06 TXT 2 HR run time

firenfix

TXT with high speed motor and new batteries.
Is two hour run time with radio playing decent? Battery gauge showed 50% at that time so we put her on charge.

BGW

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bigstik40

In order to answer your question properly, I'm sure the experts will want to know more information such as:
1. What brand and AH rating are batteries.

2. What drive type. ex. series, pds, other.

3. What voltage.

4. Original controller or aftermarket.

5. Any other mods. the cart has.

Also, if the batteries are brand new, you won't be getting full capacity from them till they are properly broken in. I'm sure the guys in the know will be along to answer your questions. - RAY

scottyb

A true 50% capacity reading can be verified with a meter, you should see 48v or 36v depending upon the size (voltage) of the pack.
The system is designed to give a stock cart 110 minutes of actual run time. That's peddle time... hope this helps

firenfix

That does help. I thought two hours of pedal time was pretty close. There is no noticeable loss of performance after 2 hours, but I still did not want to take the batteries down any lower. Next time I'll get the meter out and check for 36 volts.

JohnnieB

Do yourself and your new batteries a big favor and install a dash mounted DVM type battery meter so you can monitor the actual battery pack voltage while driving.

Battery voltage drops when Amps are drawn from the battery, the greater the amps drawn, the greater the voltage drop.
Also, the lower the SoC (State of Charge), the greater the voltage drop for the same Amp draw.
In other words, climbing a steep hill with a fully charged battery pack doesn't drop the Under-Load pack voltage as much as climbing the same hill with a partially discharged battery pack.

When battery manufactures do non-destructive testing, they only take their products down to 1.75VPC (Volts per Cell), so that ought to be a safe number to stay above. For a 36V pack (18 x 2V cells) that is 31.5V

Irreversible physical damage of the plates starts occurring at 1.5VPC, so that is the absolute minimum Under-Load voltage and taking a 36V pack below 27.0V should be avoided.

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Please note the the above voltages are Under-Load voltages, which are different than the At-Rest voltages used to estimating SoC.

At-Rest voltages are read about 12 hours after the charger turns off automatically, or about an hour after Amps have been drawn from the battery. (For estimating SoC while out and about, 15 minutes after cart stops is usually sufficient since most of the voltage recovery has occurred by then)

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Two hours of pedal time sounds pretty decent.

What AH batteries?
How tall are the tires?
What controller?
Series or PDS?
What type terrain?

firenfix

Johnnie, can you recommend one?

JohnnieB

This is the one I use: http://www.cartsunlimited.net/Digita...ry_Meters.html

firenfix

Can I spit the wires going to the LED battery read out gauge that is currently installed and feed the new meter (essentially using both meters)? I'm going to have to mount the volt meter in a different location anyway.

JohnnieB

Yes.

If you tie into pins 4 & 2, it is indirectly connected to the battery pack and passes through three sets of switch contacts. It is only on when the Keyswitch is ON and the F/R selector is in F or R.

If you tie into pins 1 & 2, it is connected directly to the battery pack and stays on all the time.

To insure that I was reading true pack voltage, I ran a separate pair of wires to the DVM. I prefer it being on all the time and it barely draws any power, so parasitic drain on the pack isn't an issue.

Attached Images

Keyswitch wiring Series.JPG (92.1 KB, 0 views)

scottyb

If you get the small generic squarish trim piece for the meter install you can simply put the new improved meter in the whole where the old meter was an connected to two of the three wires currently going to the LED meter.
I know that's a mouthful, but it takes just a few minutes. I did it last weekend to my industrial cart. After I installed the meter I put a little hot glue where the meter retaining clip contacted the back of this key switch plate to ensure it wouldn't move around in the big hole.
Another alternative would be to get the brushed aluminum key switch plate offered with the meter.