you need to keep the total capacity (and expense and volume) the same. Say 46 x 130Ah cells instead of 38 x 160Ah. The higher voltage will give you a better power band and minimize the number of shifts, more than likely only requiring two gears + reverse for all driving.


Great suggestion on the battery pack! Unfortunately, as you can see in the picture below, I already have my battery racks built and installed. I chose my battery pack to be similar to the lead acid pack I have in my Bugeye Sprite, even though I know I will not get the same peak “starting current” out of the LiFePo pack. Currently, even running 108V nominal voltage on my Sprite, I only ever use 2nd or 3rd around town, and 4th on the freeways, but rarely do I need to shift. Thanks for the suggestion though. I wish I would have had a better idea of what I was going to put in the Mini when I started the project nearly three years ago, but so many things were changing that I delayed my decisions as long as possible to hopefully be able to get the best combination of the most current technology available and components that I had good experiences with.

Thanks,
Mark


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi Tesseract,

Is there any advantage gained, for air cooling, by mounting the Soliton Jr to a large aluminum plate? Looking at the drawings for the Soliton Jr, it looks like there are standoff pads at the mounting hole to isolate the bottom of the unit from the mount. Would it be better to mount the unit on an open frame to get more airflow across the bottom? The Curtis controller on my Bugeye Sprite has a good thermal path through the bottom of the controller to a large mounting plate which acts as a heat sink. It looks like that is not the intent on your controllers.

Thanks again,
Mark


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

klmhayes said:


> ...
> Is there any advantage gained, for air cooling, by mounting the Soliton Jr to a large aluminum plate?...


Only insofar as that will tend to block hot air from the motor from impinging upon the controller, otherwise, no - the liquid cooling ports indicate where the heat-producing parts of the controller are at.


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## aeroscott (Jan 5, 2008)

liquid cooling takes less energy to move heat unless you have very high temp source that is higher then the liquid system can handle . That does not apply to ev's . Also very good at local hot spots , quieter .


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## klmhayes (Mar 18, 2009)

Hi Tesseract,

How well would a WarP-Drive dual Hall-effect throttle integrate with the Soliton Jr? Would the controller be able to fully utilize the dual sensors?

Thanks,
Mark


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

klmhayes said:


> ...
> How well would a WarP-Drive dual Hall-effect throttle integrate with the Soliton Jr? Would the controller be able to fully utilize the dual sensors?
> ...


Our controllers only have a single throttle signal input. I know at least one person is using the WarPDrive dual channel pedal with our controllers, but I don't recall the details of the installation, such as which wires were used, etc.


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## fb_bf (Jul 6, 2011)

I haven't been on the site for a few weeks, so I didn't see this thread till now. I have a '77 midget built with a 120 volt 160AH pack and a Soliton Jr. controller. The controller was very easy to set up, and I'm very happy with it. I have a Warp 9 Impulse motor that I think has a lower torque constant than your motor. With the 120 volts I can get 550 amps out to about 4200 RPM. I use the original transmission, and the midget drives very much like the gas one did. The torque at 550 amps is about the same as the peak torque from the gas engine. I agree with Tesseract about paying attention to the voltage of your pack to make sure your not having to shift too soon. I think your motor will put out 1.5X to 2X the torque of the 1275 engine at 500 amps. The Soliton Jr's 600 amp limit shouldn't be a problem as far a performance is concerned. Without seeing all of the details, I'd go with a higher voltage, low AH pack. If your worried about going over the 3C limit for batteries, you can set the controller to limit you to 3X 130AH, 390 battery amps. I'm also interested on how your car turns out. It should be very fun to drive. I got 112 miles off my 120V 160AH pack, down to 2.7 volts at 100 amp load in around town driving. This should give you and idea of what you'll get.


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