lifted club cars - lifted ezgo
Home FAQDonate Who's Online
Go Back   Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum > Golf Cart Repair and Troubleshooting > Electric Club Car
Electric Club Car Electric DS, and Precedent golf cars



Post New Thread  Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 11-19-2012, 08:21 PM   #1
jdunmyer
Gone Wild
Mixed Breed
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Lower SE Michigan
Posts: 330
Default Reversing switch or contactor?

Why would one want a reversing switch rather than a contactor? When building up my 1979 CC with a Curtis 1205 controller, I found a reversing contactor from an electric pallet jack. As those seem to be equipped with 400-amp controllers, the reversing contactor must be rated at that, right? The only problem that I saw was the coil on the contactor was 24 volts. A bit of measurement and calculation told me that a 15 ohm power resistor would take care of that issue.

It works great, I have an Allen-Bradley 3-position selector switch on the dash instead of the big ol' selector. Other than the 900 ma extra draw, why would I NOT want the contactor?
jdunmyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Alt Today
BGW

Golf car forum Sponsored Links

__________________
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
   
Old 11-19-2012, 08:27 PM   #2
simple man
Gone Wild
 
simple man's Avatar
E-Z-GO
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Bunnell, Florida
Posts: 2,408
Default Re: Reversing switch or contactor?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jdunmyer View Post
Why would one want a reversing switch rather than a contactor? When building up my 1979 CC with a Curtis 1205 controller, I found a reversing contactor from an electric pallet jack. As those seem to be equipped with 400-amp controllers, the reversing contactor must be rated at that, right? The only problem that I saw was the coil on the contactor was 24 volts. A bit of measurement and calculation told me that a 15 ohm power resistor would take care of that issue.

It works great, I have an Allen-Bradley 3-position selector switch on the dash instead of the big ol' selector. Other than the 900 ma extra draw, why would I NOT want the contactor?
It's a great idea, but all of us don't have access to used ones and new ones are out of reach to some of us.
simple man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2012, 08:49 PM   #3
jdunmyer
Gone Wild
Mixed Breed
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Lower SE Michigan
Posts: 330
Default Re: Reversing switch or contactor?

SM,
That makes sense. Of course, it's nice to know that you CAN use the contactor from an old pallet truck. I've seen those things around here and there and never thought of the contactor until recently.
jdunmyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-19-2012, 09:14 PM   #4
simple man
Gone Wild
 
simple man's Avatar
E-Z-GO
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Bunnell, Florida
Posts: 2,408
Default Re: Reversing switch or contactor?

Quote:
Originally Posted by jdunmyer View Post
SM,
That makes sense. Of course, it's nice to know that you CAN use the contactor from an old pallet truck. I've seen those things around here and there and never thought of the contactor until recently.
Believe me, if I run across one I'll definitely grab it! My F-R switch is mounted up front at my knee, so you can see how much heavy cable I could save having a reversing contactor near the controller! I considered this when I was figuring out the cost of upgrading the high current cables. I will need almost 25' of cable just for the F-R switch, if I leave it where it is now! I'm going to start my upgrade with new cables as everything else will depend on them! Thanks for mentioning the contactor, because it is a good idea, even though expensive.
simple man is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-20-2012, 07:58 AM   #5
jdunmyer
Gone Wild
Mixed Breed
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Lower SE Michigan
Posts: 330
Default Re: Reversing switch or contactor?

I first tried my pallet truck contactor on 24 volts and measured the current draw, it was just under 900 Ma. Ohm's Law tells me that I need a resistor of about 15 ohms and it has to handle 10 or 12 watts of power. A quick search turned up power resistors on Amazon, a 15 ohm, 25-watt resistor was less than $4.00, so I ordered 2. Took a couple of weeks, but they arrived, and NO shipping charges.

Disclosure: I have no connection to Amazon other than being an occasional customer.

The resistor is wired in series with the common connection on the contactor coils, so 1 resistor serves both coils. All the wiring on my cart has been done by using the diagrams in the Curtis 1204/1205 manual.

BTW: I've found a couple of electric pallet trucks in the scrapyard, and SOME have a Curtis controller rated at 24-36 volts, so will work in a 36-volt golf cart. You'll still need the speed control pot, of course. If you're wanting to change an old resistor cart to a controller, it's a cheap way to go. Also, some of the pallet trucks use very heavy cables, so grab them while you're at it.
jdunmyer is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply
Go Back   Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum > Golf Cart Repair and Troubleshooting > Electric Club Car


Thread Tools
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Forum
reversing pot box resistance Extreme DC!
Reversing Contactor, What is the purpose for these? Electric EZGO
2006 Bad Boy Buggie Reversing Contactor Electric EZGO
Biggesst Reversing Contactor Extreme DC!
WTB Reversing switch base plate Gas Harley Davidson


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:25 AM.


Club Car Electric | EZGO Electric | Lifted Golf Carts | Gas EZGO | Used Golf Carts and Parts

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This Website and forum is the property of Buggiesgonewild.com. No material may be taken or duplicated in part or full without prior written consent of the owners of buggiesgonewild.com. © 2006-2017 Buggiesgonewild.com. All rights reserved.