Less than thrilled after DS upgrades

williamsent

I have recently finished a complete restoration of a 93 Club Car DS that was flooded during Hurricane Irma. It was given to be by a neighbor, and I went through and replaced everything electric from the key switch to the motor. Basically, everything except for a few of the activation wires is brand new. I upgraded to 48v using a complete kit that I bought online. I also installed 6 new 8v Trojan batteries. The kit came with AMD 11 hp 48VDC High Torque motor “The Beast”, Curtis 500 AMP controller 1205M, 48v high amp Solenoid Curtis SW180B, and a beefed up 48v F&R switch assembly. I purchased a new V Glide Assembly and I also installed a new 4ga weld cable set. I know it’s a golf cart and I wasn’t expecting a lot of speed with this set up, but I have to say I am less than thrilled so far. On a semi-flat paved road, I am getting around 12-14 mph average. A little faster or slower depending on how flat the road is. A lot slower when I have extra people on the back. I bought this kit since I was looking for more torque than speed since we will be using it around our rural neighborhood. I want it to go up a hill if I need it to. I feel the torque is ok and I can darn near spin the wheels on take off. Just feel like I should have a little more speed with the upgrades. 4 adults on a flat road and I’m around 8mph average. The cart has a crappy “Economy” lift that was installed when I got the cart and 22” tires. Does this seem normal for this type of set up?

With that being said, I have already bought my second project cart. I bought another Club Car DS I think it’s a 96 if I recall. I plan to do a complete rebuild on this one too. Starting with a long travel lift and a taller tire. I still want decent torque as I will want to climb a hill if I need to, but I would like to see average speeds over 20 mph. Looking for suggestions for this build. Motor, controller, other components to get the job done. Although new to golf carts I have always worked on all my toys from boats to automobiles and used to do a lot of stereo installation. Now that I have built the first one I feel like I can get away from the “All in One” kits and grab some better components. Thanks for the input, I have learned a ton searching this page.

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

CP241

Where did you get this kit from?

Something doesn't seem right there. Are you sure the V-Glide is making contact through all of the pads? You should be getting far better performance than that... Perhaps the v-glide isn't compatible with that controller? Im not familiar with that curtis controller. You should be seeing plenty of torque and speed with your setup. I'm thinking either the V-glide probably isn't set up correctly for that controller (or vice versa).

The cart in my avatar had an alltrax 400A controller, 4awg wires, MCOR4, 6" lift, Admiral MOT-A1 motor, HD solenoid... on 22" tires it would cruise around 24-25mph. On 25" tires it would do near 30mph (which was scary...)

kgsc

I agree with CP in that something is wrong or not configured correctly. Do you have access to a Curtis handheld ? That should be able to help diagnose..

NCPW

Yeah, I think you should be seeing speeds in the low 20s.

I agree with CP241; something with the vglide is probably off and I would check the the wiper arm is making good contact all the way to the last pad also make sure the controller is programmed for your throttle type.

LabRat

Am i correct by saying a V-glide only has 5 speeds or OHM settings, not like the MCOR. Why put a primitive speed control device on a hot rod cart? If i am missing something please educate me, i need it bad.

CP241

It's cheaper... Replace the existing flooded electrical part with a drop in replacement. MCOR conversion is better since the pot in the petal is infinitely adjustable, but more work and money for the kit.

Plus he said he bought a kit, so it must have been whatever whoever built the kit included in the kit.

Out2Sea

Read page 20. You may need to set the speed value.

https://www.nocoev.com/product/curti...04m1205m_n.pdf

williamsent

The kit came from BuggiesUnlimited.com. The kit did not come with the V-Glide assembly but when I ordered the kit they told me I should replace the v-glide as well so I ordered it at the same time. I did have an issue with the controller when I first installed all the new electronics. The cart would not forward or reverse and I was only getting a click at the solenoid. After going through the wiring schematics a few times and reaching out to buggiesunlimited for help, I finally called out a repair tech. He used his computer and advised that the controller was not programed. Apparently this one has 9 settings and should have came set up for the kit. He programed the controller and the cart seemed to work fine. I contacted buggiesunlimited and they said it should have been programed from the factory. They offered to contact Curtis to try and get a refund for my service call; however, I paid the guy cash since he didn't charge me a service call fee and only an hour labor. Perhaps I need to reach out to him to again to see if there is a better program. I think the kit said speeds to 22mph, but I just assumed this was marketing BS.

Sergio

Ask your tech guy how he programmed the throttle.

Most controllers from BU come configured for 5k-0Ω (2-wires) and they will not work with the default half-speed resistor setup that club cars use.

The Club car VGlide (and MCOR) uses a 3-wire setup but I don't think any of the Curtis 1205M throttle types will support it the way Club Cars are wired.

williamsent

The tech basically went through the settings one at a time until we found the one that worked. I believe he said there were 9 and I assume these were the throttle settings. Some did not work at all. Some went full speed all at once. The last setting seemed to work properly. At the time we were trying to trouble shoot the non working cart and it was on jack stands with the body off. It wasn't until we drove it a bit that we realized it wasn't going as fast as expected. The batteries were new so I have been waiting on some improvement as they break in. This weekend was the first time we had 4 people on the cart. Sounds like I need to have someone with a programmer go through and check all the settings. I'm a little aggravated that for the second time I will have this cart in the shop due to a programming issue that should have been set up from the factory.