Battery Cables

dawgn86

do they really make this much difference?

I replaced mine with 4 gauge this past weekend and cart seems to have more power and can ride alot longer. The cables dont get nearly as warm as previous.

BGW

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Sir Nuke

they can....as you have witnessed

TexTurbo

Think of your cables as a water hose.......
Pressure is the voltage
Amps is the gallons per minute...

in these two cases....Bigger is always better !!

JohnnieB

If the cables are still getting warm, 4GA may be too small for your system.

After a hard run, the high current cables shouldn't be more than about 10°F above air temperature.

Cables need to sized for controller throughput, motor and final drive ratio and tire type along with battery pack voltage.

dawgn86

Thanks Johnnie B!

I think the old 6 gauge cables were the original ones from my 2008 cart. They looked corroded. They got really warm after a long ride in this 92 degree GA heat.

The new ones are barely above outside temp after a ride.

JohnnieB

To answer your original question "do they really make this much difference?". Yes, The high current cables make a lot of difference in cart performance.

In very general terms, most of our carts typically average about 75A going through the cables while we drive them. Series carts have about 25' of cables and not counting end terminals or connections, at 75A of current flow, you lose about 56W of power with 6Ga cables, about 35W with 4Ga and about 22W with 2Ga. A sepex drive only has about 15' of cable, so the power loss is 33W, 21W and 13W respectfully.

Poorly installed end terminals and poor connections can loose far more power than the intrinsic losses of the copper conductor alone listed in the previous paragraph, so replacing old cables can most definitely yield a very noticeable improvement in performance.

In a nutshell, any heat in the cables and connections is electrical energy not getting to the motor.