Wiring Help

[n1866878]

Hi,
I'm working on a electric project and I just needed some help. I'm using a Kelly Controller KDZ48401 with an ME0909.
ME0909 is 48V, 100A cont and 300A for 30 seconds.
We have decided we will use two batteries - a 48V main one and a 18V to power just the controller (controller takes anything from 18->60V, only 150mA). My issue is that my circuit diagram is quite different to what Kelly Controller's example one is

Their Example:

My one:

Solution 1: 48V Main Battery -> 325A Fuse (or 400A) -> Controller B+. Controller M+ -> ME0909 motor
18V Secondary -> 1A Fuse -> Key Switch -> Toggle Switch(behind brake) -> Controller PWR
Solution 2: 48V Main Battery -> 325A Fuse (or 400A) -> 2x 48VDC 250A circuit breakers in parallel ->Controller B+. Controller M+ -> ME0909 motor
18V Secondary -> 1A Fuse -> Key Switch -> Toggle Switch(behind brake) -> Controller PWR

Keep in mind I'm using 2/0 AWG wire everywhere

Q1: Do I need the circuit breakers in Solution 2 or will 1 work.
Q2: Will a 400A fuse be fine? (It's cheaper than the 325A)
Q3: Why does their diagram have this contactor and so many diodes. (Keep in mind, I don't want any reversing)

Ultimately, is my solution okay?

 

[amberwolf]

We have decided we will use two batteries - a 48V main one and a 18V to power just the controller (controller takes anything from 18->60V, only 150mA).

Just curious: why separate batteries? Means you have to carry two separate chargers (three, if you have yet another battery for lighting), for recharging other than at home (and/or it doubles or triples the number of chargers to keep at alternate charging locations), as well as the separate battery(ies).

FWIW, it's usually easier for us to help if you tell us / show us what the project is for, because there are often details a builder may not think of that one of us may have experience with.

It's also easier if you keep a project in a single thread, otherwise those already helping in one have no idea you have other questions or details that could be important to correctly answering the questions they are trying to help with in the thread they're already helping in.

And you have to repeat yourself answering questions about your project you've answered in other threads.

My issue is that my circuit diagram is quite different to what Kelly Controller's example one is

Their Example:

For whatever reason, that image doesn't come up. If you attach it to the post using the attachments tab, it will. But I have looked up various Kelly diagrams before, so I can guess what it shows as a typical one.

My one:

Solution 1: 48V Main Battery -> 325A Fuse (or 400A) -> Controller B+. Controller M+ -> ME0909 motor
18V Secondary -> 1A Fuse -> Key Switch -> Toggle Switch(behind brake) -> Controller PWR
Solution 2: 48V Main Battery -> 325A Fuse (or 400A) -> 2x 48VDC 250A circuit breakers in parallel ->Controller B+. Controller M+ -> ME0909 motor
18V Secondary -> 1A Fuse -> Key Switch -> Toggle Switch(behind brake) -> Controller PWR

Keep in mind I'm using 2/0 AWG wire everywhere

Even for the low power secondary? Seems a bit overkill, if so.

Q1: Do I need the circuit breakers in Solution 2 or will 1 work.

Without the breakers, and no main switch, you don't have any way to disconnect the battery from the controller without actually physically disconnecting it. But just a fuse would work fine as far as a final line of protection against a fire in case of short circuit in wiring past the battery.

One disadvantage to not having a way to just flip a switch to disconnect the battery from the controller and motor is that in a brushed controller, it's easily possible for a FET failure to cause a locked-on-full-throttle condition, that you cannot control in any other way than disconnecting the battery from the motor, one way or another. That's tough to do without a switch, breaker, or contactor, unless you can easily reach the battery-to-controller or cotnroller-to-motor connector and it's phsyically possible to yank it out, while you're riding an out of cotnrol vehicle that's trying it's best to go as fast as it can right now. :/

If your brakes are strong enough to put enough of a load on the motor/controller to force it to draw more than the fuse's rating for long enough, then that will disconnect it, I suppose.

Q2: Will a 400A fuse be fine? (It's cheaper than the 325A)

The question would be:

Will the 400A fuse, according to it's spec sheet, blow within the time limit needed at a current level low enough to preserve the controller/wiring/etc. from a short circuit?

Q3: Why does their diagram have this contactor and so many diodes. (Keep in mind, I don't want any reversing)

Contactors are so that you can use a precharge each time it's turned on, to fill the capacitors inside the controller more slowly, and not weld the connections as you hook up the battery to it. Look up KFF (kentucky fried fingers) and you can see some of what happens as a large current arcs across a connection. (most of the KFF is from hooking things up backwards or shorting things, but some of it is from unprecharged battery-to-controller connections).

It's also so you can cut power from the controller without large expensive breakers or switches with heavy gauge wiring to the dashboard or handlebars (if that's where you want the control to be; it usually is). Instead you can use just a tiny little switch to control the contactor.

They are also for reversing, but as you say, you don't want that function.


Diodes are to prevent inductive feedback into other things out of relay/contactor coils, and to prevent any possiblity of reverse connections (which can instantly destroy components).

Ultimately, is my solution okay?

Depends on your needs. If you don't need precharge, or any quick/easy way to disconnect the battery from the controller, it's probably ok.

If you need any of those functions, you'd want to adopt the relevant sections of the Kelly diagram.

 

[n1866878]

It's for an electric go-kart. Seperate batteries because we don't have enough space to have all the batteries in one place so we had to split it up.

2/0 AWG only for the 48V stuff. The rest will be much smaller gauge. This is the wire in particular
https://www.ebay.com/itm/70mm2-Black-Red-485-A-Amps-Flexible-PVC-Battery-Welding-Cable-FREE-LUG-PER-METRE/192371163817
Listing says 485A

Diagram: https://puu.sh/B8lBV/97d073b924.png

With regards to the fuse - it says it's a 400A ANE fuse, the controller can handle 400A and from the wiring listing that should handle 485A. Not sure about the lugs. Would it be safer to get a 300A fuse? Because the 325A one is expensive. The motor will draw 100A cont and 300A for 30 seconds so not sure if it will burn out in 30 seconds if I use a 300a fuse.
http://kellycontroller.com/ane-300a-fuse-p-197.html

With regards to the contactor - what about this one?
http://kellycontroller.com/emergency-contactor-kemg-125a-125a-continuous-p-1176.html
Could I just use this as a way for precharge and for an emergency main battery disconnect? Or do I need something like these
http://kellycontroller.com/main-contactor-zjw-48vdc-coils-400amps-p-90.html

I'm just worried about what you said about a FET failing. Will my key switch and toggle switch under the brake that turns off controller power not be enough to stop the motor?
Everytime we store the kart - we will be removing the batteries.

 

[amberwolf]

It's for an electric go-kart. Seperate batteries because we don't have enough space to have all the batteries in one place so we had to split it up.

Splitting up the batteries for space doesn't really have anything to do with using separate ones for the "brain" power to the controller vs the "traction" power to the controller/motor.

What is the reason for doing that?

If the reason is because of space, well, it actually takes more space to do it with separate batteries, and takes more wiring, making the system more complicated.

It does lower the voltage requirements for the keyswitch and other switches in line, I guess.

Diagram: https://puu.sh/B8lBV/97d073b924.png

cant' see the linked page (doesnt' come up for me; just sits and spins waiting for it to open), but if it's the same as the one you attached it doesn't matter.

With regards to the fuse - it says it's a 400A ANE fuse, the controller can handle 400A and from the wiring listing that should handle 485A. Not sure about the lugs. Would it be safer to get a 300A fuse? Because the 325A one is expensive. The motor will draw 100A cont and 300A for 30 seconds so not sure if it will burn out in 30 seconds if I use a 300a fuse.

http://kellycontroller.com/ane-300a-fuse-p-197.html
I don't know which fuse you need specifically, but it'll be whatever fuse is designed to handle the current you need for hte length of time you need it, but that will definitely blow before your wiring will even come close to failing.

Its safer to go with a lower A fuse but it might not be sufficient for your needs. I suppose if you found the system pops fuses but doesnt' heat the wiring up, you could either go to a higher one or reprogram the controller to a lower peak current limit, if it has that option.

FWIW, that's one more advantage of a breaker--if its' rated less than the fuse, then the fuse is just to protect your wiring in case of catastrophic failures, and the breaker can be reset in between tuning the system to keep power usage below the critical point (but you still have to rate the parts high enough to work withiin the power usage you have to have to do the work you want). But it's not necessary, just handy.

With regards to the contactor - what about this one?
http://kellycontroller.com/emergency-contactor-kemg-125a-125a-continuous-p-1176.html
Could I just use this as a way for precharge and for an emergency main battery disconnect?

Well, that' just an emergency disconnect. So it disconnects the systme when you hit the button on it. It has no low-current/low-voltage control, its just always on if it's pulled out. So it has to be mounted where you can reach it, but it also has to have the main battery supply wiring directly to it, so it may lenghten your large gauge cable runs.

it's also only rated for 125A, with no peak rating given. I don't know what the shorter burst currents would do to it (maybe nothingg if it's well-built).

Precharge you can do iwth a separate low-current switch and resistor if you like. See the kelly diagrams for taht sort of thing. Or Curtis diagrams; they often show them n the club car / etc drawings. There's also discussions around ES about precharge setups, some with pics or diagrams.

Or do I need something like these
http://kellycontroller.com/main-contactor-zjw-48vdc-coils-400amps-p-90.html

That would probably work; you'd just use a small keyswitch or other switch to control the 48vdc coil at low current, which can disconnect the main battery power from the system by turning off the contacts in the contactor.

I'm just worried about what you said about a FET failing. Will my key switch and toggle switch under the brake that turns off controller power not be enough to stop the motor?

No, because at that point the controlelr is "dead", and is just acting as a wire to feed full battery current and voltage thru the shorted FETs into the motor.

The only things that can stop that are the fuse blowing, or something else (breaker, switch, contactor, unplugging battery) breaking the circuit.

If you are using connectors in there, you could use one as a safety disconnect. If you look around the forum or google, people havve used the Anderson SB-series in this way. I did it for a while as an antitheft key, and an emergency disconnect for my then-brushed motor setup, with the battery positive wired to one contact on an SB50, and the controller positive on the other. Then I had a second SB50 shell to plug inot that one, with just a loop of the same gauge wire running from one contact to the other. In case of failure it could be yanked out by the loop. But an Anderson SB connector for the current you're dealing iwth is close to the size of your palm.

 

[teklektik]

First - what was mentioned above - you've got two threads running with the information spread across both - hard to figure out what you are doing or what you have decided so far....

My issue is that my circuit diagram is quite different to what Kelly Controller's example ...

You are referencing the 'reversing' example instead of the 'non-reversing' kelly example which appears to be what you need - save for the isolated controller battery and series vs PM motor.





Here Kelly is recommending what you were proposing about contractors and fuses in the other thread.

I think many of your questions arise because you are looking for a cookbook solution but it isn't clear what problems need to be addressed. If the problems become clearer then the possible solutions will make more sense and you can select or devise a particular solution that best fits your physical build. So - here's some thoughts on design problems/considerations without directly answering your questions:

Fusing Rating
Fusing is there only to protect the wiring harness and remove power in case of catastpophic failure (shorted FET, mangled wiring in a crash, etc). The fuse cannot possibly protect the controller electronics - way too slow. Since you are looking at catastrophic failure, this essentially means a huge dead-short kind of current. With this kind of amperage in play it makes no sense to size the fuse anywhere near the normal current draw of the system - you will just be inviting accidental fuse failures in slightly energetic normal use. So - a fair rule of thumb is to size your traction battery fuse at 25-50% higher than your projected max current. You can examine the charts for the fuse you select, but they typically can take many many seconds or even minutes to blow at the rated capacity, so use some judgment here regarding rating, physical size, and cost. Bottom line - you don't have to worry about going too high because any rating fuse is going to blow PDQ with a dead short - which is exactly the problem you are trying to solve. Any other use for testing or some kind of power limiting is just bad-think - in those cases just reprogram the controller for low power...

Fuse Mounting
The ANL/ANE style fuses are a nice compromise in size and rating but they are not meant to be mounted without a holder - which may be the problem here. Doing so on a vehicle with vibration and possibly unsecured cable weight is a bad plan. Unfortunately, most commercial holders are meant to be surface mounted which makes them a bit sub-optimal for free-floating cabling. So - you are all set with commercial holders if you can mount it on a plate in the cart, otherwise they may require some extra attention re: insulation and protruding bolts.

For a free-floating fuse you might consider getting a piece of 1/8" thick phenolic or G10 glass board (eBay), cutting a small fuse-sized strip, shooting two holes, and bolting up the fuse and cable ring connectors. This will solve the rigidity issue. Slip it into a short length of PVC tube or rubber hose to protect/insulate the protruding bolts from abrasion. Use PVC end caps or secure the hose piece with self-fusing rubber electrical tape (3M or Harbor Freight Super Tape). This should give you a robust in-line fuse if that works out best for your needs.

Fuse Position
The problem is protection in case of shorts (again, catastrophic failure like crashes, wire abrasion, or human clumsiness). This means you want the fuse as close to the battery or breakout terminal as possible so chances of abrasion, mangling in crash, or human connect/disconnect errors between fuse and battery are very small. You indicate you are removing the batteries regularly - if they are connected by bolt-up battery studs then the fuse could be on the kart side. If they have attached cables/connectors then the fuse belongs with the battery and its cables.

The same holds for low voltage accessory power - fuse it close to the battery so there are no long wire runs which increase the chances of failure in the unprotected unfused run.

Runaway
By one or more means there is always a chance of a runaway. You need a means to disable power quickly and without thinking or looking since this will invariably happen unexpectedly at the worst time and you will be hanging on for dear life. There are two approaches:

1. render the controller brain-dead by cutting controller power. This typically means a switch in the controller power circuit in series with a key switch. This is effective for BLDC motors, but is not 100% in case of brushed controllers. So - this doesn't solve your problem.
2. disconnect main power from the traction battery (controller power doesn't matter much). As called out in the Kelly recommendation, a contactor operated by a small switch does the job. Simple: no power=no go. In your case you could either run a 48V contactor with a kill switch from the traction battery or use a lower voltage contactor run from the separate low voltage controller battery. In the second case run the key switch to kill switch and controller power, and kill switch from key switch to contactor. FWIW a 12v contactor will run fine at 18V (a little warm), but you might also choose a 24v contactor instead and just bump your controller battery to 24V - some choices there depending on available parts and cost. eBay often seems to have $50-$75 solenoid contactors in the 12-48V range. (search: 12V contactor 400A or 12V contactor 500A or 24V contactor 500V, etc)
   
   Don't forget the diode! It snubs big reverse voltage spikes from the relay coil that can kill your controller in one shot. Attach the diode directly to the contactor coil so there's no wire runs to it - it goes in backwards so it's not normally conducting. You might use a 1N5402, 1N5404, 1N5406 or similar - eBay, Amazon, etc)

Fuse vs Circuit Breaker
Circuit breakers are a handy solution for more modest powered builds because they offer a combined master power switch and overload protection. However, at the power levels you are considering, a circuit breaker is large and expensive. Considering that it cannot reasonably be used as a kill switch and going the contactor route already solves the kill switch problem, there is no compelling reason to go with a breaker. Since this is only for catastrophic failure protection, if it blows you have bigger problems and a quick reset isn't going to be important...

One vs Two Batteries
The Kelly controller has an isolated construction to minimize motor electrical noise from the control electronics. Interestingly, although they are adamant about this in the literature, their sample circuits always show a shared battery. The need for isolation is largely a matter of scale - big motor currents make isolation a requirement whereas you may be able to sleaze by with a single supply on more modest builds. So - a separate battery is always the best solution if you have room on the kart but you might get away with a good quality DC/DC converter. Most converters are not actually isolated even it they appear to have four leads, but rather share an internal GND connection. This does serve the purpose of largely isolating the controller from electrical noise from the motor. In any case, if you are running the contactor from the low voltage supply remember that it will draw many times what the controller does...

So - just some thoughts....

 

[n1866878]

Fantastic Replies. The actual reason for splitting it was because we were able to break down the packs small enough so that we could use existing chargers to charge them rather than buying new ones

Thank you so much for your help in this. I'm sorry if I'm asking stupid questions - I haven't dealt with HV stuff before so I'm being extra cautious. I'll go with this then

-Buy both 325A and 400A fuses with fuse holders. Will use 400A ANE one with holder. Place the fuse right after 48V battery + terminal.
-Buy a 12VDC 400A contactor and use a toggle switch with the 18V battery stepped down to 12V to trigger the contactor on off. OR bump up secondary battery to 24V and just use 24V contactor
-Use a 1kOhm 10W resistor in parallel with contactor as precharge resistor
-For the 18V secondary battery - use a smaller 2Aish fuse and use a key switch as well as a toggle switch under the brake pedal before going to the controller. This 18V battery is to power the controller and some other sensors.

About the diode you mentioned, how exactly am I supposed to wire it? Can I put it in paralel with the precharge resistor. My scenario differs from the Kelly diagram you posted because my key switch is powered by 18V (or 24V) seperate battery.
Also, can I keep two 3 seperate switches - One key switch to break Low voltage controller power. Another toggle switch behind brake pedal connected in series with the first key switch. And one main switch to trigger the contactor.

 

[teklektik]

About the diode you mentioned, how exactly am I supposed to wire it? Can I put it in paralel with the precharge resistor. My scenario differs from the Kelly diagram you posted because my key switch is powered by 18V seperate battery.

Attach the diode directly to the contactor coil so there's no wire runs to it

Solder it right across the contactor terminals or solder it to ring Terminals and bolt across contactor terminals as appropriate. Test polarity with DMM and be sure to install it backwards so it does not normally conduct. Otherwise it will blow (quietly) in a millisecond and you won't have any protection.

No need to step down the 18V - the 12V contactor will run fine on 18V.

 

[n1866878]

Thank you so much for clearing everything up. I really appreciate it. Last thing I promise,

Can I keep 3 separate switches - One key switch to break Low voltage controller power. Another toggle switch behind brake pedal connected in series with the first key switch. And one main switch to trigger the contactor. (looks cool to have loads of toggle switches )

I didn't quite understand what you meant by connecting the key switch to the kill switch in one of your earlier posts.

 

[teklektik]

I didn't quite understand what you meant by connecting the key switch to the kill switch in one of your earlier posts.

I meant this:

Another toggle switch behind brake pedal connected in series with the first key switch.

I don't understand what you mean about a brake pedal. If you mean that is the kill switch when you brake really really hard (second heavy spring engaging far down the travel), then that's okay.

And one main switch to trigger the contactor

If you mean another toggle in the above diagram in series with the kill switch, then that would be fine and a good idea if your kill switch is not available because it's buried in the brake mechanism.

• NOTE: Although it 'should be' harmless to do so, I would not include a switch to disable the controller with the the contactor engaged. A big difference in using the low voltage instead of the traction battery to power the contactor is that the contactor is no longer controlled by the controller via pin J1-3 "Main contactor driver" which is switched to traction Gnd when the controller is ON. For other Kelly controllers Kelly says this is fine, but without contacting them explicitly about this, I would avoid a design where the controller is OFF and the contactor power is ON.
  
  FWIW: Personally, I would tie the traction battery and controller battery grounds together and ground the contactor through J1-3 (instead of going directly to the controller battery GND) so the controller had control of the contactor as originally intended. I believe this would work fine and would then make additional series switches controlling controller (+) power indirectly disable the contactor through the controller. That said, we're getting into more research/experimentation here than I think you want to pursue and I cannot 100% recommend it with what I presently know about that controller.

 

[teklektik]

(looks cool to have loads of toggle switches )

If you want some goodies, then you might consider getting a Cycle Analyst and external shunt. This would get you displays of voltage, amperage, speed, distance, and Ah. You would need to fasten (epoxy) a magnet onto the drive sprocket for the speed sensor. A basic CA2 would do the job with almost no configuration hassles. Just a thought....

 

[n1866878]

Yes, I meant if the brake was pressed really hard, it would disable the controller. When I was talking about a main switch to trigger the cotnactor I meant the kill switch - my bad sorry.

In the diagram you provided, isn't it possible to have controller power but kill switch off?

FWIW: Personally, I would tie the traction battery and controller battery grounds together and ground the contactor through J1-3

If I do go with the suggestion of tieing the grounds of the two batteries together and grounding the contactor through J1-3, would this be correct?

Same as attached picture

 

[teklektik]

Yes, I meant if the brake was pressed really hard, it would disable the controller. When I was talking about a main switch to trigger the cotnactor I meant the kill switch - my bad sorry.

In the diagram you provided, isn't it possible to have controller power but kill switch off?

Yep - I'm just being overly cautious here about transient power when turning things on, etc because I have no personal experience with the controller and don't want to make assumptions (at least at these power levels). As far as the kill switch is concerned, I'm not concerned about turning things off. That said, you can just try it - it's electrically harmless for sure. If the motor doesn't twitch or misbehave, then carry on. As I said - this 'should be' harmless...

If I do go with the suggestion of tieing the grounds of the two batteries together and grounding the contactor through J1-3, would this be correct?

Yes - that's exactly what I meant. As far as I know the control and power sides of the controller are completely isolated so this should work okay. That said, I would shoot an email to Kelly to see what they have to say. I would start by asking about the contactor/controller ON/OFF issue above. If that is not a problem, then this tied-GND solution is unnecessary and it would be better to not pursue it.

EDIT - Hmmm - you know, as many times as I've looked at Kelly diagrams it never registered before that their suggested wiring for a single battery solution does not tie the control side to battery GND. This seems to indicate that (B-) and (J2-2) are tied together internally already and the two sides are not really 100% isolated - in which case the explicit jumper between battery GNDs is not necessary. Easy/safe to try and perhaps worth a question to them....

 

[n1866878]

Sent the e-mail. Will let you know when they reply. Thanks for all the help. There are so many things in this that I would have never considered.

One last thing - I'm planning on getting the KDZ48401 with regen. support but at the moment, my go-kart has a standard mechanical brake. Is it okay to use a standard mechanical brake and not let the controller know about it? (I.e all those Brake pedal connections in the diagrams won't be there in my case). It's just a temporary solution (I know I won't get regen. until I change it). It seems fine to me but then again what do I know - you guys are the experts.

 

[teklektik]

Is it okay to use a standard mechanical brake and not let the controller know about it?

Sure. Works fine. Worst case if you are uncoordinated is the motor will fight the brakes. If you want to get fancy, get a motorcycle pedal pull-type brake light switch w/spring (eBay again) and hook it to your mechanical brake linkage and the frame so it closes when you hit the brake. Wire that up as shown. Done.

EDIT: The kind with the threaded neck on the switch that mounts through a bracket w/hole gives the finest/easiest adjustment but is more of a PITA to fab/install.

 

[n1866878]

Fantastic! How do you guys know so much..
I guess I'll need to wait for Kelly controllers to reply until II can order parts (just in case I have to resort to single battery - that'll mean I'll need the 48V contactor as part of the order)

 

[teklektik]

Post back with Kelly's reply to help out the next guy doing Kelly stuff...

Good luck with your build!

 

[n1866878]

Haven't gotten a reply yet but I just had a thought. In this diagram

If the controller key switch is turned off, wouldn't that mean the kill switch won't have 18V to keep the 12V main contactor on which will shut it off. And thus - you can never have the traction battery on with controller off which was your concern right? Does that solve it? Or have I missed something.

 

[teklektik]

Yes, you are correct.
I thought you had indicated you wanted to add another toggle for 'Main Power' and were thinking of switching controller power - perhaps I misunderstood.

If you wanted a Main Power toggle for convenience and reserve the key switch for security, I would go like so:





Or you could simply move the kill down in series with the key and main switches... you just need to think about your use cases. For instance, my main power switch powers the CA, lights, and kill switch and the kill switch powers the controller. This makes the instruments/lights work normally with the controller disabled by the kill switch (e.g. limp home at night, etc)

The main power switch above is similar in principle to the way my bikes are wired. I use exterior security key switches (eBay) which are weatherproof and allow the key to be removed in the ON position. I only use the key to lock the bike when needed and use the more convenient 'main power' switch 95% of the time. The key switch isn't even on the bars, it's back out of sight near the controllers since it's seldom used. I keep the key on a lanyard in the bike bag so it's always there should I need lock up. Your needs may differ.

 

[n1866878]

Thanks for the reply. I'll give you some context about the usage. It's a student project. Our batteries are going to give us a run-time of 20-30minutes. Our main use case is just in an isolated racing track in the day-time with supervision at all times - no lights, no LED's on the kart. Just a barebones thing. That being said - I just need an ON and an OFF state.
I think I'm going to forgot about the main switch for now - I'll keep a key switch (looks cool and only 1 pull out position) and the kill switch. I've amended your diagram.

(See Attached First Diagram)

This should be fine right? But in this case - it's possible to have the controller getting power, yet the traction battery disconnected. What would you recommend - keep the kill switch like in the diagram 1 or should I move it in series with the key switch (See Attached 2nd Diagram)? So basically first diagram or second one?

Lastly - do I still need to wait for Kelly Controller's reply or can I start with this now?

 

[teklektik]

Okay - the application helped.
I'd move the kill switch down to be in series with the key switch. That's the simplest and eliminates the earlier uncertainties about different powered states for the controller/contactor - it would essentially become one of Kelly's sample circuits but modded for the second battery. That should allow you to begin obtaining parts w/o any further information from Kelly.

 

[n1866878]

Fantastic!

First of all, I cannot thank you (and everyone else) enough for the amount of help you guys have provided. I would literally still be staring at those diagrams without the help I received. Absolutely amazing. I cannot wait to see this thing move. I'll keep you posted with any updates I have. Can't wait to bring this thing to a race track and test it out.

Thanks again.

 

[n1866878]

Got a reply from Kelly Controllers for any future readers

"Yes,if PWR key switch is turned off and controller is not getting power,you can enable kill switch"

I'm still going to go with the all switches in series in the latest diagram.

 

[n1866878]

Okay - the application helped.
I'd move the kill switch down to be in series with the key switch. That's the simplest and eliminates the earlier uncertainties about different powered states for the controller/contactor - it would essentially become one of Kelly's sample circuits but modded for the second battery. That should allow you to begin obtaining parts w/o any further information from Kelly.

Okay. During my e-mails with Kelly Controllers about the different states, I e-mailed them the latest schematic(attached) with the kill switch in series with the key switch and the replied saying

"During the motor is running,please don't operate both kill switch and key switch."
I asked them to clarify and he said that you cannot operate them while the motor is still running.

Not sure why they said. Any ideas? Isn't the entire point of the kill switch to stop the motor in an emergency - why should I not operate it while the motor is running? Is there something wrong with the schematic below?. I attached it again here

I thought I was finished with this.

 

[n1866878]

Update:

Think it was just a language barrier. I clarified with them and got the an OK to this

It's okay if I use it like this.
- In normal situation, close key switch, close kill switch, drive.
- In normal situation, come to complete stop, open kill switch, open key switch. (or open key switch then open kill switch)
- In emergency, open either kill switch or key switch or both. - that will turn off both controller PWR and main contactor at same time.

Great. Think I'm ready to go. Thanks everyone for the help.

 

[amberwolf]

Can't wait to bring this thing to a race track and test it out.

Don't forget to get video and post it.