Off road golf cart. Bad on controller?

2011liftedprecedent

Alright so I've been working on lifting my golf cart making it faster, winch, bumper, etc... So I take it offroad and mudding ALLOT. A friend of mine said the controller will go bad the more I go offroading? Is this true? Please help

BGW

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Jim C

Not my experience but if it does just get a bigger one.

scottyb

Your friend is referring to accumulative damage. OEM controls were subject to failure due to accumulative heat damage caused by high amperage draw Which in turn overheated the circuit board components. Aftermarket controls handle these higher amperage draws without damage if they are sized correctly.

DaveTM

Its like a car. If your out there "doing the dirt" in your "Smart Car" and winding it out to keep up with your buddies, chances are probably good your going to blow a motor. So...you plop in (maybe) a better built motor....only to have the transmission and then the axel's go. (I dunno if those cars have fwd or rwd...nor do I care). But, you get my point. They are not built for that purpose...yet you are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Something is going to give.

So, examine what you need to accomplish the task. If you need a 48-volt controller and speed, then buy the D&D motor that is built for speed, the controller that can handle the speed, the HD Contactor that can handle the F\R and not fail, and the 2-ga. wiring that can handle the amperage load it's going to take to make it work.

Brakes all the way around are good to as stopping is a nice thing when you are going fast. HD axle stuff may be needed if you are "busting splines" but you will find that out later.

So....do it right the first time and don't spend money twice when you can just spend it once and get it right. Go big....or go home with it broke.

MHO

Dave

slonomo

I've just never understood "electric off road vehicle". Not in my vocab. I can see the benefit to an electric vehicle, for sure, especially a cart. But off road? Come on man. Have fun running out of battery power in the middle of a mud bog. Have fun coasting backwards down a tree littered hill when you loose juice. Not safe or practical in my IMO.

With that said. I think you know the answer to your own question. scottyb and DaveTM said it best. If you are using your electric cart for any use other than what it was designed for, yes it will have a negative impact on its lifespan. Electric golf carts in stock form are not suitable for off road mudding or hill climbing. These activities drain the batteries much faster than driving on smooth fairways and cart paths. Rapid drain = high amperage draw = heat. Heat = failure. Eventually something will give, and it's likely the stock circuitry.

The only way to go off road with an electric golf cart, is to build it from scratch to handle the mud, hills, jarring impacts, constant vibration, and high amperage draw. You are in for one expensive cart. Can it be done? Yes. But at what cost? My advice: polish that electric cart up and sell it, then buy a gas powered version. For your off road adventures the gas version will serve you much better.