Enhanced Cooling

The Soliton 1 controller can be air or water cooled. When air cooled, the 1000 amp rating of the controller is peak. With a proper cooling loop, the 1000 amp rating is continuous. In warm weather last summer, with air cooling, I experienced thermal cutback. On acceleration, the car feels low on power. A couple times, while climbing a long incline, I had to pull over for 5 minutes and let the fans cool the controller. I’m now installing a radiator, circulation pump, and reservoir for liquid cooling.

The WarP motor is also air cooled. It has an internal fan that spins with the main motor shaft. I try to operate the motor above 3,000 rpm to maintain a high flow of air through the motor, but the motor is the warmest component after a long drive.  I purchased an external blower to increase the flow of air, even when the motor is not spinning.

 I’m starting to run out of space to place all of my components. I also think that the radiator I purchased is oversized for the job. I determined that the cavity inside the rear bumper is just large enough to fit my cooling components.

 I started by bolting a few chunks of steel to attachment points on the car. Then I fit a couple of square tube rails parallel to the length of the bumper.

Finally, mounting tabs were added for all of the components: blower, circulation pump, and radiator.

 I'm going to try making a composite fiberglass plug that will fill the gap  under the bumper, where the tail pipe once lived.

The result of spending a week of evenings under the car: