# Question about the inscrutible behavior of the Chinese controllers



## major (Apr 4, 2008)

Hi David,

It's been a while since we last spoke. Welcome to this place.

That controller KDH14801E will not regenerate with series wound motors no matter what Fany told you. Maybe with PM brushed motors, but not series.

Over the years I've learned Kelly never refunds money and always tries to take you up to the more expensive controller. 

Kelly was able to build quite a reputation on this board. Quite negative. I'd abandon Kelly if I were you and get a good controller.

Best Regards,

major


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## reikiman (Jul 5, 2009)

Hi Jeff, long time no see. I was probably stupid to get a replacement Kelly controller after the first one blew up (fire and everything) ... anyway, that's water under the bridge.

Was reading the description of the Zilla 1K and it looks pretty durn comprehensive compared to what I have. There's also the Curtis 1231 (IIRC). Anything else?


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## reikiman (Jul 5, 2009)

BTW I don't care about racing with this car - I just want to keep up safely with traffic. The Zilla 1K might be overkill in that regard, but that doesn't mean I can't turn it down to more sedate settings.


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## kennybobby (Aug 10, 2012)

Have you checked out the evnetics.com site--i think they make a controller for EV's such as the Soliton 1 or Jr?


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## major (Apr 4, 2008)

reikiman said:


> Was reading the description of the Zilla 1K and it looks pretty durn comprehensive compared to what I have. There's also the Curtis 1231 (IIRC). Anything else?


I wouldn't recommend the Curtis if you afford the Zilla or Soliton 1 or even the Soliton Jr. The Zilla is pretty much bullet proof and has good support from the drag EV guys as well as Manzanita. The Soliton is similar in power with a few more features and maybe more user friendly. It's designer is a regular on this board (Tesseract) and programmer (Qer) use to be quite active here. Both good guys I'd do business with.


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## gunnarhs (Apr 24, 2012)

reikiman said:


> I have a 1971 Karmann Ghia conversion - http://ekarmann.com
> 
> ...
> 
> ...


Hi we have been using the Kelly KDC-controller for our SepExMotors and they have been working quite well. As our SepEx motors are different and in some cases quite unique (Leroy Somer from Peugeot) we had to do some workarounds for adapting to our needs. In that cases Fany has been very helpful and I have a very positive experience from their feedback. Their software for the KDC-controller offers very flexible settings but also requires detailed knowledge of the underlying Motor as mistakes can smoke the controller. However when we wanted to use the new opto-isolated HSE-series we ran into some of the "tracking" -problems you mention here, even if your problem is different regarding the type of motor.
At that time Fany recommended us to go back to KDC (for shunt) /KDZ for better tracking, the drawback was of course the lesser power and lesser isolation. This is only an option if working with voltage <= 120V and ampere <= 600 (meaning continuous < 200 A, about 20 KW).
I have not tested Kelly-series - DC-controllers but doubt that they have more continuous power than 20-30kW. The reason: their price of 1000 USD. They have however the best support software (for windows at least). So even though Fany is a great guy I am quite sure that the other KDH he offered will not solve all your problems. But to make sure you can send me the configuration of your controller, maybe I can see something (?)
For our DC-Series which have lower voltage we have been using Curtis controllers (older version) but at lower voltages. They suck for software config but usually work well with (recommended) matching DC series-motor even without configuration. But don't expect them to put out 50 kW continuous. They hold max current better than Kelly though.
As you have a rather high voltage for DC I would look for DC-controllers supporting high voltage AND with software support. Soliton looks good in that case and I have only heard good about it (not tested it myself), I would go for it. What speaks for them is that they provide power in their specs (which says more than continuous/max current as it is not necessary applied at all voltage range)


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## arklan (Dec 10, 2012)

sounds to me like it might possibly be the throttle box


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## reikiman (Jul 5, 2009)

UPDATE: Yes, it's more to do with the potbox ... but that doesn't seem to be the whole story.

I measured the potbox at maximum throttle (put an old battery on the foot pedal, then measure ohms at the connector to the controller). The most it would read was about 4.3kohms - 4.5kohms. Obviously the controller wasn't seeing full throttle.

I changed the location of the potbox so that the cable is tighter, and now the maximum is about 4.9-5.0kohms.

The car does behave better. It still gets into situations where the power poops out, but the car power recovers more quickly.

I carefully read the manuals for the Zilla and SolitonJr. I'd lean strongly towards the SolitonJr, it looks like an excellent choice. As it is the performance is better enough that this isn't the highest priority. Plus, I don't have a garage anymore in which to do the work necessary to swap the controller.


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## PThompson509 (Jul 9, 2009)

I had a similar problem with my EV - turns out the potbox was slipping. This was proven to me when I kept pushing on the go-pedal and nothing happened. Pulled off to the side of the road. Cycled power. Got *some* go power, but that went away. After I got home, I measured the resistance of the potbox and got different values for full pedal.

I ended up replacing the potbox with the Curtis FP-6. Works MUCH better than the older no-brand PT-6.

(I bought it from KTA-EV - very happy with that).

Cheers, Peter


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