[ref
http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Redicety12-on-youtube-reviving-12v-Marine-Battery-tp4665938.html
]
I agree with Lee and others that the controller should not be energized
until you are sure it is dry and no harmful damage occurred from being
wet.
My only experience on this was when my S10 Blazer conversion EV was new
(circa 1992). The way Solar Electric (now defunct) mounted the Curtis
1221x controller, the huge heavy unsecured 00 cables vibrated while
driving, which eventually caused cracking of the potting material Curtis
used. The heating from use and cooling afterward, would breath outside
air in the controller.
When it suddenly & dramatically failed (Poof! .. the smoke got out),
scaring the pants off the cart pushing grocery-lad (he must have thought
'that car's gasoline is going to explode' even though my EV was boldly
emblazoned with Electric Vehicle all over it). I was able to pay to have
the above convert come down and replace the Curtis.
I showed the cooked/burnt Curtis to Otmar (one of our EV-Gods, designer
of the Zilla, etc.) when he was living in the Silicon Valley area (he's
now up in OR). He said the failing of potting material was a chronic
problem, that internal component corrosion from repeated moisture
contact caused one of more of the lower powered igbt (power) chips to
fail, and since Curtis went cheap in their design, like a set of series
Xmas tree lights, when one went, the rest were overloaded&fried as well.
I let him have the cooked Cursit controller (nicknamed so because they
commonly burn-up/failed), in a nice-guy effort that Otmar might be able
to pull a couple of good parts out of it to fix some local's dead Cursit
(he no longer does this).
*I would be extra careful to ensure your controller is clean, dry, and
has no corrosion or other issue(s) that may let-the-smoke-out upon power
up or when in use.
You do not want to be happily driving along, pull into a shopping
center's parking spot, and then pump a cloud of controller smoke into
the air from under your hood, frightening off shopping cart retrievers
or their customers.
{brucedp.150m.com}
-
On Fri, Oct 25, 2013, at 06:15 PM, Lee Hart wrote:
> Steve Clunn wrote:
> > I have a logic system controller that was on a motorcycle and has been
> > sitting outside. wanted to put the controller on a golf cart and when I
> > took it out I noticed some water seeping out of it. I took the back off of
> > it and dumped all the water out but that's screws inside seemed a little
> > rusty. I haven't put any power to it and I'm wondering before I do if
> > there's something I can pour inside the controller to clean up some of this
> > dirt and or water mud.
>
> Hi Steve,
>
> Do not power it up! You really need to look inside to judge how much
> water was in there, how long it sat, and how much damage it did. Then
> clean it out the best you can, and dry it out *thoroughly* before
> applying power.
>
> Don't just "power it up to see if it works". If it's still wet, dirty,
> or there are corrosion products, that's a great way to destroy it!
>
> Many modern electronics components can survive exposure to water. Water
> based fluxes and cleaners are often used during PCB manufacturing. The
> kinds of parts that don't survive well are electromechanical parts, like
> switches, relays, and connectors. So, you can wash a circuit board in
> clean water (like distilled water) to remove dirt, mud, and other
> debris. A *small* amount of detergent can also be used. But don't use
> much; it can leave a film on things that will cause problems.
>
> Isopropyl alcohol is a good solvent for more aggressive cleaning. It
> also absorbs water, and so is very good as a "drying agent" to get water
> out of things.
>
> If there are any visible signs of rust or corrosion, it means the water
> has been there for a long time. That's bad news. Traces can corrode
> away, connectors can lose their contact plating, and the corrosion
> products can leave behind conductive residue that creates random shorts
> and leakage currents. Boards with this kind of damage are difficult or
> impossible to restore.
-
--
http://www.fastmail.fm - A no graphics, no pop-ups email service
_______________________________________________
UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub
http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
