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I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:07 pm
by Gregski
from the guy who brought you:
I bought a BMW 530e hybrid battery pack - Now What?
I bought a BMW 330e hybrid battery pack - Now What?
comes this electrifying sequel, asking more questions than providing answers, in hopes of advancing EV conversionability
ISASCALE Current Sensor and 3 Gigavac Contactors
gonna provide some screen shots of the original listing in case it sells out and the linky link ends up being orphaned
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:11 pm
by Gregski
original pictures from the listing
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:16 pm
by Gregski
contactor information
- 2 X Gigavac GV200BAB-1 $164 each
Gigavac GV200BAB
This contactor has a 12V coil. It will latch at 8V and accept up to 16V. The maximum continuous current the contactor can handle depends on the wire used. If you use 2/0 it will handle 350A, and if you use 4/0 it will handle 400A. Peak current is closer to 1000A for 30 seconds, and even higher for shorter durations. This is a common contactor with plenty of uses.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:19 pm
by Gregski
Isabellenhuette IVT-S-1K-U3-I-CAN2-12/24 $372
One of the fanciest current sensors we have ever seen. This sensor does more than just measure current up to 1000A, it also has 3 voltage sensors built in. You can measure overall pack voltage or voltage drop over contactors during operation for a health assessment. This current sensor communicates by CAN Bus.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:21 pm
by Gregski
Gigavac P125BDA, Ohmite AZ101KE 100 OHMS, and 3A Fuse
This unit is by far the handiest. This professionally designed and soldered board includes a precharge contactor, fuse, and resistor. If you want your contactors to last a long time, you need to precharge the capacitors in your equipment. Apply 12V to the low voltage side and the contactor closes with the resistor in circuit. The fuse rating is 3A on the high voltage side.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:22 pm
by Gregski
QUESTIONS SECTION:
So what is it, and why do I need it?
How did I find out about it, and why should you care?
What is an ISA and do I really need one?
Are these economizer contactors?
Has this red circuit board been reversed engineered already?
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:47 pm
by Landsi
Interesting & handy detail on the two big Gigavac GV200BAB-1 contactors:
They are the dual coil version. This means that while they do not have an economizer, they automatically will — after initial closing (aka “pick-up”) current (3.9A for 0.75 sec) — release one of the two coils to make the continuous 12v current draw on them drop to around 0.23A only.
Spec sheet attached.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 7:10 pm
by jokeitch
Gregski wrote: ↑Tue Nov 26, 2024 6:21 pm
Gigavac P125BDA, Ohmite AZ101KE 100 OHMS, and 3A Fuse
This unit is by far the handiest. This professionally designed and soldered board includes a precharge contactor, fuse, and resistor. If you want your contactors to last a long time, you need to precharge the capacitors in your equipment. Apply 12V to the low voltage side and the contactor closes with the resistor in circuit. The fuse rating is 3A on the high voltage side.
8S7A7157-scaled.jpg
DSC_2259-scaled.jpg
is that board its own thing though? i assumed it had some control smarts that would need to be reverse engineered, if it's a complete all in one precharge contactor package with no reverse engineering needed thats extremely nice
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 7:12 pm
by jokeitch
also dont forget the box has two of these amphenol powerlok connectors you can just unscrew from the front
- image.png (105.41 KiB) Viewed 6183 times
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Nov 26, 2024 8:45 pm
by Landsi
jokeitch wrote: ↑Tue Nov 26, 2024 7:10 pm
is that board its own thing though? i assumed it had some control smarts that would need to be reverse engineered, if it's a complete all in one precharge contactor package with no reverse engineering needed thats extremely nice
Well, since the layout and components used seem great no matter what, I intend to re-use the box (or just the layout and bits) even without the control board - with a fair bit of re-wiring…
But I also would like to take a closer look at the board, just out of curiosity. Do I know what I’m doing there? Definitely not!
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Wed Nov 27, 2024 3:44 pm
by Gregski
putting your money where your mouth is...
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Tue Dec 17, 2024 7:48 am
by peakPWR
Very intertesting offer.
I contacted the shop about delivery to germany but sadly didn't get any response...
I'd love to order the kit as most of it can be used without any problems i guess. The custom PCB is interesting but is it needed when using a VCU anyways? I don't think so.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2024 6:47 pm
by Landsi
I am in Austria and used a forwarding service to get them to send it here … forward2me
I ..err.. cheated slightly, as i put in the us shipping address i got from the service also as billing address on greentec auto (required a us address).
Went down without an issue. Price went up, of course, with shipping & customs -> still worth it IMO for the components alone, and in such a neat package & layout
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2025 3:14 pm
by peakPWR
Landsi wrote: ↑Sat Dec 21, 2024 6:47 pm
I am in Austria and used a forwarding service to get them to send it here … forward2me
I ..err.. cheated slightly, as i put in the us shipping address i got from the service also as billing address on greentec auto (required a us address).
Went down without an issue. Price went up, of course, with shipping & customs -> still worth it IMO for the components alone, and in such a neat package & layout
That is a very good idea!
Did not think about that before ... maybe I'll give it a try.
Or even better: is anyone from this forum interested in "intercontinental" help for similar minded tinkerers from abroad?
Would anyone else from the DACHI region be interested?
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:06 pm
by ChurchMcTruck
Did the box came with a lid cover? I am intrigued by the vertical HV connections.
Re: I bought an ISASCALE Contactor Box - Now what?
Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:42 pm
by Gregski
ChurchMcTruck wrote: ↑Wed Feb 05, 2025 9:06 pm
Did the box came with a lid cover? I am intrigued by the vertical HV connections.
no word on the street is that it was bolted up to the battery pack directly so that lid of the battery pack was it's lid cover, someone please correct me if I'm wrong