Logisystem Controllers Suck

[StrawbearV]

I finally got my ev on the road today I was so happy. As I was driving down the road I heard a huge kerchunk and thought it was a something mechanical but I tested the motor and throttle and there was nothing else it could be but the controller. Looking at it further I saw greenish blue liquid coming out of the controller and determined that it was probably came from a capacitor exploding inside. Anyone have an idea as to what could have caused this? I sent it back with a long detailed letter of what happened but I am very doubtful of it ever working and I am still hoping for a refund if anything else goes wrong after all this. If none of this works could I possibly use a couple of these IGBTs in parallel http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datashe ... 969_DS.pdf
The company Logisystem called me today saying that because I soldered on to the ks1 spade lug, the input that turns the box on, that that's what fried the motor controller and in order to fix it they are going to charge me 600 more dollars even though its still under warranty. How could thirty seconds worth of soldering on the little terminal lug eventually lead to a capacitor explosion? If that destroyed the controller it would have fried it instantly and I wouldn't have been able to drive the car at all ! They must be going broke from all the controllers coming back to them and they are trying to weasel out of the warranty any way they can. This is just making me fuming mad. I guess I will just bad mouth their company on as many forums as I can and see if they will either lower the price or send it back so I can take it apart and see what happened. The people at Logisystem are very unfriendly too.

[Lance Johnson]

I am sorry to hear about your controller problems but congratulations on getting your EV on the road none the less. I do find it hard to believe that soldering a wire to a terminal would cause such a problem but I am no expert. It is hard enough for me to get my gun hot enough to melt the solder on the joint I am working on let alone some other component a few centimeters away . Seems like your best bet is to shell out the $600 to get it fixed. Going with a new 'full price' controller would set you back considerably more. It seems like the Logisystem controllers are popular so it is hard to believe they would have the following they do if this was a normal occurrence but I would totally understand if you feel slighted by them and just want to go a completely different direction. I went with the Curtis because of its long track record and these Logisystem ones have been around awhile but not a long as the Curtis. Just remember to not do anything that would void the warranty which ever direction you go.

I am sure you will get it all figured out and it sounds like you are getting close to a working EV once you do!

[StrawbearV]

They never gave me a copy of the written warranty or even an instruction booklet to begin with so how was I supposed to know anyway The woman on the phone Alley who answers is very rude to me and just on principle I will not send them 600 more dollars on top of what I already paid there is no reason the controller should have failed this short in its life everyone I know now feels that since the truck broke down the technology just isn't "there" yet with electric vehicles Logisystem gives electric vehicles a BAD name and I hope they go out of business very soon. Hell for 400 dollars I could purchase a controller kit from paul and sabrina that is programmable, has current sensing, operates at 144 volts and I would learn so much more from putting it together than just buying another brand x P.O.S. and sweating it out hoping for the best. I have gotten my bank involved and they should recover my funds even if they don't they should still probably stand me the money after all the bailout funds Bank of America received . Here is a picture of the controller I am starting to build right now I am a little farther along than this now I have put the larger than I thought caps on top now and tomorrow I will try to install the the micro controller and I am also thinking about welding aluminum tubing around in the heat sink for liquid cooling does anyone have any advice about liquid cooling?

[pkbattery]

You are lucky you only lost your controller. Check out this damage. Email me at pkbattery for more details. They have my controller and won't return my calls.

[S10 EV Guy]

Does anyone have any updates on Logisystems? I have just 10 miles on my new Logisystems 156V controller and it seemed to get too hot so they asked me to send it back to be checked out. That was 4 weeks ago and now I can't get them to return my calls. So now I am stuck without anything! I have seen some posts on adapting a water cooling system using chiller plates / etc to help cool these controllers from the outside. I would like to at least try that but I need to get my controller back first. And I really need to get this thing on the road!

I am tempted to travel down to visit them in person (from Minnesota) to pick it up but I am afraid they aren't even in business anymore. Is there anyone in the Odessa, TX area that can confirm they are still in business and maybe could stop by and pick up my controller and send it back to me?

I have been thinking (worst case) that I may need to purchase a replacement (assuming I never see this one again). The problem is what to purchase, I would prefer a Zilla but they have stopped production (again) and the new Netgain Warp-drives won't be available until September. If I am going to spend $1500 -$2000 again, I would like to have a controller that can be controlled via a PC or external interface.

Help!

[StrawbearV]

Hey you found me I am snakub on Diyelectriccar.com forum. Like I said on there experiment play around with power transistors do bench test set ups. I mounted a fan on a big forklift motor I had to put a load on it sort of a poor man's dyno and pulled about 50 amps the transistors I had got moderately warm at that current. Then I added car radiator fans in parallel for more current and the clamp on meter read somewhere over 100 and it still didn't raise it that much. The only problem was that the forklift motor leads were so close together that one time they touched and the transistor was carrying the current of a dead short thinking it was still good afterward because it tested ok I went ahead and assembled the controller. But after some use it shorted out and the truck took off by itself that was a scary experience to say the least. Afterward I corrected the problem the truck has been my daily commuter ever since. I still need to post more videos of the new liquid cooling set up I have I just can't find the time

[StrawbearV]

If you wanna drive down there let me know we will car pool and give them a piece of our mind or hey let's do worse and sue em.

[Billyboy]

It looks like this is an old post but I have a comment regarding Logisys controllers. We have three of them to date and just lost one of the 196 volt 1000amp controllers. Spoke with Mr. Prosise and he suggested I send it back and they would update it. Upon sending it back, I got the dubious privilege of speaking with Ellie in the office. Can't say that it was a pleasant conversation. Guess good office help is hard to find.

We were experiencing a steady current drain on our battery pack of about 12 amps and isolated it to the controller. Our tests indicated that the controller had a short to the rail (ground) and actually experienced an electrical burn hole in my arm while checking due to the short. We were checking current drain in the steady state mode via a 100 amp ammeter in series (actually removed fuse and placed meter in fuse socket) in the B+ line going into the controller. Needless to say, all h*** broke loose. But back to my contact with Logisys.

I was told that the device was OK and passed theri tests but that it was out of warranty even though we had just purchased it in late 2010 and had less than 24 hours of operation on it. Apparently their warranty goes by manufacturing date, not purchase date. I have never heard of such a warranty. Bottom line, per their tests the controller is OK but they want $600.00 to update it.

Anyone else ever hear of such a deal?? Or have a similar experience with this company?

[StrawbearV]

Ellie not only does the phone service but she actually claims to be the owner!!! She is one of the most irate indignant people I have ever dealt with over the phone. Post a picture up here of your burn if you have it and tell me you went to a hospital we could sue just for personal liability.They offered me the same deal of 600 and that is what prompted me to build my own controller which is still running fine after months and months. They offered me a deal for 350 no warranty and I still turned them down because they might as well send me a brick. Do not take the deal for 600 build your own or go for the paul and sabrina kit its said to be really reliable either way you will learn a lot that's worth something.

Apparently their warranty goes by manufacturing date, not purchase date.

That's really low.

Bottom line is we have to sue, this company sickens me they are scam artists and the only way to ensure this does not happen to someone else is to teach them a lesson are you with me?

[DanGt86]

I know this is an old thread but I figured I would chime in to report that my logisystems 1000 amp exploded today. My girlfriend was driving our ev home from work and the controller shorted. She said it did a pretty impressive burnout before she could get the clutch pressed in and shut the car down. When I got there and put a volt meter from the normally isolated pack to the chassis I had 155 volts! Glad everything ended safely and not on fire. We will definitely never have an EV without a clutch and I think the next controller will be isolated from the chassis of the car. Blew a pretty nice hole in the side of the controller and shot soot all over the engine bay. At least I hope the soot is all from the controller and not from the motor.

So has anyone had any success getting anything from Logisystems on these things or should I just recycle it for the scrap aluminum? It was from 2010? Are they still in business?

Oh and Hi everyone. I'm new here.