ITS voltage check

Drrhein

When doing the ITS voltage check on the white wire on the controller plug (36V 95 ezgo medalist) The chart I have is somewhat difficult to read. I think it says 0.5 Volts at start up through 1.5 Volts at full pedal travel, plus or minus 0.5 volts?
So I see that as 0.0 to 1.0 at start and 1.0 thru 2.0 at full travel?

What I actually have on the cart is 0.9 to 1.9 at full travel which would be ok if the tolerance is really plus minus 0.5

Dennis

BGW

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radioman

Close enough. I don't know why you are checking the ITS voltage. Be sure to take precautions against sudden movement like jacking up the real wheels off the surface in case it suddenly wants to take off and run over or into something or somebody.

Drrhein

A reasonable question, a guy brought a cart over which he said needed a controller. He said that he had replaced a bad solenoid and when he first touched the pedal after the change the cart about did a wheelie and the controller smoked. Which seemed a bit odd and made me wonder why. If the ITS slug was broken off or the ITS coil was bad would the cart go to full power when the pedal switch was made? But the ITS checks out fine, the controller is clearly smoked.. I checked his wiring before I took out the controller to ship to repair and that seemed ok. I'm just hoping it doesn't do it again when the new controller is installed.

Dennis

radioman

I had a trouble similar to this with an old series cart. I am not familiar with your cart but the problem I experienced was the cart would take off as soon as the pedal depressed enough to make the solenoid click. I would suggest you take both ends of the ITS wires loose and check for leakage across them. Trace the two ITS wires all the way from the pedal box to the controller and look for a connector in line with the wires. The problem I found was corrosion in this connector the leakage across the wires was so bad the cart would run with the ITS disconnected. Just curious are you testing the ITS in the trouble cart?

Drrhein

Yes, and the problem is as you described. I'll check the ITS wiring tomorrow. I know the connector you're describing. This cart has been out in the weather forever and I'm finding lots of corrosion so I wouldn't be surprised to see what you said. I think while I'm waiting for the controller I'll go ahead and pull up the floor and look in the pedal box. I actually have a pedal box somewhere, I just have to find it!

yurtle

Depends on the controller. Stock or upgrade?

Does it work? ITSs are pretty bullet proof, as long as you don't fry them. Check the adjustment, and the spade connectors. Also check the 4 wire Molex connector connecting the throttle box to the wiring harness. Unplug, spray contact cleaner, then repeatedly plug and unplug/replug.

radioman

A simple test to see if corrosion leakage in the ITS circuit is making it take off would be to open up the pedal box and disconnect the two wires from the ITS and see if the cart still moves when the pedal is depressed. You probably need to inspect the pedal box anyway. If it does, disconnect the plug yurtle mentions and see if it still wants to move. On my old cart I found the Molex plug in the ITS cable in the area under the controller.

scottyb

Also, I almost always suspect water (moisture) in the peddle box whenever the operation becomes erratic - that's another thing to look for.

Drrhein

There was nice green, slimy corrosion in both the controller connector and the pedal connector, cleaned both and checked for leaky voltage paths, all OK.

The pedal box was wet, about a 1/16th inch layer of water in the bottom and the coil was immersed in water. The two mount screws and nuts for the Coil were heavily corroded. The connectors seemed ok though, cleaned them up anyway. The slug is ok and the switch and slug alignment are ok too.

Is the coil effected by water? It ohms out at about .965 megohm and seems to charge up to about 1.965 megohm. The spare coil I have just shows 1.9 megohm and doesn't seem to do the charging business. I'm a bit concerned the suspect coil might be wet.

Anybody have a known good coil they could ohm out on the 2 megohm setting?

UPDATE: I suspect the measured voltages were too high. Plus circuit boards have a known aversion to water, assuming the water got past the potting on the sensor. Research here doesn't show anybody else showing the charging effect (similar to what you'd see when checking a capacitor when checking with an ohm meter)

radioman

You cannot determine for sure if the ITS is good or bad with an ohm measurement but your measurement is about what to expect with a digital ohm meter. The ITS is full of electronic components including a capacitor. Yes moisture can affect the ITS... at least it did in my battle with my old cart and the ITS. It would quit working when it rained. Since I quit leaving cart in the rain It has went back to working. I had two problems which almost whipped me. One was the leakage between the IRS sensor connector which caused the cart to lunge forward when the pedal pressed even with the wires on the ITS disconnected and the ITS module with another problem cause it not to move after I cleared the leakage. I suspect if you clean everything up and use a hair drier to dry everything out it may go back to work. Determine how water is getting in the pedal box and seal it with some RTV. There is a topic on here titled "How the ITS works is now known" currently on page three of threads.

Also run test outlined in my post 7 while you are in the pedal box.