Hello
I'm actually not an electric vehicle enthusiast but I found this forum searching for information for my specific "problem" and thought that it may be a good idea to register and just ask.
So this is the situation:
I bought a pretty old palette stacker for my hobby shop. The traction motor speed is controlled in three steps with a stage of series resistors that are shortened one by one to increase the speed. The lifting motor has no speed control. Both motors are way to fast for my needs. The resistors of the speed control start smoking and the whole thing is pretty uncontrollable in the tight space of my small shop. The lifting is so fast that it scares me. It must be somthing like 1m/s. I'm pretty sure that the hydraulic pump / motor is from another machine and oversized for the small stacker. I need more control...
My plan:
Getting rid of the antique control and adding a pwm controller to both, the traction and the lifting motor. Considering that I will not lift and drive at the same time, the idea would be to use only one dc controller and switch it to one or the other motor to lift or to move the stacker (I have enough contactors available from the old control to play with).
I was a bit in a rush and ebayed two dc controllers for decent money without thinking two much about the type of motors I wanted to control. One is a Sevcon mos90 out of a palette cart, and the other is an unused curtis 1207A. The manual of the devices assume that the controlled motor has 4 terminals - two for the stator field and two for the armature.
- Sevon has 4 terminals named (M/B-), (B+), (S), (A)
- Curtis has 4 terminals named (M-), (B-), (B+), (A2)
The motors I need to control are different:
The traction motor has three terminals named 31, 30L and 30R. I'm pretty sure that 31 is (-), 30L is (+ ccw rotation) and 30R is (+ cw rotation).
Considering that only 30L OR 30R are powered at the same time (controlled by two contactors) it is similar to a motor with only two connections.
The lifting motor has only two connectors labled (+) and (-).
Now how do I need to wire the four terminals of the sevcon or curtis controller to these motors? I've read the manuals but I'm still pretty unsure how things need to be done.
I don't know if it is allowed copyrightwise but I could attach the pdf manuals to the post or send them via mail.
Any help would be highly appretiated!!!
Cheers
Ruben
Wow interesting, sounds like u have an antique there! How many Volts is it, 24v I hope otherwise ull be caught out by the high/low voltage cutouts of those controllers , and what sort of battery is on there?
In those controllers B-, B+ go to the battery, M- is the field output to one side of the motor, and A2 (which is a plug diode thats not always used) goes with B+ to the other armature side.
I guess ull need a contactor to decide which of the clockwise or anticlockwise terminals is connected on that motor at anyone time. Also as uve got two controllers sounds easier to use both, one on the traction and one on the lifter. No harm them both comming off the same battery.
Colin,
thanks for your answer so far. The battery is a 24V (140Ah, maintanance free) and the controller is 24V so everything is in order voltagewise.
I'm sorry. I was wrong regarding having two controllers. I have ebayed so much stuff the last days that I was confused (the other controller is an ordinary AC frequency converter for the lathe), I was outbid on the curtis controller. So I have to rely on the sevcon mos 90.
The sevcon controller has (M/B-), (B+), (S), (A) connectors. The motors have basically one/two (motor +) and one (motor -) terminal.
So what terminals should I connect in this case.
Thanks a lot!
Ruben
Well, It sounds to me like you have permanent magnet brushed DC motors ( two wires +and - ) . the controllers you have are for a sepex (separately excited field motor) the perm magnets are replaced with a variable electric field, two wires for field and two wires for armature . they will not work ! you need a PM controller ! sorry LaTeR
thank GOD I wake up above ground !!!!
They are not permanent magnet motors. The stators are coiled in both motors.
The thing is that they are internally wired and I don't really know in which way. From what I have read the right term for the traction motor with the 2x (+) and 1x (-) terminal seems to be "split field motor". Besides that I don't have a clue how to wire them to the dc controller.