Controller upgrade

Scbennett

New Member
I have a 1000w motor and a 1000w controller and I do alot of city riding. Crossing bridges going up hill its always on the back of my mind that I'm going to burn up my controller. To help put my mind at ease I was thinking about replacing it with a 2000w controller. Would doing this burn up my 1000w motor ? And would I notice a increase in tourqe and top end speed ?
 
Re: increased torque and speed, this is going to depend on your battery. If you had a HUGE high voltage battery online for instance, and a motor capable of 4KW, your 1000w controller might be acting as a power bottleneck between the battery and the motor. In that case, if you were to replace the 1000w controller with one rated for 2000w, you would see a performance difference for sure!

Installing a 2000w controller does not insure there will be 2000w available to the motor. That would only be the case if you had a battery capable of delivering 2000w to the controller....

If you're concerned about burning up your 1000w controller when conditions require you to start pushing it's capacity - you can check to see how hot it's getting. If you hear something sizzling when you touch it with a spitty finger for instance, you KNOW, you may be pushing the controller beyond it's abilities.... ;) -Al
 
Re: increased torque and speed, this is going to depend on your battery. If you had a HUGE high voltage battery online for instance, and a motor capable of 4KW, your 1000w controller might be acting as a power bottleneck between the battery and the motor. In that case, if you were to replace the 1000w controller with one rated for 2000w, you would see a performance difference for sure!

Installing a 2000w controller does not insure there will be 2000w available to the motor. That would only be the case if you had a battery capable of delivering 2000w to the controller....

If you're concerned about burning up your 1000w controller when conditions require you to start pushing it's capacity - you can check to see how hot it's getting. If you hear something sizzling when you touch it with a spitty finger for instance, you KNOW, you may be pushing the controller beyond it's abilities.... ;) -Al
I'm running a 52v battery on a 48v motor and controller. I read somewhere that a extra four volts isn't going to hurt anything. I guess what got me paranoid about the controller was when I got to the top of the bridge I stopped to let it cool off a minute and I got that burnt plastic smell and was thinking a 2000w controller could handle twice the abuse.
 
Depends what's melting. Is your controller out in the open, or is it stuffed in a bag with no air flow. If the motor harness is what you're smelling, a bigger controller will melt it down faster. Carefully feel the harness next time to see how hot it feels.
 
It could be a battery connection too. I've seen some pretty cheezy connectors used. If you smelled something, there's a good chance that something will show heat damage. Be worth a going over for sure, and may lead you to a power bottleneck that's easily repaired.
 
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