Curtis 1204-412 motor controller


< prev. photo
next photo >

Curtis 1204-412 motor controller

That green box is the controller that's in the car now: a rebuilt Curtis 36-48 volt 400 amp DC motor controller originally from a Club Car golf cart.

This is the third Curtis we've had in the car, even though we weren't planning on using a golf cart controller when we started the project.

Read on for the whole story...

View all ForkenSwift galleries > DC motor controller ...

Curtis 1204-412 motor controller
That green box is the controller that's in the car now: a rebuilt Curtis 36-48 volt 400 amp DC motor controller original...
GE EV-1 control panel
Here's the brains of the forklift.

This control panel includes all the circuitry, fuses and contactors (big relays)...
GE EV-1 DC motor controller
The EV-1 SCR (silicon controlled resistance) type of controller actually has decent features: including adjustable accel...
The GE EV-1 controller on the "test bench"
We knew that the EV-1 worked: we had dropped 3 marine batteries in the Baker forklift and moved it under its own power f...
GE EV-1 controller in action (light test)
For testing, instead of controlling a DC motor, the EV-1 was hooked up to one of the 36 volt spotlights from the forklif...
Curtis 1204-410 36-48 volt 225 amp Club Car golf cart controller
Even after getting the EV-1 to work, we decided a "plug and play" golf cart controller would be easier for testing/devel...
Finned aluminum heat sink
(Inset: controller mounted on the heatsink)

Controllers can get pretty hot when they're worked hard or for a long tim...
Precharge resistor
Most controllers have banks of capacitors inside that help to smooth current flow. The capacitors gradually discharge w...
Curtis 1204-412: adjustable features
Note the adjustable current limiting (CL) and acceleration rate (ACC). Plug braking (PLUG) mode isn't used.

For maxi...