Did my Alltrax die?

arcitech

I have an SPM 48500 controller on my ’98 EZGO TXT (series) cart. Recently the cart has been troublesome going into reverse, and today it decided to stop moving in either forward or reverse. Until today I did not have any errors flashing, but now I have the normal 4 green flashes followed by a single green and six red flashes. Hooking up my laptop and using the Alltrax toolkit program, I have gotten Shutdown, Pre-charge failure and Low Battery. The cart is fully charged and all battery voltages are good. I have indications that the power is getting to the controller and the throttle indications on the program are working. All micro-switches on the FNR are working and indicate properly in the program. I have ordered a new pre-charge resistor just in case that has gone bad.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I have sent all this same info to Alltrax, but it is Sunday, so there may be a little wait. Also, I need to buy a new meter, mine died a few months ago when I wasn't having any cart problems!

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

scottyb

1 green + 6 red is precharge resistor failure.
You can test the resistor with an Ω meter.

arcitech

After letting it sit and going in the house to have Sunday dinner with the kids and grandkids, I come back out and it is working just fine...WTF!

I'm going to leave it alone and check it tomorrow after work. Some intermittent fault is at work here, I'm about ready to buy a wiring harness next.

arcitech

Also, I need to buy a new meter, mine died a few months ago when I wasn't having any cart problems!

scottyb

Intermittent problems are the hardest to find. You can only troubleshoot them when the cart is not working. If you have the MZJ400 solenoid check to be sure none of the small wire terminals are intermittently touching the silver base of the large terminals. And give a little tug on each end of the resistor to make sure the crimp connections are solid.

If you fail to find a problem and the resistor measures the correct Ωs for your operating voltage, then try disconnecting battery power and reconnecting. This will reboot the control and if that fixes the problem do it for one or two more incidences. If rebooting the control continues to right the problem consider contacting your dealer or Alltrax for a return authorization

arcitech

Latest and greatest:
Dead again. Sending data from the controller to alltrax.

arcitech

Thanks Scotty, I'm about ready to go to a resistor setup like my old Westinghouse had. At least with those you can see when they are burning!

arcitech

If anyone has a quick input, here are my indications:

Pre-charge resistor (new): 250ohm measured
Battery voltage: 38.9 (Drops to 30-31v when throttle is moving)
Shutdown and Pre-charge fail BOTH FLASHING on the Alltrax program.
Throttle sensor moves on display when actuated 0-100%
No Amps, No Motor voltage, no good!

Removed B+ and B- and shorted per the instruction for manual reset: No Change
Reloaded stock profile (never had any other saved profiles) from config file in program: No Change
LED on controller: 1 Green and 6 Red same as before.
Checked every cable connection for tightness and signs of breakage or corrosion: All good
Bypassed the reed switch in the charge receptacle: No Change

Disconnected laptop before trying to move the cart, now I'm going to let it sit for an hour and see if it goes like it did on Sunday.

The only difference this time is that I'm seeing battery voltage and no longer have the low battery indication on the display screen.

More and more it looks like the Alltrax is done.

scottyb

Either the battery pack has a problem or
There is a heck of a drain on the pack under pedal.
Does the cart push (roll) easy? Maybe tag and remove motor wires and check for unwanted continuity between any S and any A terminals.

arcitech

Thanks Scotty, I was afraid that the motor would be going, got 8+ years out of it on a used cart. I'll take measurements when it isn't so darn hot out here in VA. The cart does roll easy, so it may need a little refurb or replacement.

It would be nice to have a list of all the flags that Alltrax uses to initiate the shutdown command, then I could just replace each item on the list one by one!