Troll's Melex 412

Trollhole

New to this forum. Have been spending my previous years rebuilding old Toyota Land Cruiser so I'm fully aware about the whole "they don't make parts for that anymore" saying.

I love a challenge.

Bought this old gal that didn't run this past week for basically nothing. Was told the motor was was probably shot. The person I bought it from bought and sold used carts. Had a bunch all over the place. Also told me the batteries were only a couple years old. Got it home and removed the motor, took it apart and tested it out and everything looked good. Brushes looked brand new. Had continuity through both systems. So I bolted it back in and started looking for other things. Looking at the Fwd/Rev switch I could see one of the contacts connecting bars was bent. So I took this apart and straighten it out as well I resurfaced all the contacts. Put it all back in and got nothing out of the pedal.

So I started going though all the wiring. Everything looked to be good except for this green wire that looked like the ends were cut off. One side came out of the Curtis controller so I decided to hook them together, thinking they might have been from a seat safety switch. Pressed the pedal and it was off to the races.

So I bolted everything tight and decided to go for a ride. It took off great for the first second it would go but once it got over 5 mph it wouldn't go any faster. That and going up any incline was very painful. Maybe a mph or so. This with a fully charged set of batteries. I had put the charger on the night before.

Plan to test the batteries today and see if they are any good. Something tells me they may not be what they were sold to me as. I'm also going to replace the battery cables. I have some 2/0 wire laying around I plan to use.


My question is if the batteries are shot should I get new 6 volt batteries or should I just upgrade to 8 volt? Anything I can do to get the batteries back to life or could this be something else? Can a speed controller fail like this and just go at a low speed even though it's getting the full 5 ohms from the pot? Or is how they were designed to function? I cannot imagine this. Played hundreds of games of golf and never remember a golf cart this slow.

I do know my charger is working properly. It was one of the main reasons I got this cart. It's a brand new Lester. It's worth 5 times what I paid for the golf cart. Plus he gave me a set of new rims and tires.


Anyway my plans are to strip it down all the way. Cut out the rust, undercoat the bottom put a new coat of paint on it. Basically return it back to the way it looked when it rolled off the boat from Poland. With a few extra items like LED lights up front, a new bench seat in the back, and maybe a small stereo. Just plan on using this around the neighborhood and take it down to the beach a couple times a year.


Melex 412
Serial #204857
Motor 2.1 hp @ 2800 rpms 10 spline with non Dana rear.

Attached Images

	photo3.jpg (55.3 KB, 8 views)
	photo2.jpg (42.4 KB, 8 views)
	photo1.jpg (44.2 KB, 11 views)

BGW

__________________
This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members.
Register your free account today and become a member on Buggies Gone Wild Golf Cart Forum

roady89

Welcome to BGW Troll

Old and tired comes to mind man. I'd load test the batteries first and go from there. People dont give good batteries away...not if they are smart. If they have been sitting in a discharged state for very long they are probly toast. Even sitting fully charged for an extended period of time without cycling will damage them. Controllers and motors do wear out. The controller has little switches inside that switch on/off real fast....that's laymen terms but things do wear out over time. It could be any number of things but I'd start with the batteries.

You can't use 8 volt batteries unless the controller and the rest of the components can handle the extra voltage. You also have to have a charger capable of charging 48 volts.

Trollhole

Okay got a specific gravity tester to check the batteries and they all check out okay.

Get 38.5 Volts at full charge.
Get around 36 while under way.
Problem is its okay going on flats maybe 5mph but a hill I've got maybe 1mph.

Another problem is when I press the accelerator it jerks real hard. The is no slow start. And that initial speed is the only speed no matter where I put the pedal. It like only having one speed on or off.

Any ideas?

Trollhole

I'm thinking about going to Radio Shack and buying a 5k pot and do some tests. Though the replacement pot from what I have found is only $30 and considering it looks like the original one is probably still in there it is probably worth it just to replace it.

My question is if the pot is good should I just get a rebuilt speed controller is there a better rebuilt one to get that will work out there? I really know nothing about speed controllers except for what I have read.

Also I thought maybe the brushes in the motor were bad but they almost look brand new. I didn't see any burned wires inside on the pack or rotor.

I did notice the solenoid is a little hot after driving it for 10 min. Should they get hot? Wasn't smoking. Like a 2 second finger hot.

Trollhole

Got it running correctly. Went to Radio Shack and bought a 5k potentiometer for $3. Wired it up in place of the regular one and made a long cable and then just got in the cart pressed the pedal to engage the solenoid and rotated the pot. Slowly went from slow to full speed. Pot only really went up to 4.7 so I think I can get a little more speed out of her with a real replacement. Couple questions.

Where should I buy a pot from? Would this one work? http://aevcenter.com/cart/product.php?id=453
Any better vendors I should consider?

Also when I let off the pedal it doesn't motor brake. Should the Curtis 1204-17 motor brake? Looks like all the posts on the connector are connected correctly.

One more thing. The reverse buzzer isn't working. Power is going to it but no buzzing. I'd like to get this working again but don't want a buzzer. Is there something else that would chime or make a different sound?

Thanks.

BLakeside

Series carts don't have motor breaking. We try to use BGW sponsors but not sure if any of them have the pot. You might be able to use a radio shack 10 k ohm pot. The throttle linkage only gives you 1/2 or less turn on the pot, so using a 10k ohm or 15k ohm pot may save you $30 plus shipping. I have some body parts, cup holders, rear fender spike shields for sale from my 512E. PM me for $ and info.

Barry

Trollhole

Yeah I ended up getting the pot from www.eastcoastcarts.com . They were great and got my pot out the same day. Should be here tomorrow. I loved being able to order my pot on the internet and just have it shipped to me. Made it so much easier than searching all over town for some.

I tell you though the whole two east Coast Golf Carts sponsors messed with me for a while. Radio shack had other pots but to be honest I'd have to cut the shaft and rig it up all ghetto to mount it since RS doesn't have any with the mounting screws.

Trollhole

I have a feeling I'm going to be a lonely guy in this section.

BumbleBee

Don't feel too bad. I am here. I don't get on as much as I want but remember you do have a fellow Melex owner with you. If you don't mind. Could you get some pics of the pot and controller set up? I want to convert my resistor cart over.

Looks like you got a really nice cart! Good luck with the mods.

Trollhole

Will do.

On another note I had some 2/0 wire laying around and bought some terminals on ebay for it. Made some battery cables last night. Think I have enough left over to do some of the controller wires. Any more important than the other? Say field coil or stator?

Attached Images

photo4.JPG (557.0 KB, 7 views)