48V Motor losing power on slopes

deerhunter_1

I have had a customer made cart for 5 years... Replaced batteries 3 years ago.
Battery Source has tested batteries and they appear to be good for being 3 years old.
My problem, when trying to go up hill, I lose power to where it doesn't want to pull.. I get on a flat surface and it seems to run fine.
Battery source seems to think it is the motor...
What I have is a Advanced DC Motor, model ZQ48-3.0. It has an Alltrax 400amp controller...
What/how can I check this out? Can the motor lose power under load? or should I go a different route?
Batteries seem to take a charge and sti8ll hold the charge after running on flat surfaces....plus B.S. tested them.....
Any help/advise would be greatly appreciated.
James

BGW

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scottyb

Depending upon the size of your tires, the load carried, and the angle of the incline ..... you may be lacking in amperage delivery to the motor... 400 a control is not a real big hill climbing unit. It's the first level of improvement. Usually about a 30% increase over stock. But most people going off road increase their tire size by 30% and that just neutralizes the 400 amp control improvement.... basically the 400 is good around the neighborhood or campground but, not a real hill climber.
Several other factors can adversely effect amperage delivery. Dirty connections or quality and size of system cables is a factor as well as the F&R switch. Hope this helps

deerhunter_1

Well, it did pull hills fairly well.... I have checked all the terminal ends and cleaned the connections.. All of them are 4gauge wire.
This just started a few months back.. I thought it was the batteries.. still have my doubts about that, even though B.S. tested them under load and they appeared to be ok....
That is why I am checking into the motor side... just trying to get input from the experts on this site...

scottyb

Check the pack voltage in the cart when you are trying to climb the hill. Attach a meter and see what the total pack voltage drops to uphill. That will tell you if the batteries are okay.

Speedchaser

Without knowing the bat tests results it would be hard to determine but my guess is your bats are getting weaker with age.

Stevegrmich

. . . check the SG of the cells in the batteries . . . one bad/dead cell is all it takes . . .