Saker GS750V motor and wheel rotation!

Today Ed, Mark and myself (with visits from Tom, Tabitha and Frank) achieved what we have been waiting nearly 12 months for. We had the GS750V powered up and turning it's own wheels!

Well done guys!!! This is an awesome achievement. Thanks to all that have helped us in getting to this point, both locally and internationally.

Read on for more details...

Our plan had the day broken into 4 phases:
1) Re-test the 30V test rig setup after it had been relocated from the software dev environment.
2) Test the 1.1kW motor from the test rig with the 150V test pack.
3) Lunch and forgotten encoder cable provided by Kirstin :)
4) Upgrade the 1.1kW motor to the Siemens motor in the GS750V and watch the wheels turn!

The setup we had is still very much a work in progress since the STM32 and Tumanako control board is not yet installed in the inverter casing. Hence the inverter and the control board where setup on a table beside the car for this test. The contactors where situated in a temporary but secure location which was convenient to get the power from the battery to the inverter.

You can see the setup we had for phase 2 in the photo below:
After a successful morning and a smiling visit from Kirstin, we moved into the business end of the day. We jacked the car onto blocks and connected up the Siemens 1PV5135 WS28 motor, which is already mounted in the car and connected to the gearbox. After an initial juddery rotation and a blown fuse (test pack fuse is only 30A so we don't stress the batteries), Ed discovered the encoder was hooked up incorrectly. So, rather than simply replacing the fuse, Mark upgraded it to a breaker which is resetable if something goes wrong and also easily used to make the pack safe during maintenance. Thank you Mark!

After addressing the encoder wiring and increasing the flux limits on our torque control, we got some very smooth motor control indeed. Check it out (please excuse the battle Ed is having with the forward/reverse torque control POT we had setup for the test in this video):


So, it's the home straight now! We need to complete the single Tumanako control board, finish off the wiring loom and complete the associated vehicle control software (adding additional safety checks and vehicle loom IO). Then we will be ready for dyno tuning (motor parameters need work) and of course squeezing in the first test drive :)

Also, expect to see a high quality video of todays test uploaded in the next couple of days. I'm currently looking for a cable from my sons video camera that I borrowed!? I hope I don't get into trouble :)

-Philip