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Installation and testing of the Zilla 1000 Amp HV Controller!

May. 2, 2008

I received the 1K HV Zilla Controller, OPPS!, It is a LV model, I am returning it for the correct 1K HV Zilla Controler.
I am sure glad that I noticed it was not the correct one before I installed it.
I worked on getting the coolant reservoir made out of 4" ABS green plastic pipe, it is thicker for threading the pipe thread fittings.
Made the same type of clamps to hold the reservoir as to hold the air spring reservoir.

May. 3, 2008

Trail fit 165 GPH pump, releaved areas of the 4" cap to allow for the power and pump discharge hose to exit the reservoir.
Painted the cap and put a cap on the reservoir return fitting to prevent crap from getting in it.

May. 5, 2008

Received the "Thermaltake Aquarius 2" radiator today from an eBay auction.
This is going to be the cooling radiator and fan for the Zilla's coolant.
The radiator's mounting location needs to put the top of the cooling radiator below the high coolant level of the coolant reservoir.
The location I decided on was the air tube hole in the s10 radator support frame.
I used the S10 air tube clip to hold the cooling radiator in place against the air intake hole in the radiator support on the S10.
The cooling fan is going to draw fresh air from in front of the metal S10 radiator support.
Welded the clip to the metal grill in the cooling fan.
Slid a short piece of vacuum hose over the clip so as to stop any metal against metal rattles.
Cut a small sheet metal retainer with a tab on it that would slip between the cooling fan and the cooling fan grill.
Formed the edges to fit around the S10 radiator support and attached it to hold the cooling radiator and cooling fan in place over the S10 radiator support.

May 7, 2008

I used cardboard and Styrofoam mockup boxes the same size as the Zilla and the hairball.
Made a cardboard pattern, with 2" squares, of the area where the Zilla, Hairball, motor shunt and main contactor will mount.
I want to have the high voltage DC wires towards the rear of the Zilla, so that the 2/0 cables will exit at the rear of the mounting board.
The goal is to have the 2/0 cables safely at the firewall end of the mounting board, and the smaller control wires to the Hairball farther away from the 2/0 cables.
I also need to keep the coolant connections lower or near the same level as the bottom of the coolant reservoir.
Transfered the cardboard pattern to a piece of 3/4" plywood. (May 8, 2008)

Transfered the cardboard pattern to a piece of 3/4" plywood. (May 8, 2008)

May 8, 2008

Attached the cab to transmission ground cable.
To insure a good connection I used external star washers, on the bolts, between the ring terminals of the cab and also the transmission.

May 9, 2008

Removed the ICE throttle petal and cable assm..
.
Installed the Hall effect throttle petal assm. from EV Source.
I tried to get the petal to be at the same height as the ICE throttle petal and still have full throttle when the petal is all of the way to the end of it's travel, at the floor.
I used the old throttle bracket to make the firewall bracket to support the firewall end of the 3/4" plywood for the electronic components.

May 12, 2008

I mounted a resetable Ford inertia switch on the firewall near the wiper motor.
In case of an accident the inertia switch will disconnect the 12 volts that holds the main contactor energized.
The inertia switch came off a 1981 Ford Thunderbird.

The 8 fuse ATC fuse Block came today that I bought on eBay.
I mounted it on the firewall between the gauge's isolated power fuses and the inerta switch.

May 19, 2008

The relay sockets came in at Idaho Inst. I disconnected the two spade terminals, that go to the contacts, from the relay socket.
I stripped the insulation back on the 6 ga wire and soldered them to the spade connections and put some heat shrink on them, (it was a tight fit!).
The reason I used the large wire is I wanted to make sure that nothing is starved for power. Yes, it was overkill to use the large stuff.
The small green wire will go to the acc. terminal on the S10 ignition switch.

May 20, 2008

The correct HV Zilla controller arrived today!

May 23, 2008

The placement of the Zilla controller, contactor, main fuse, heater fuses and motor shunt.
All locations are subject to change!
I used 1/2" copper tube, flattened, drilled, and tinned the tube ends, for the connectors on the main fuse, to contactor, to Zilla lugs.
I used a 1 1/4" plastic conduit strap to hold the main fuse in place.

May 24, 2008

Made main buss bars, drilled and slotted the holes slightly so when I tightened them on the lugs they would not stress the lugs.
I covered the buss tubes with heat shrink 3/4" tubing.
My goal is to have the fuses for the ceramic heater, Iota DC to DC converter, and motor shunt fuses with very short wiring runs from the contactor before being fused. Plus they have to be mounted with looking well place and in replaceable locations.

May 26, 2008

I added the fuse holders for the motor shunt and the HV B+ that goes to the Hairball.
I bought supply tube to make 4, 2 1/8" stand offs to hold the Hairball up so I can route the Zilla coolant lines under the it.
I used 10-24 X 3" machine screws inside of the tubes to attach Hairball to mounting board.
I will buy 10-24 "tee nuts to come up from the bottom of the mounting board to hold the Hairball.
This should protect the Hairball from getting any coolant in it if there is a leak.
By raising the Hairball I hope to get enough height under it to add a clear piece of plastic sheeting to cover the connections at the fuses and contactor.

The CAT5 Data Jumper that came with the Zilla was too long to tuck it neatly under the Hairball, so, I bought a 12" jumper at Lowes and moved the iron core to the new cable.

May 27 & 28, 2008

I didn't like the Audiopipe fuse holders in this application, because they will be so hard to get to to change the fuses.
I got a couple of Industrial fuse holders to replace the Audiopipe holders.
I would have liked the coil leads to have been above the contactor connections to make easier access to the small nuts.
The Tyco Contactor is marked for polarity "+" & "-" on all connections, these need to be observed.
I installed the Cafe Electric supplied diode across the coil connections.
I removed all of the components and sealed and primered the 3/4" plywood.

May 29, 2008

I used part of the S10 battery tray to make the support for the Zilla control board.
And welded it in place on the front battery box.

I used these 3/8 treaded rods to level the board, so I could get the length of 1/4" bolts needed to support the board.

I cut a couple of 4" long pieces of the stock S10 fuel line to make sleeves to go over the 1/4" bolts.
The bolts will screw up into the "tee nuts" on the control board.

May 30, 2008

I assembled everything back onto the control board.
I salvaged the plastic window from an old wood door.
I cut the plastic with a fine tooth blade on a table saw.
I wet sanded all of the plastic edges with 600 wet sandpaper, layed over the flat edge of a 2 foot level, using window cleaner for the wetting agent.
I drilled holes for attaching the plastic to the board and made a test fit in the S10 motor bay.
The clearances are very tight! But, It is doable!
I had to also move the main wiring loom up (below the wiper motor) to get clearance for the plastic cover.
I used super glue from the hobby store to glue the edges of the plastic.
I used 1" angle brackets and clamps to hold each of the corners while the glue setup.

May 31, 2008

I rethought how to get the leads into the plastic cover.
Decided that if I reinforced the plastic on the inside, around the edges, with strips of plexiglass that this would hold the cover around the edges, on the plywood base.
I will now have a plastic cover that will lift off for access to the Zilla wiring.

For extra current handling capacity, I added a second copper tube buss bar connecting the controller "M-" lug to the motor current shunt.
I elongated the buss bar holes to make sure that they tightened down flat on the shunt with out putting a strain on the controler lug.

Completed the wiring to the relay that controls the vacuum pump.
The relay coil shares the P RELAY 5A fuse with the small 12 volt fan on the coolant radiator.
For control of the vacuum pump, The "Flowjet" "NC" vacuum switch is inline with between the P RELAY 5A fuse and the relay coil.
The VPMP 15A (vacuum pump 15 Amp) fuses the vacuum pump relay switched contacts.

Jun. 2, 2008

I bought a piece of plexiglass for the top and cut it about 3/16" larger than the box.
Glued the top to the box.
I found out that the fumes from the glue will cloud the clear plastic if trapped inside when the glue is drying.
It will be trimmed with a router for a perfect edge after being glued to the box.

I made a small depression for the aux. contact terminals to sit down inside of, I may want to use these someday.
I carefully bent the terminal ears to a 90 deg. and cut 5/8" dia. slots for the cable to slide into from the side.

I used 2/0 heavy lugs, but the only way I could get 2/0 welding cable in the lugs was to remove about 1/8" of wire from the core.
I decided not to use 2/0 welding lead that goes down under the Zilla board, from the main disconnect (breaker) to the main fuse on the Zilla control board because,
(1.) I could not get it into the lugs and (2.) 2/0 welding cable was too hard to bend into sharp bends with out putting alot of stress on the other board terminals.
I polished the inside bore of the lugs with a post type battery cleaner and used NOALOX inside the lug and on the wire braid.
I made the cable crimpers from a cheap 24" bolt cutter to crimp the terminals on the heavier battery clamps, so to get a good crimp I had to add some 1/8" welding rods inside of the jaws.
Sealed the cable joint with 3/4" heat shrink tube.
I attached the main breaker with 15" long plastic ties, that went through drilled holes in the mounting board.

I routed the cables under the board and secured them with 1/2" conduit clamps.
I made the loop in the cable just for my convience.

I am also going to mount a relay on the board for the power going to the IOTA DC to Dc convertor from the main battery pack.
I used a 4" flat "L" bracket, I cut board to get the "L" bracket flush with the outside of the board.
I will mount the relay on this upright bracket.

Jun. 5, 2008

I decided to put a piece of, 1/8" thick, heat resistant material between the Anderson connector and the plywood base.
To get the screw heads out of the way, I counter sunk the holes that hold the plastic connector to the plywood base.
I am going to attach the 350 Amp, 4/0 connector to my 2/0 welding cables. I am going to fold over the the bare cable ends and get the doubled over end into the 4/0 connector,the inside is coated with "Noalox", and crimp the connector. Then add heat shrink tube over the whole crimped area.


I test fit the Zilla board in the motor bay......
DANG!, the plastic cover will not fit onto the Zilla board! The plexiglass cover hits the wiper motor!
I removed 2" of plastic at the rear to give me enough clearance to get the cover on.
The glue is setting, so I will test fit everything again in the morning.

Jun. 6, 2008

I made up the 2/0 cable for the "A2" to "S2" connection.

UPDATE: Sept. 5, 2008 I changed the jumper to the recomended "A1 to "S1" motor terminals
and connected the "A2" to "S2" connections to the Zilla controller outputs.

I bought the plastic boots to cover the lugs on eBay.

While I had the motor cooling fan out I snapped a picture of the completed cooling fan with the frisbee cover.


I just didn't feel good about having the coolant radiator mounted with the tubes in the vertical position.
I felt that air would be trapped in "U" shaped area at the top of the tubing and would hinder the cooling ability of the radiator.
Plus I am told that a "crossflow" radiator is like 40% more efficient than a vertical flow radiator.
I disassembled the radiator and reassembled it with the tubes in the crossflow position.
The radiator coolant tubes are still fairly level with the coolant level that will be in the coolant reservoir.
TO

Because I changed the radiator now, the horn needs to be relocated.

I removed 3 of the batteries to get to this motor terminal.
Build the 2/0 cable here to the 1000 amp shunt on the Zilla board.

Jun. 7, 2008

I "finally" have a fantastic crimp! I am going to weld the 1/4" round rod into the opening of my homemade crimpers. Way Cool!!

I crimped the 2/0 terminals on the cables, taped and heat shrink covered the joints and put on the boots.
Bolted them in place, looks good!


This is one of the 2 spacers that I made to hold the Zilla board.
The 2 each, 3/8" pieces of threaded rod are to support the Zilla board down on while I get everything bolted into place.
I am going to leave the threaded rods in place to give added support and to make it easier to reinstall the board in the future.

I bought plastic 3 prong cord connectors to connect the HV power to the IOTA converter.
I connected the dark cord wire to the dark screw in the cord cap, which will go to the HV B+ (positive battery terminal).
I connected the white cord wire to the light screw in the cord cap, which will go to the HV B- (negative battery terminal).
I connected the green (ground) cord wire to the green grounding terminal in the cord cap.
This ground will not be connected to anything on the truck. The ground will be used if I plug the cord cap into a household 115 volt AC outlet to use the IOTA to charge the aux. 12 volt battery.

I ran the cord under the Zilla board and up through a 7/16" hole to connect the DC to DC relay.
I put a wire tie tightly around the power cord for a strain relief and to keep the cord from sliding back down the hole.
I will mount this relay on the 4" flat angle bracket with "J" nuts and flat head #6 screws.

June 17, 2008
I wired in the Warp9 motor Overheat Indicator using the stock S10 in dash HOT coolant temperature Indicator.
I designed a circuit to change a normally closed switch to indicate in a Normally Open application.
The Motor overheat switch is normally closed and during a motor over heat condition the contacts would be open.
An over heat condition this will give the needed ground to the HOT Coolant lamp for it to light.
By using the stock s10 dash Hot Coolant light, I still have the bulb test when the key is turned to the start position.
The wire nuts are for my convience in making changes, just in case I didn't get the wiring right.
After testing the circuit, these connections they will be replaced with permanent connectors.

I could not get any power to the S10's "purple" starter solenoid wire. This wire will go to the Hairball starter terminal.
I traced it back to the Ignition starter switch.
The burnt terminal is the contact for the (purple) wire that goes to the starter solinoid.
Replaced the burnt out ignition switch it with a new one.

June 19, 2008
I purchased a 100 watt inverter from Harbour Freight. I will used it to convert the 12 volt DC to 115 volt AC to power the aquarium pump.

I disassenbled the inverter and removed the fuse from the stem that went into the cigar lighter.

I soldered and heat shrunk the power wires and ran them out through the hollow stem end of the inverter. I sucured the 2 halfs of the inverter stem together with plastic wire ties.

I reassembled the inverter and mounted it above the steering column with a long plastic wire wrap.

I connected the grounds to the brake support bracket.

I ran the power feed wire out through the gromet with the hood release cable and connected it to the acc. fuse block. I used a 15 A fuse.

Before I went any farther, I tested the inverter. Works!
I ran the power cord from the aquarium pump and plupped it into the inverter.

I ran the power cord from the inverter to a metal surface mount outlet box on the fender brace.

Installed a GFCI outlet in the outlet box. Tested out good. Labeled the outlet cover to show the power capacity of the outlet from the inverter.
Shortened the power cord for the aquarium pump and installed a angled cord cap.

I also finished running the clear plastic tubing for the Zilla cooling.
I used 3/8" plastic tube and the fittings to connect to the radiator are 1/4" tube to 3/8' tube. I used plastic compression sleeves so that the fittings would not have to be as tight to keep from leaking.
I slid the clear plastic tube onto the 3/8" copper tube stub ends and secured the tube with small hose clamps.

If I get any leaks at the other connections then I will try plastic wire ties to use as hose clamps, as a last resort I will use metal worm clamps. Last resort because they are bulky and I feel they make these close connections look cluttered together.
Filled the reservoir to the top of the sight tube and ran the pump....tests good! and so far no leaks...I will keep and eye on the connections for leaks.

June 20, 2008
Decided on the location for the terminal strip under the Hairball. This will give me a disconnect points for the wires and give me easier access to the terminal connections.
I drilled holes for the wiring to come up from below the plywood base, ran my control wires, and began to connect them to the terminal strip.

I wired in the Ford inertia switch in series with the ignition switch, then it will be fused, then continues on to the Hairtball, Pin #3, "key input".
(See "D")
I tried to use the stock S10 colored wires from the factory S10 wiring harness to connect to the Hairball.
"A" & "C", are the coil power for the "EV Fuse Block" and the main motor "HOT" relays.
"B" is connected to the dash "oil" warning light to tell me that the system is "Ready". (See "D")
In the S10 wiring harnessas per the GM wiring diagram:
The Black wire is Chassis Ground and is connected to the Hairball, Pin #1, "Chassis GND". The Zilla "Owners Manual" reads that this wire must not be longer than 4", I will have to run this wire straight down through the mounting board to the metal support below to meet the 4" max. length required.
The Orange wire is always on (12 Volt Battery +) and will be fused before going on to Hairball, Pin #2, "SLI+ 14V in".
The Pink wire is Ignition switched on, and goes through the inerta switch, then is fused just before reaching the Hairball, Pin #3, "Key Input".
The Purple wire is the starter solenoid wire and will be fused before going to Hairball, Pin #4, "Start Input".

Those are the main S10 wires used, the added wires are:
The Red wire is from the Main Contactor "coil", "+" terminal and goes to Hairball, Pin #5, "Main Cont Coil".
The Green wire is the Tach sense wire and goes to Hairball, Pin #11, "Tach Output".
The Gray wire is the wire from charge port door switch* (*, not yet completed) and goes to Hairball, Pin #17, "AC Plug In".
There are 2 additional wires that are full battery pack voltage, HV.
These wires do not connect to the terminal strip, but, are fused before the Hairball connections.
The Orange wire comes from the Battery "+" connection on the main contactor (1 Amp fuse) and goes to Hairball, Pin #27, "Battery +".
The Red wire comes from the Battery "+" connection on the "Swithed Zilla Side" of the main contactor (1 Amp fuse) and
goes to Hairball, Pin #25, "Controller +".

I finally have the stock S10 wiring harness separated from the S10.
I had used duct tape to label the wires, what a big sticky mess to get the tape labels off to reuse the wires!

I am still trying to decide at if I want to, add to my headach, adding the Hairball, Pins #9 and #10 for the check engine and battery lamps.

June 21, 2008
After refering to the Zilla manual I decided that it would be a very good idea to go ahead and find the source for the S10 "Check Engine" lamp feed.
After refering to the S10 wiring diagram, I finally found the "Check Engine" feed wire up under the right side of the dash.

I labeled the Brown/White stripe wire and connected the long Tan/White stripe wire, that used to go to the electric fuel pump, to run out through the firewall to Hairball, Pin #9, "CK Eng Lt Out".
While searched for the Battery or Generator instrument warning lamp, I found the "Shift" lamp feed.

I never could find any of the wires that connected to the Battery or Generator instrument warning lamp. ???? I gave up for now, and went on to getting something productive done.

I added the HEPA labels to the Hairball as per the instructions.

It looks like I can meet the very short ground wire requirement by using the closest Zilla board mounting bolt as a chassis electrical grounding point.
I put in a longer bolt and used internal star washers, top and bottom, to get good connections at the steel Zilla board mount and at the "Tee Nut".
All of the chassis ground wires are sandwiched between the "Tee Nut" and a 1/4" nut, so they should be good to GO.

June 23, 2008
I bought another 4 gang fuse holder from Radio shack and "piggy back" mounted it on the terminal strip,
there was No room any where else on the Zilla board to put them!

I scraped the green paint from around the Hairball mounting hole to make sure I had a perfect ground I checked the Ohms with a muli-meter.

I mounted the hairball over the terminal strip and the "piggy-back" fuses and connected the wiring.
I checked each wire with my multi-meter for good connections.
I am sure glad, at this point, that I used different colored wires and labled them for each curcuit.

I had my friend machine me a special adaptor for the end of the motor shaft to mount the tach. sensor.

I cut a 3/16 steel key for the electric clutch hub, and assembled it on the shaft.
I used a 1/4" bolt to pull the adaptor on the motor shaft and up against the clutch hub.

Looks like I gave myself too much length in the adaptor, I will pull it back off and have an 1" machined off the length of the adaptor.
Holy Cow! I can't get it back off!
I threaded the 1/4" hole, in the end of the adaptor, with a 5/16" tap and used a 5/16" bolt, nut and spacers to pull the adaptor back off.

I will put 5/16" bolt threads in the end of the shortened adaptor after I get it back from the machine shop,
otherwise, I will have to put the threads in the adaptor from under the truck (again).

July 22, 2008
There needs to be an (emergency) shutdown button inside the passenger compartment.
I felt that the circuit breaker would need to be flipped to the off position with a nonmetalic, nonconductive (plastic) rod.
I decided on using a plastic window blind rod.
I drilled a 1/4" starter through the firewall in line with the handle of the circuit breaker.
I used a hammer to drive a tapered punch in the hole to open it up to just larger than the OD of the plastic blind rod.
The edges of the hole were rolled as I drove the punch in, this made a smoother edge for the plastic rod to rest on, so it would not get edge bound in the hole.

I inserted the plastic rod into the hole, going under the dash I found that the most direct line for the rod to exit the dash was next to the regeneration switches at the edge of the plastic panel.

I bought a plastic drawer pull to attach to the inside end of the rod. I will paint the knob bright red and label it "Push Off".

I have yet to decide on how to attach the rod to the breaker handle.

July 23, 2008
Here is the trip rod for the main breaker, that was made from a plastic curtain rod.
I painted the drawer pull with bright red finger nail polish, then stuck on the label, and then, for added protection, coated the knob completely with clear fingernail polish.
I used the screw that came with the knob to attach the knob through the inside of the rod.

I may have to attach the push rod closer to the trip lever pivot point to shorten the throw of the knob.
It sure sticks out too far.

I used a small wire tie through the trip handle to hook the plastic rod into.

Aug. 17, 2008
I have been going through the programming of the Hairball.
Many of the options are gray to me as I don't know exactly what the values are that need to be entered into the hairball programming, and I hate guessing!
I have also run into a problem with the start key input.
It is likely that I didn't get the key start input wire properly seated in the wiring terminal strip, but, I can't get to the terminal strip that is UNDER the Hairball to correct the problem.
I thought putting the terminal strip under the hairball would be okay, but, I need to redesign the mount of the Hairball with a hinge at one end so that it will hinge up to give me good access to the fuses and wiring beneath.
This will be alot better for working on the wiring, because, I can see a very good (BAD) possability of having the Hairball unbolted and shorting accross the main battery pack battery terminals that are within inches when the clear plexiglass cover is removed.

Aug. 18, 2008
I bought a 1 1/16" piano hinge and a package of 6-32 X 3" long flat head screws to mount it.
I used #6-32 "Tee" nuts from below to screw the flat head screws through the plastic toilet tube and also the plywood base.
I opened all of the battery disconnects and then set about removing the Hairball from the Zilla board.
LOOK! There is why I didn't have any start key input! Someone (me) forgot to put the fuse in for it!!
I think this hinging of the Hairball control will be a good design for accessing the fuses and the wiring beneath.

I had to add to the wires to make them long enough so that the Hairball could be lifted on one end and supported with the hinge on the other end.

Aug. 19, 2008
I had a little trouble getting the wires to connect securely to the terminals of the Hairball, without pulling out,
so before I installed them in the terminals, I tinned all of the terminal wires with solder.
I finished wiring in the Hairball, I tried to make this wiring look as neat as possable.
I also disconnected the tach pickup and the HEPA connector and with an Ohm meter connected to each wire, one at a time,
I verified that all of the wiring connections from connection source to wire's end connection were correct.
I super glued small pieces of cable cover over the mitered metal corners of the hinge to help protect the wires from chaffing.
Complete!, less connecting the chassis ground wire, this is the only wire that must be removed to lift the hairball to access the fuses and other connections below it.

Aug. 23, 2008
I used a clear plastic outlet cover to make an access cover to connect and disconnect the Emergency Main Breaker trip rod.
I reinforced the area of the plexiglass where the plastic cover bolted through the plexiglass Zilla cover.
The plastic trip rod has an 1/2" grommet on it to keep it from coming unhooked.

Sep. 12 & 13, 2008
I received a Thermaltake flow meter from eBay, I will install this in the Zilla coolant line.
This will allow me to see the coolant flow, so that I will have a visual indicator of the coolant flow.
I wanted to use plastic fittings, but I was unable to find the proper pipe thread.
The treaded fittings on the flow meter are 10 mm with a tread pitch of 1.0 mm.
I bought a metric nut with the same threads and used it as a pattern to make the Std. 1/8" pipe to 3/8" hose fittings have the metric threads with a shoulder for the "0" ring.

And installed it on the Zilla coolant line.

Sep. 25 & 26, 2008
I was driving home last afternoon and I became aware of the S10's "check engine light" slowly flashing.
I checked the Zilla manual and it ststed that if the coolant cooling the Zilla becomes hot that the "check engine lamp" will flash slowly and that as the temperature increases the lamp will progressively flash faster as the temp increases, and that the hairball will begin limiting the current to the controller to prevent heating damage.
I decided that the small pancake computer fan was not forcing enough cool air through the coolant radiator.
To air in cooling I removed the grill and located the area directly in front of the radiator and using a small air powered nibbler I made a hole to let cool outside air come into the cooling fan. I also feel that this outside cool air will amount to more than the small pancake computer fan could push through the radiator, so I should now have a more efficient cooling system, at speeds over a few miles per hour.

Next Regenerative Braking.