Battery explosion

stellix

I have a TXT 48volts with eight 6 volt batteries(2 in the bag well) . My son was driving across the yard and one of the back batteries exploded. What could cause this? I pulled all the batteries and bought six new 8 volts so I could do away with the ones in the back . The cart has a Plum quick Bandit motor and an Alltrax DCX 400 . I installed the new batteries and cables and checked all the connections to the motor ,controller and solenoid . The cart ran fine for about 10 minutes and then smoked the controller. I was going to buy a new controller but I hate to install a new one and have the same problem. Could a bad motor cause the blown up battery and then the fried controller?

BGW

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Clemsoncartguy

I thought the alltrax had some protection against a bad motor

JohnnieB

I have first hand experience with a shorted motor taking out a DCX controller.

The XCT controller has short circuit protection.

I'm not sure about a bad motor exploding a battery or a bad battery damaging a motor.

I'd definitely check the motor out thoroughly before installing a new controller.

stellix

What's the best way to test the motor?

Volt_Ampere

Bad motor can take out a controller and it's very hard to design a controller that protects against some motor failures.

JohnnieB

Start with wanted and unwanted continuity.
All cables removed from motor - use second wrench on lower nut so stud doesn't turn and do bad things inside motor,

Wanted:
1. Measure from A1 to A2 with ohmmeter. Will read less than 10Ω, but should be greater than 0Ω (shorted).
2. Measure from F1 to F2. Will read higher than from A1 to A2, but greater than 0Ω.

Unwanted:
1. Measure between A studs and F studs. Should be open (infinite ohms), but may read a couple hundred KΩ due to carbon dust buildup from brush wear.
2. Measure between A & F studs and motor case. Should be open but may have slight continuity due to carbon dust.


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If the wanted/unwanted continuity checks out okay, test run the motor at aboutr 18V per attached drawing.

Attached Images

Motor Test - Sepex.jpg (91.7 KB, 0 views)

stellix

Thanks. I thought about replacing theBandit motor with a motor with a little more torque . I can give up some speed for more power, it's really too fast (about 25 mph now) for what I use the cart for anyway. I'm thinking about changing to the new Alltrax instead of the DCX , this was my second DCX in 3 years. If j have to replace the motor too which 48 volt motor do you recommend that will still give me 20mph but more torque ?

Clemsoncartguy

Plum quick I think can make one to that or call D&D or EMP . I think it's EMP everyone talks highly of that customizes one to your wants

JohnnieB

What is your Tire height?
Are you running stock gears (12.44:1) in the differential?

Tires taller than 18" reduce available torque, as do high speed gears.

The PQ Bandit may have more speed and torque than a stock PDS motor, but is still in a stock motor frame. The D&D I run is in a longer motor frame and has more or less standard speed with about a 30% increase in torque. A ES-63-49 has about 40% more than stock torque, but less than standard speed. D&D has several other high-torque SepEx motors that might be better for your application.

Give scottyb at Carts Unlimited a yell, he is a D&D dealer and if you describe your cart and what you want for torque and speed, he can most likely come up with the right motor for your needs, wants and desires. http://www.cartsunlimited.net/

As for too much speed, with a XCT controller you can RPM limit the motor down to the max cart speed you want.

scottyb

Some people are on here parroting everything they read without really understanding the situation. You don't need a custom motor for a high torque series cart. Off the shelf motors work fine for what you want. Admiral and D&D make some good series torque motors for relatively little money. I'm sure there are others too