EZ GO drive problems

Cabdella

'96 36v ezgo txt batters are new, and took it for a spin, drove fine, wife went across the neighborhood and called me saying it started creeping along. I met her and when you push the pedal the gauge drops to 23-25a, and it creeps, I stopped and tried to drive and it starts off slow and you can hear what sounds like gears vibrating or spinning but it's not found hardly at all. The noise of it trying to drive is hard to hear. What in the world could cause this? Thanks for the help

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

kpauley

I'll repeat what I was told to do on another thread where I'm dealing with power problems on my cart. Get the pack charged up and check voltage on the pack and each of the batteries about an hour after charge complete. Even if they are new, they may have some issues. Run the cart, check for any components that are hot after running it, could be an indication of failures, shorts, etc. Not my current issue, but I had issues previously with the forward / reverse switch, was getting arcing happening there as it had worn out. I can tell you from my recent experience that it can be a bit of work to diagnose what is going on, listen to the folks here they are good, take it one step at a time. Might also be good to list anything else you may know about the cart. Batts are new, but is it overall stock, has anything changed recently, more info you can provide the better.

JohnnieB

1. What type drive system, Series or Sepex? If there id a Run/Tow switch on the controller cover, its a DCS (Sepex drive)
2. What AH batteries? Where they fully charged prior to their first use? Are they charged after each use?
3. If you have a DVM type battery meter, it read in Volts rather than Amps. If 23V-25V was meant by "23-25a", then the battery pack voltage was extremely low.
Could be improperly charged batteries or failed batteries.
4. Might be some mechanical issues also, but fix the electric ones and the sounds may go away.
5. Since few possibilities can be eliminated from information provided, the list is long.

Cabdella

[QUOTE=JohnnieB;1109915]1. What type drive system, Series or Sepex? If there id a Run/Tow switch on the controller cover, its a DCS (Sepex drive)
Sepex DCS yes sir

2. What AH batteries? Where they fully charged prior to their first use? Are they charged after each use?,
Batteries are 208 AH interstate batteries, are actually a yr old, yes they were charged, but it has been cold here. She drove it for apps 1.5 miles

3. If you have a DVM type battery meter, it read in Volts rather than Amps. If 23V-25V was meant by "23-25a", then the battery pack voltage was extremely low.
Could be improperly charged batteries or failed batteries.
Yes typo I meant ScottyB's dash meter read 23-25v when I'd press the pedal, it's never been that low when we drove it all summer

Cart has all stock items from what I know except the larger tires. We live in pretty flat area only few hills, cart is pic in avatar. We don't drive it as much as we should with the kids running havoc, during summer it's driven every afternoon to the pool 1/4 mike away.

I am charging the cart now and will let it rest then take readings from batteries to start there. I will keep you posted and as always thank you for the help here!!!

JohnnieB

Ouch! The DCS controller (Curtis 1206SX) has a fatal flaw, no low voltage cutoff, so there is a possibility that the DCS controller was taken out when the batteries got that low, for whatever reason they got that low.

DCS controllers don't like tall tires either.

---------------

The good news is a DCS with an Alltrax DCX400 in it, is a pretty wicked cart.

Cabdella

So just replacing that may fix it?, I guess I need to do some research to verify that? And would that be just the controller or do you think it fried the motor too? I still drives, just very slow with hardly any power, I haven't tried as batteries are charging since I posted yesterday

JohnnieB

If it still moves, you might not have taken out the controller, but the tall tires eventually will.

Pack voltage dropping that low indicates a failed battery, or two.

Let the batteries rest about 12 hours after the charger turns off automatically and measure the individual battery voltages as well as the pack voltage.

Pack should be 38.2V and each battery should be 6.37V and all six should be within about 0.1V of each other.

Take cart for a ride, let it sit for about 30 Minutes after you get back and measure the voltages again.

Also, note the lowest the pack voltage drops to while driving.

------
Motor is probably okay if it moves.

Cabdella

Will do sir, I appreciate the info and when the rain goes away I will try it! Again thanks for the help, I e always appreciated you and Mr Scotty

Cabdella

So I must say I am embarrassed, but will share the outcome. All summer long I checked the water every month no fail. Haven't checked it in past 2 months as it's been cold and cart has been covered, guess what? Water below the plates, filled it up, tested everything, no problems, thank goodness! So lesson learned, no matter what check water, every month!

cgtech

That was not likely the cause of the problem. I have seen carts with gallons-low batteries, top speed was roughly same as normal, range sucked (batts were badly damaged). I think you will be revisiting this one (but i will keep my fingers crossed hopeing im wrong).