# zilla cooling



## dougingraham (Jul 26, 2011)

arklan said:


> i want to know how many amps the zilla can do continuously with no cooling at all


I assume you mean no water cooling. The official answer is probably none as it was not designed for air cooling. I would guess you could do between 5 and 10 amps unless you wrap it up in an insulator as that much heat will be radiated anyway. Pretty much not a useful thing to do. The Soliton 1 and Jr can do quite a lot air cooled only and will taper back to keep themselves safe. I am guessing the Zilla would do this too and after a very short period of time it would limit you to 10 amps. Evnetics also recommends water cooling but I went 2 years without it on a Soliton 1 and I think with modest expectations you would be plenty happy running this way. But not the Zillas.


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## Hollie Maea (Dec 9, 2009)

Nice info. 

Do you know the pressure drop when running 8 liters per minute?


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## EVfun (Mar 14, 2010)

I have run my Zilla without water. You can almost get away with it in a 1200 lb EV. I can make the 4 mile run to work, including about 2 miles hammering it on the freeway, without a heat warning so the copper mass gives some hang time. I can go 6 miles north while losing 500 feet in elevation without an issue, but the return trip will start flashing the temp light.

I wouldn't worry to much about flow unless you live in the desert. I had a simple thermo siphon system at one point and it worked fine in the buggy. Any decent small pump and radiator is likely to work, just make sure you provide expansion room so you don't exceed a safe pressure.

I used computer coolant in my thermo siphon system. My system held about one pint. It would not be enough for a larger car, but I bet with a small pump it would be fine for a compact car in Seattle.


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## zapyourrideguy (Oct 25, 2012)

my 2 cents I had a zilla 1k running with liquid cooling and noticed that the sierra brand of coolant recommended (for eco reasons) was fairly viscous and that when I thinned it with water my pump had an easier time pushing it through an oil cooler and back to the expansion tank. I had the pump quit on several occasions and the zilla does cut back power, I think it probably shortens its life though, so I avoided that.


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