Quality of Kelly Controllers

Hi all. I have an electric ATV off road wheelchair thing I'm building and I am using a Perm 132 motor and an alltrax SR72300 controller. I was advised by the guy at the local EV supply shop to stay away from the Kelly controller I had purchased and his reasoning was that they tend to fail under high regenerative braking currents. Has anyone had this problem or can comment on the quality of Kelly controllers in general? It would be great to have regenerative braking! My batteries can output 200A max at 72V. I'm just wondering if this 400A controller would be a solid option:

https://www.kellycontroller.com/shop/kpm/

They are OK. I have been running mine with 20S leaf cells and a 5KW motor for 4 1/2 years now and it is still working fine.

I've never owned a Kelly, but have seen many. I was involved with TTXGP for a few seasons back 10 years ago. Maybe half the bikes ran Kelly's. There were bits and pieces of Kelly all over tracks in NA and EU. Looking at post mortem and attempted repairs in the paddock, Kelly internals sucked in design, construction and quality. Word was to go with twice the rating you need and carry a spare. Company offers technical assistance, warranty replacement or credit towards upgrade but never a refund, so I hear. I've never seen a Kelly on a commercial vehicle unlike Curtis, Sevcon or Alltrax. You could look into a surplus golf cart controller.
Regards,
major

I’ve killed five kelly KLS controller in short time (then i switched brand) they are poor quality. Some members here reviewed the design, it was also poor.

I blew up a kelly controller it was kelly kac 8080i. I’m repairing it now not sure if it was my newly built battery box shorting the motor outputs as I road over a tree branch that was growing under the asphalt. or the regen problem people seem to mention. Either way Kelly set me up so I voided my warranty and I probably never buy their products again for the lack of customer service and support.

I have a Kelly KLS7245N
https://www.kellycontroller.com/shop/kls-mn/

Two things I dislike about it:
-it's very slow from 0RPM and in very low speeds, its probably got some hardcoded ramp that limits the powerin slow RPMs and nothign can be done about it
- Their current rating are for the motor, so even though it says 350A 30S peak, it never ever even comes close to that, the highest current it ever pulls from the battery is 90A. If you battery can do 200A, you probably can buy their 800A rated one and it will barely come close to pulling 200A.

I have done this to two controllers:

Alexanderfoti said:

I have done this to two controllers:

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Yikes what was the root cause


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Too high a current setting.....

Alexanderfoti said:

Too high a current setting.....

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IMO, a quality controller would protect itself from too high a current regardless of the settings.

major

Yes, certainly. Only when the controller is unlocked would it be the responsibility of the user to set ”correct” parameters

major said:

Alexanderfoti said:

Too high a current setting.....

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IMO, a quality controller would protect itself from too high a current regardless of the settings.

major

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I agree completely. If I set 100% it should allow the maximum rated current of the controller...... not blow up at 65%

I have to say something.

redmouse said:

- Their current rating are for the motor, so even though it says 350A 30S peak, it never ever even comes close to that, the highest current it ever pulls from the battery is 90A. If you battery can do 200A, you probably can buy their 800A rated one and it will barely come close to pulling 200A.

Click to expand...

I like my old KEB72330. None of this "slow to start" stuff.. It can wheelie off the line and moving up to the middle RPM of my setup... It has a "block time", so it does " stall" in about a second when the wheel is locked it doesnt go overcurrent and blow or anything.. and.. I have mine set to MAX and regularrly pull 7,900w out of this "3.3Kw" controller. I have datalogs of 0-40 in ten seconds ( itsa little ebike, thats fast for me. ). Runs 3Kw happily, and I regularrly see 90A+ on the shunt on the battery even though it is a "50/100A" controller. I have no idea if this is phase or battery amps... but peak I have seen on the datalogs out my battery is about 8Kw? 107A. On ~80v ona "3.3Kw" controller. Sits there at 3-3.5Kw out the battery at about 38mph. I am pretty sure I have seen > 50A continuously for over 30s. Strong enough, that on startup, you have to limit or cut the throttle or end up on your butt... Certainly.

I would buy another. It (mine) was purchased used and I have used it for over 1000 mile, and my purchase was a good on IMO. At new price, if it lasts five years, that is enough miles for me to feel like it paid off. I dont know much about "poor design " or things like that. Mine just works, doesnt blow up and is fun. I am not racing or anything. I did size the motor ( hoping ) so it wouldnt bog @ voltage with the Kv and wheelsize: used a known good combo... ... and it works good.

I got a ton of logs fom the thing if anyone is interested. I honestly like it. I dont know how other controllers stack up:.

larsb said:

Yes, certainly. Only when the controller is unlocked would it be the responsibility of the user to set ”correct” parameters

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A good controller wouldn't allow usage beyond it's hardware abilities regardless of any settings.

MOdifying hte hardware (like "shunt mods") would bypass that, but then it's not the controller's problem anymore, cuz it has no idea what is actually happening.

Yes, agreed, what i mean is that Sabvotons and some Votols have been sold unlocked / under no warranty, user can set a gazillion amps if they want to. In these cases it's the responsibility of the user if they use the controller outside of the max ratings and it blows.