250A+ speed controllers

[cmalton]

This shouldn't be too hard - but it seems to be more difficult than I first expected....

I'm on the hunt for a beefy 250A+ speed controller to deal with some of the requirements of Team ARC's Big Dave 3. I had been looking at the Turnigy dlux 250A unit - but after a certain supplier sent me a faulty one, I'm not a fan of that route.

I'd love to have the budget to fork out for an MGM controller - but that's just a bit above the budget..... I know Alien Power Systems can do them - but after our experience getting motors out of them, I'm not entirely keen on the idea.

So, with all that in mind: Any recommendations that anyone would like to make?

[maddox10]

MGM looks the only real life option.

Dlux ended up crispy for us. (probably the same supplier)

Alienpower. I have the same feeling.

[typhoon_driver]

Sevcon do a bunch of brushless controllers although they aren't what you would consider hobby sized. I have a couple of their older brushed 300A controllers sitting there and they weigh around 2.5kg each.

[cmalton]

Out of curiousity, has anyone played with the HiFei Fulcrum controllers (http://www.hifei.com/fulcrum-esc )They look OK from the specs.

[joey_picus]

As with all hobby products, and especially Chinese hobby products, I'd take the amp ratings with a pinch of salt, and the fact the instructions specify they need good airflow is worrying - that's quite hard to do in a robot without a fan. But it is professional producer!

[maddox10]

Just the size of the wires versus the rated ampères raises an eyebrow for most of those Chinese ESC's.

[Pinski1]

Unless Charles Guan's Brushless Rage can do 250A (don't think it will though) you're fairly screwed. Rory and I are fiddling around with high power BLDC ESCs but I don't think either of us are aiming that high.

APS motors have been a mixed bag but their ESCs are a lost cause.

[typhoon_driver]

I think based on the responses here and having a quick look myself, you might as well save your pennies and get an MGM controller.

[JeremyCuss]

Do people still use the roboteq AX2550 (or its modern replacement)? I still have one which I am planning to use on my new robot.

[typhoon_driver]

For brushed motors yes. This thread was discussing brushless motor speed controllers.

[maddox10]

250A for brushed motors. Then you're looking at heavy duty Industrial ESC's, like for forklift controllers. Sevcon is what I look for then.

On the other side, drives in heavies, even with PERM or LEM's don't need 250A. The only reason they need heavy duty ESC's is the idiotic back emf.
For a weapon , do like John did in Beta, and use an Albright 280 or 288 relay.

[Pinski1]

Last time I saw Beta it was a H-bridge made out of SOT-227 MOSFETs

[maddox10]

It's a while since I did see Beta. It was the first version, in development, waaaaaaaay back in the early 2000's.
Tough As Nails still has the dent.