Does a display for Series Motor Temp exist?

UncleJerm76

This question pertains to all golf carts with a electric series motor - I searched around on my entire lunch break and didn’t get any results. Hopefully some of you have already been there-done that.

I’m looking for advice on any products you have used to monitor the temp of a Series Motor in real-time? Would like a digital gauge mounted in the dash so I can keep on eye on it without having to stop open the seat and point a laser temp gun at the motor case. Getting case temp would be my last resort anyway since its effected by so many variables and I’m really looking for more accuracy than that. During a rise in temperature by the time the case shows warning signs of too much heat the internals are far hotter and damage is already done. Sure I could play it safe with keeping the case under 200°, but if its possible to get more accurate up to date temps, that is my goal here.

I know for the SxS’s market they make an infrared that mounts in the belt case to monitor the belt temps — and it’s fairly accurate, but not sure how well that setup would translate over to a cart though. I don’t know what (if anything is) available for Series Motors, so I’m just poking around to see what you guys all use/recommend? That being said what is the "usually" the part that gets to hot and fails on a motor? Brushes? Windings?

This is one those critical things to keep an eye on in extreme environments and peace of mind when you think you could be pushing too hard.

BGW

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mjroman20

I have seen some larger motors out there (not for golf carts) that have a thermister imbedded into one or two of the brushes. Im sure you could just get such a brush in the appropriate size and run it to a meter than can map that to temprature.

Swan

this came to mind , dont know if it would read that high but it has a little dime size temp gauge with double stick tape on it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291649532195...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Swan

well i had to test it out and see if the above item would work . I got it up to 152°F before it switched over to "HH". So no it wont go as high as you would need .

UncleJerm76

Too bad, that was looking promising.

rib33024

JohnnieB Has some thing on his motor to tell the temp. Ask him

hbondurant

I use harbor freight multimeter 61593. $25 Never used as permanent mount, but I guess you could.

JohnnieB

I have a Type-K thermocouple in a blob of heatsink compound covered with a piece of stick-on weather stripping and secured by a Ty-Wrap to the case of my motor, and read the case temperature with a DMM that has a temperature function.

The attached pictures are from ages ago when I was running a stock PDS motor with a DCX400 at 36V. I still use the same basic setup.

The case temperature is not real time since there is a time lag between the windings getting hot and the case getting hot, but as far as I know, measuring the case temperature is the best we can do without investing in a motor that has thermal sensors embedded in the windings and I'm not sure if any of those are available for golf carts.

The max recommended case temperature for a motor whose windings consist of conductors covered with Class-H insulation is prorated down to 239°F (115°C).

The max temperature for Class-H insulation is actually 356°F (180°C), but measuring the temperature of the conductors in an armature that is spinning at several thousand RPM is most definitely a technical challenge.

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scottyb

I'm wondering out loud if we could not use a water temp sensor and just drill a well placed hole in the case to mount the device?

Swan

im not done with it yet i may get it to work