# [EVDL] 2 Curtis Failures



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Two of my friends have had a Curtis 1231C fail in the last six months.

Has anyone on the list had a good result with a Curtis repair? And, if 
you have, can you please supply contact information?

In both of these cases the Curtis was probably getting hot and working 
too hard on hills. Has anyone used a liquid cooling plate with these 
controllers? Anybody have a successful solution to that problem? The two 
EV's are in the San Diego area, so it can get hot and there are lots of 
hills.

Thanks,

Tom

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

> Tom Jones wrote:
> 
> > Two of my friends have had a Curtis 1231C fail in the last six months.
> >
> ...


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

The Curtis 1231C can be repaired here [email protected] The price would depend
on what is needed to fix it.
email me for mailing instructions

Al

--
View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/2-Curtis-Failures-tp3558139p3558933.html
Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

2 years after the factory rebuild for my Curtis 1231C controller I had
another failure. I am convinced that it was caused by over heating. City
driving, standard air-cooled heat-sink with fan on top, behind the battery
box. 

Does anyone manufacture a cooling plate specifically for this model? I'm
considering having it rebuilt for 1000 amps and driving like as I was in the
200-300 amp range up hills. 

Here's the current specs: http://www.evalbum.com/3662
http://www.evalbum.com/3662 




--
View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/2-Curtis-Failures-tp3558139p4657515.html
Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

The previous owner of my daily driver ( http://www.evalbum.com/4181) which
has a Curtis 1221-B, created a liquid cooling system for it which passes
through a heat exchanger under the aluminum mounting plate for the
controller. It is driven by an automotive fuel pump (12v), and has a
cooling loop that runs inside the frame around under the car. I don't care
for the continuous sound of the pump, joined in symphony with the vacuum
pump for brakes, but I haven't had any controller issues yet--which I was
concerned about when I changed from 108v lead/acid to an LiFePo4 pack that
charges to 140v, and sits around 133 in no-load times in driving. I very
seldom drop below 120v under load--only on one significant hill on my
return home, and even then, only as I get in the last 30% of my range.
Michael B
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/private/ev/attachments/20120826/1c3d495f/attachment.html 
_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Lee, your advice on the cooling of Curtis controllers is RIGHT on the money.
All users of any controllers, DC and AC should take your advice. I have
always used water cooling on all of my customers installations and to my
knowledge, none have had a failure. Heat is probably the culprit to early
failure.



--
View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/2-Curtis-Failures-tp3558139p4657526.html
Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Sounds interesting. Any chance of getting contact info for the former owner
who did the cooling design for the Curtis controller? 




--
View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/2-Curtis-Failures-tp3558139p4657527.html
Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

Lee,

I just noticed your new tag in your signature!!!!
Fantastic! Good for you!

Rush
www.TucsonEV.com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
> Behalf Of Lee Hart

> Lee A. Hart http://www.sunrise-ev.com/LeesEVs [email protected]




_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------



## EVDL List (Jul 27, 2007)

I am not that familiar with the 1231

but am familiar with the 1236 & 1238 AC controllers

Will hit thermal cut off, shut down. 195 degrees or so.

They will not operate without a heat sink or cold plate.

I made several for electric motorsport.

Did yours hit thermal cut back fault and quit working till cooled off?

Does the 1231 have a thermal cut Off?

In the programming?

Seems it would shut off from thermal cut off many times before total Failure 
.

Yours does have a heat sink on it?

A heatshink will keep controller below thermal cut off

So maybe it is operating at 160- 180 degrees

maybe this is too high operating temperature over time

The controller burns out?

These are forklift controllers

So remember sitting on your forklift

The controller is bolted to all that large amount of iron

huge heatsink

Curtis manual does state you need a heatsink

Have a thermometer on controller/heatsink?
I have some aluminum plate and copper tube laying around

Cold plate will keep below 120-130 degrees

Using a 120 degree on switch for pump. Could go less

But on a 100 degree day in sun controller will be 100 degrees

I could make you a cold plate for ya

I'll email you off photo album

Marco



From: lectrk <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [EVDL] 2 Curtis Failures
To: [email protected]
Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

2 years after the factory rebuild for my Curtis 1231C controller I had
another failure. I am convinced that it was caused by over heating. City
driving, standard air-cooled heat-sink with fan on top, behind the battery
box.

Does anyone manufacture a cooling plate specifically for this model? I'm
considering having it rebuilt for 1000 amps and driving like as I was in the
200-300 amp range up hills.

Here's the current specs: http://www.evalbum.com/3662
http://www.evalbum.com/3662





_______________________________________________
| Moratorium on drag racing discussion is in effect.
| Please take those discussions elsewhere. Thanks.
|
| REPLYING: address your message to [email protected] only.
| Multiple-address or CCed messages may be rejected.
| UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
| OTHER HELP: http://evdl.org/help/
| CONFIGURE: http://lists.sjsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/ev


----------

